How to Hide Sensitive Information in a Screenshot

Blur, pixelate, and solid redaction are not equally safe. Which to use for names, numbers, and faces — and the two mistakes that leak the data anyway.

Updated August 2026

Quick answer

For anything that actually matters — account numbers, addresses, emails — use a solid fill, not blur or pixelation. Blur and pixelation transform the pixels while leaving a mathematical relationship to the original, and researchers have reconstructed pixelated text from screenshots. Solid removes the information outright. Then check two things: that you shared the edited export, and that no sensitive detail survives outside the box you drew.

The three redaction tools are not equivalent

Tool	What it does to the pixels	Safe for
Solid	Replaces them entirely with one colour	Anything — the only one that removes data
Pixelate	Averages them into blocks derived from the original	Cosmetic use; weak for short known-format text
Blur	Spreads them into neighbours; strength decides how recoverable	Faces and backgrounds at high strength; not for text

The distinction is between removing information and rearranging it. Only solid removes.

Pixelation is the risky one precisely because it looks the most thorough. Each block is an average of real pixels, so the block values are evidence about what was underneath. Where the content is short and follows a known format — a card number, a postcode, a username in a known font — that evidence can be enough to recover the original by testing candidates until the pixelation matches.

This is a demonstrated attack on pixelated text, not a theoretical one. It works best on exactly the content people most want to hide: short strings in predictable formats.

What to use for what

Hiding	Use	Why
Account or card numbers	Solid	Short, known format — the worst case for pixelation
Email addresses, usernames	Solid	Predictable structure makes reconstruction easier
Home address	Solid	The consequences of a leak are not recoverable
A face in the background	Blur, high strength	No format to exploit; blur reads better visually
A messy desktop or unrelated app	Pixelate or blur	Cosmetic — nothing sensitive to protect

A reasonable default: if you would mind a stranger reading it, use solid. Reserve blur and pixelation for tidying up things you simply do not want to distract the viewer.

The two mistakes that leak anyway

1
Sharing the original instead of the export
Editing produces a new file; the untouched screenshot is still in your camera roll, usually right next to it and nearly identical in a thumbnail grid. Share from the export, and delete the original if it was sensitive.
2
Redacting the obvious box and missing the rest
The same detail is often visible elsewhere in the frame — a name in a tab title, an email in a sidebar, an address in an autofill suggestion, a notification banner across the top. Read the whole screenshot before exporting, not just the part you were focused on.

The second is far more common than any technical reconstruction. Most real leaks are not defeated redactions — they are details nobody thought to cover.

Doing it in ShotPost

ShotPost includes all three redaction styles — blur, pixelate, and solid — applied as regions you draw over the screenshot, so you can mix them: solid over the account number, blur over a face, in a single pass.

Everything is processed on the device. Screenshots are not uploaded, there is no account, and projects back up only to your own private iCloud — which matters more here than in ordinary editing, since the whole premise of the task is that the content is sensitive.

Common questions

Is blurring enough to hide text?

Not reliably. Blur strength decides how much survives, and light blur on text is often readable when zoomed or sharpened. For text that matters, use a solid fill — it removes the pixels rather than transforming them.

Can pixelated text really be recovered?

Yes, for short strings in known formats. Because each block averages real pixels, candidate text can be pixelated the same way and compared until it matches. Long unpredictable prose is much harder; card numbers and usernames are the easy case.

Does cropping remove the data?

Cropping in a proper editor discards those pixels, so it is genuinely safe — and it is the strongest option when the sensitive content sits at the edge. The safest screenshot is one that never included the detail.