How to blur part of an image on Android

The short answer

Open Blur image in Chrome on your phone, choose the photo, cover the part you want hidden and download the new copy. Everything happens inside the browser tab, so the photo is never uploaded and you don't need to install anything.

Android phones differ a lot from brand to brand, and so do their built-in photo editors. Rather than hunting for a blur option in each one, a browser tool behaves the same on every phone and always exports a fresh image with the covered area replaced.

Step by step in Chrome

1. Open Blur image in Chrome and tap to pick a file. Choose the photo from your gallery or files.
2. The image is read on your device. Faces, phone numbers, emails, card numbers, UPI IDs and similar details are highlighted.
3. Accept what you want hidden. For anything that wasn't found, drag a box over it with your finger.
4. Pick Blur, Pixelate or Solid in the Redaction style panel. Use Solid for numbers and short text.
5. Download, and share the downloaded copy rather than the original in your gallery.

If the photo is of a document taken at an angle or upside down, that's fine: the text reader handles sideways and upside-down text.

Common things people blur on Android

• Payment screenshots: UPI IDs, phone numbers and account details. Blur UPI screenshot is set up for exactly this.
• Chat screenshots: names and numbers of other people in the chat. See How to blur names in a group chat screenshot.
• Photos of documents: ID numbers, dates of birth and addresses on cards and letters. Blur text in image finds the text for you.
• Family and street photos: faces of children or strangers, number plates and house numbers.

Check before you send

When you export, the new image is read again, and anything that still looks legible under a box is flagged before you download. Zoom into the preview anyway, especially around the edges of each box.

The exported file also leaves behind the photo's hidden metadata, such as camera details and GPS location, which phone cameras often record. That matters if you're posting a picture taken at home.