How to Blur Images on a Mac

Posting a picture online comes with risks. Your photo might contain sensitive info or an image of someone you don’t want others to see. The good news is that you can easily blur the images before posting it online. There are dozens of available Mac apps to accomplish this. Here, we take you through how you can easily and quickly blur images on your Mac using Skitch or the built-in Photos app.

Also read:5 Best Photo Editors for Mac You Can Use for Free

Blur Images with Skitch

Part of the popular Evernote family of products, Skitch is a fantastic product that everyone should have on their computer.

1. Start by launching Skitch if you already have it downloaded or grab it from the Mac App Store.

2. After Skitch is installed, drag and drop whatever JPG or PNG file you want to edit. Alternatively, click “File -> Open” and load the image in the app window.

3. Look on the left side of the app in the vertical toolbar for “Pixelate,” the second-to-last option. You can also identify it by its icon which is blurry or pixelated.

4. Use your mouse to drag the cursor around the area you wish to blur out. This works as a square or rectangle, and you can go back over each blurred area a few times just to be 100 percent sure nothing is visible.

5. Once you have blurred all of the areas of the photo you wish to hide, save your work one of two ways:

• “File -> Export” then choose where on your Mac’s hard drive you want to save the image.
• Look at the bottom middle of the Skitch app where a tab-like option lives. Click on this area and drag and drop it into a file folder, desktop or anywhere you would like to save the image.

Both ways work the exact same, so the image doesn’t appear differently if you use one method over the other.

With Skitch, it is really easy to blur images on the Mac. However, if downloading a separate app isn’t for you, there is another method that works with the Photos app which comes pre-installed.

Blur Images Using the Photos App

To be transparent (pun intended!), using the Photos app won’t “blur” an image in the same way the Skitch method will. Instead, using the edit features available through the Photos app, you can “ReTouch” an image and remove any sensitive or unwanted info. Let’s get started.

1. Begin by opening up the pre-installed Photos app on your Mac. The app should be in your deck or available through Mission Control by pressing F4 on your keyboard.

2. Locate a photo in the app that you want to edit or add a new photo by going to “File -> Import.” Alternatively, you can also drag and drop any photo from your hard drive directly into the app.

3. Double-click on the image so that the “Edit” button appears at the top-right corner of the edit. When the edit screen pops up, look for the “Retouch” option about halfway down on the right side of the app.

4. Using the Retouch tool, drag the mouse icon across any part of an image that you wish to hide. You can increase or decrease the size of the pointer to help cover more or less of an image. Whereas Skitch actually blurs using its feature, the Retouch option is more of a smudge.

If you really need to remove something from an image, Skitch is likely the more preferred option. However, that Photos is also free and immediately available on your Mac computer, making it an easy choice to get the job done.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, it is pretty easy to blur images on a Mac. If Skitch isn’t your app of choice and the Photos app isn’t something you want to use, apps like SnagIt can do a very similar job. If you are looking to edit videos instead, check out some of the best video editors for Mac here.