It finds the details for you
Painting over details by hand is where things get missed: the name in the chat title, the number in a reply, the email in a quoted message. An app that detects them for you misses less.
How Smudge compares
Most of the blur apps we compared leave you to find every name and number yourself. Smudge finds them for you.
Comparisons
- Smudge vs Point BlurTrace every area by hand, with ads
- Smudge vs Blur Photo Editor & MosaicText is selected by hand, with ads
- Smudge vs Screenshot EditorDetects text, but Premium is £12.99
- Smudge vs MosaicPixelate Blur Censor: draw over every area, with ads
- Smudge vs PrivacyBlurDetects faces, not text
- Smudge vs ObscuraCamFaces only, last updated in 2017
What to look for in a screenshot blur app
Four things decide whether a blurred screenshot is safe to share.
Blur that holds up
Ordinary blur and pixelation can sometimes be reversed. Unredacter and Depix rebuild pixelated text in the right conditions, and researchers have used machine learning to see through blurred and pixelated images. For anything sensitive, use a solid bar.
It stays on your phone
Check the Data safety section on an app's Google Play listing. You want your screenshots edited on the phone, not uploaded to a server.
No ads, no account
Ad-supported apps usually collect device IDs and share them for advertising. A screenshot tool needs neither ads nor an account.
Sources for the details above, checked 24 September 2026.
Questions
What's the best app to blur a screenshot on Android?
In a screenshot, the details that matter are usually text: names, phone numbers, emails and card numbers. Smudge finds those for you and hides them in one tap. Of the other apps we compared, most make you select text by hand or only detect faces.
Can you blur a screenshot in Google Photos?
Not with a blur tool. Google's help lists Pen, Highlight and Text as the Markup tools, so the closest you can get is drawing over a detail with the pen. An app like Smudge blurs, pixelates or blacks out details instead.
Can blurred text be unblurred?
Sometimes, yes. Ordinary blur and pixelation keep enough of each letter's shape for de-blurring tools to have a go. Smudge mixes random noise into everything it blurs or pixelates, and for the most sensitive details its Blackout style leaves nothing underneath.
Spill the tea. Smudge the names.
Smudge is coming soon to Google Play. It's free, with no ads and no account, and your screenshots never leave your phone.