Blur faces in photos and videos, on your iPhone
Deface finds every face automatically and hides it behind a blur, pixels, a solid block or an emoji. In about half a second.
How to blur a face in three taps
There is no timeline to scrub, no mask to keyframe and no tracking to set up. Import, confirm, export.
- Pick a photo or video. Deface reads it straight from your library — up to 4K, any length.
- Let it detect. On-device AI finds every face in the frame and follows it as it moves through the video. Faces you want to keep visible, you switch off individually.
- Choose a style and export. Gaussian blur, pixelate, solid colour or an emoji sticker. The saved file has no watermark and no metadata.
Four ways to hide a face
A blur reads as documentary. Pixels read as broadcast TV. A solid black bar reads as redaction. An emoji reads as a joke between friends. They are not interchangeable, so Deface ships all four and lets you switch between them after detection, without re-processing.
Gaussian blur softens the face while keeping the shape of the head — best for street photography and travel shots where the person is incidental.
Pixelate breaks the face into blocks. It is the most recognisable 'this was deliberately hidden' signal, which matters when you want viewers to know a choice was made.
Solid colour covers the region completely. The safest option, and the only one that removes all facial information from the pixels.
Emoji sticker drops any emoji over the face at the right scale and angle. Pick your own in Pro.
Faces are not the only thing worth hiding
Detection handles people. Manual regions handle everything else: a licence plate in the driveway, a street sign that gives away the neighbourhood, a tattoo, a name badge, an address on an envelope, a phone screen with a notification on it.
Draw a box, drag it where you want it, size it with precision controls, and it gets the same blur, pixel, solid or emoji treatment as a detected face. Regions stick to their position across a video.
Blurring a face does not remove the metadata. A photo straight from an iPhone carries GPS coordinates, the exact timestamp and the device it was shot on. Deface strips all of it on export, so a blurred photo does not quietly ship the address it was taken at.
Nothing leaves your phone
Most face blurring tools are websites. You upload the photo you were trying to keep private to a server you do not control, and it is processed somewhere you cannot see.
Deface does the detection and the rendering on the device, using Apple's Vision framework and the Neural Engine. There is no account, no upload, no analytics on your media, and it works in airplane mode. The photo you were protecting never becomes someone else's log entry.
Guides
How to blur a face in the app you already have — and why it takes ten seconds in Deface.
Blur a face in CapCut
Mask a mosaic effect to a moving face with manual keyframes, step by step.
Blur a face in DaVinci Resolve
A node, a window mask, and the Tracker palette — Resolve's tracking is strong.
Blur a face in Final Cut Pro
Gaussian filter, a shape mask, and the Tracker behavior, done properly.
Blur a face in Google Photos
The Blur slider isn't for this — the Markup pen is. Here's how, and a faster way.
Blur a face in iMovie
iMovie has no blur tool — the honest workaround, and a faster option.
Blur a face in InShot
Overlay, mosaic and a keyframed mask — the manual way, and a faster one.
Blur a face in Photoshop
The Blur Gallery, a layer mask, and full control over the edge.
Blur a face in PicsArt
The Blur brush covers a face by hand — here's how, and a faster automatic way.
Blur a face in Premiere Pro
Gaussian Blur, a mask, and the built-in tracker, done properly.
Blur a face in Snapseed
The Lens Blur tool works backwards for this — here's the real workaround.
Blur faces in a video on iPhone
No built-in tool tracks a moving face. Here's what to use instead.
Blur a license plate in a photo
Draw a region over a plate and cover it — no face detection needed.
Add a censor bar over eyes
Size a solid-colour bar precisely over the eyes, on photo or video.
Put an emoji over a face
Drop any emoji over a detected face, sized and angled to fit.
Pixelate a face
When to use pixelation over a blur or a solid block, and how to do it.
Remove location data from a photo
What's actually in the file, and what strips it on iPhone.
Frequently asked questions
Can Deface blur faces in video, not just photos?
Yes. It detects faces frame by frame and tracks them as they move, so a face stays covered as the subject walks across the shot. Export keeps the original resolution and frame rate.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Completely. All detection and rendering happens on the device, so Deface works in airplane mode. Nothing is uploaded at any point.
Is there a watermark on exported photos and videos?
The free version adds a small Deface badge and limits how many exports you can make. Pro removes the badge and the limit — it is a one-time purchase, or a subscription if you prefer.
Can someone un-blur a face that Deface has hidden?
The blur, pixelation and solid styles are destructive: the original pixels are discarded when you export, not hidden behind a layer. There is no original underneath to recover. If you want the strongest option, use the solid style, which removes all facial information rather than scrambling it.
What if it misses a face, or blurs one I wanted to keep?
Every detected face has its own toggle, so you can leave some visible and hide others. If a face is missed — because it is turned away, in shadow or very small — add a manual region over it.
Does Deface remove location data from my photos?
Yes. Exports are stripped of EXIF, GPS coordinates, timestamps and camera information.
Every face, in one tap.
Free to try. One-time Pro unlock for unlimited, watermark-free exports.
