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Redact a screenshot

Drop a screenshot: emails, card and bank numbers, phone numbers, API keys and passwords are found and marked for blacking out. Check the marks and save a copy that’s safe to send.

I want Save the redacted copy

Settings appear once you add a screenshot.

Hide it with

Black out is the only one with nothing left to recover. Blurred text can sometimes be guessed back.

70%

Done on your device No upload, no queue, no sign-up.

Bytes sent anywhere: 0 B

Works offline after you’ve used it once.

How to use it

Your screenshot goes into this browser tab, has its emails, numbers and keys found and blacked out on your device, and comes back safe to send. 0 bytes uploaded

  1. Add your files

    Drop a screenshot. Its text is read right here, and anything that looks like an email, a card or account number, a phone number, a key or a password is marked.

  2. Check the settings

    Check the marks: remove a false alarm, and drag over anything else you want hidden, like a name or an address.

  3. Save the result

    Press Save the redacted copy. The marked areas are blacked out for good and the hidden metadata is removed.

Why it doesn’t upload

A screenshot you need to redact is, by definition, one with something private in it. Sending it to a website to find the private parts would give that website the very card number or key you were hiding. Here the text is read and the picture changed in this tab, on your device.

How to check for yourself

Worth knowing

  • Names and street addresses aren’t found automatically — they look like any other words. Drag over them yourself.
  • The text reader can miss very small, blurry or stylized text, and handwriting. Always look over the saved copy before you send it.
  • It reads Latin-script text: English and most European languages. Card numbers, emails and keys are found in any language, since they look the same everywhere.
  • Screenshots and images only. For PDFs, our sister site’s Auto Redact PDF removes the text itself, not just the look of it.

What to check before you share a screenshot

Look past the obvious field. Browser tabs and bookmarks bars show other accounts; the corner of a screen shows notification previews; a chat screenshot shows the names and numbers of everyone in the group; a terminal shows the machine name, the user name and whatever was typed last. Crop what you don’t need first with Crop Image: what isn’t in the picture doesn’t need redacting.

Then check the file. Screenshots rarely carry a location, but some carry the device and the time; the photo metadata viewer shows what yours does. Saving here removes it either way.

Questions

How do I hide personal information in a screenshot?

Drop it here: emails, card and account numbers, phone numbers, keys and passwords are found and boxed automatically. Remove any box that isn’t needed, drag over names or addresses the reader can’t recognize, and save. The saved copy has those areas blacked out and its hidden metadata removed.

What does it find automatically?

Email addresses; card numbers (checked with the Luhn formula, so an order number isn’t mistaken for one); IBANs (checked the same way banks do); phone numbers; API keys and tokens from common services and long random strings; IP addresses; and anything typed after “password”, “PIN” or “verification code”.

Is drawing over it with the phone’s markup pen safe?

Not always. A highlighter or a semi-transparent pen stroke can often be undone by turning up the brightness or contrast, and some apps keep the original under an editable drawing. A solid black box that replaces the pixels, which is what this saves, leaves nothing to recover.

Can I redact a PDF the same way?

A PDF needs more than a black box: its text is still in the file underneath, and can be copied out. Auto Redact PDF on our sister site FixMyPDFs finds the same kinds of details in a PDF and removes the text itself.

Why wasn’t something found?

Either the reader couldn’t make out the text — it was very small, faint or stylized — or it isn’t a pattern with a fixed shape, like a name or an address. Drag over it and it’s hidden like the rest. For a whole photo rather than a screenshot, Blur an Image is made for faces and plates.

Read more about this

Next steps

Often used before or after Redact a Screenshot. These run on your device too.