Blurring someone’s face in an image is a great way to protect their privacy, while still showcasing the rest of the image. Adobe Express’s face blur effect is a useful tool that can hide sensitive information. Whether you want to post a photo on social media and protect the people in the background, or create an artistic effect – our face blur tool is here to help you make the edit your need in seconds.

Read on to learn more about how to do the blur face effect in your images.

Why blur faces in a photo?

There are many reasons why you might want to or need to blur faces in a photo. Below are some of the reasons you might need and our face blur tool.

• Anonymise yourself or another subject. It’s not just strangers you can blur – you can also edit photos of yourself. If you don’t want to be publicly identified, blurring your face can be a good option.
• Protect children’s identity. More and more people are blurring their children’s faces when they post images on social media. If you have an image with your child, you protect their identity using the face blur tool.
• Steer the focus of the photo. You can blur areas of a photo to highlight the focus. This will help draw attention to the focal point of the image.
• Hide strangers faces in the background. If you’ve taken an image in public, blurring any strangers is a good idea (especially if you plan on publishing it online).
• Security if at a location. Sharing an image that reveals someone’s location or surroundings can compromise their safety. Blurring a person’s face helps protect more than just their identity.
• Comply with privacy or legal guidelines. In some cases—such as journalism, user-generated content, or corporate use—blurring faces may be necessary to meet privacy regulations or content usage policies.

How to do a face blur effect with Adobe Express.

It’s simple and easy to use Adobe Express’s face blur effect. You can have the perfectly blurred image ready to share in seconds.

1. Upload your photo to Adobe Express.

Head to Adobe Express and upload your image.

2. Select the face you want to blur.

Once you’ve uploaded your image, you’ll need to right click on it and duplicate it. This will make a new, identical layer.

Crop the top layer to just the area you want to blur (for example, someone’s face).

3. Select the appropriate blur tool.

Make sure the cropped top layer is selected. Go to the adjustments panel on the left-hand side and use the “blur” slider to achieve the level of blur required.

Or, use the background blur tool to blur multiple faces in the background of your image in one step.

4. Experiment with the level of blurring.

Adobe Express’s face blur effect can be adjusted to your desired level of blur. From a light feather to a strong block blur. Experiment with the blur tool to find the level of blurring required for your image.

5. Make any final edits, then save and share.

Adobe Express has a range of photo editing features. So, make as many edits needed and click save. You can even resize your picture to fit different social media channels.

Free face blur effect ideas and examples.

Tips for using face blur effects.

Before you just straight into it and start using the face blur effect, there are some things you should consider.

• Experiment with different blur intensities. Even a slight blur will still add anonymity. While it might be tempting to raise the blur to 100%, the blocked look my not suit the aesthetic of the picture.
• Hide faces in a more creative way. There are other ways to hide faces/make them more discreet. You can use icons and emojis placed strategically to protect someone’s identity.
• Make the most of face blur effects on social. Using a face blur effect on social media is a great idea when an image could be seen hundreds, sometimes thousands of people.
• Keep a clean backup. Before applying blur effects, save an original, unedited version of the image. This way, you’ll always have a copy you can return to if needed later.
• Double-check group photos. If you’re posting a group shot, make sure to review the entire image. Someone partially in frame or blurred in the background may still be recognisable, so take care to blur all necessary faces.

Resize your photos and images with the AI Image Resizer.

Once you’ve finished blurring your image, you can use Adobe Express’s AI image resizer to adjust it to the perfect size. Whether you’re posting it on a website, sharing it on social media, or printing it for your home, resizing is quick and easy. And there’s no need to worry about losing quality—our AI resizer intelligently analyses your image and fills in any gaps for a seamless, polished result. Try Adobe Express’s AI resizer.

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Good to know.

How do you blur faces on an iPhone?

If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or later, the photo app will let you pixilate and blur faces. Older models will need to use third-party software such as Adobe Express to blur faces.

How do you blur faces on Android?

To blur faces on an Android device you will need to use third-party software like Adobe Express. You can download Adobe Express from the Play Store.

Can you remove a face blur effect?

Once you’ve applied a blur and saved your image, it usually can’t be reversed. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep a copy of the original. In Adobe Express, you can sharpen soft images slightly or return to your unedited version if you're working within a saved project or an unexported Photoshop file (PSD).

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.