Google Photos can blur license plates and sensitive data. The Redact tool is coming to Androids worldwide

Want to send a photo of a new car, but without the license plate? Now your phone’s gallery can do it directly. Google has added the Redact tool to the Photos app, which can blur sensitive information or anything else you don’t want to show in an image. And it’s not another American exclusivity: according to Engadget, the tool is being rolled out to all Google Photos users on Android worldwide.

Turns a license plate into a pixelated block

The principle is simple. Redact turns the relevant part of the image into a pixelated block, so you can’t read anything from it. Engadget demonstrates this with a car’s license plate, but its use is much broader. Anything that shouldn’t be in the photo can be blurred.

The tool is most useful before sharing screenshots. A payment confirmation from online banking, an email with a delivery address, or a photo of a document for a single piece of information: it’s with such images that it’s easiest for all other data to be sent along with the necessary one. Having pixelation readily available directly in Photos is more convenient than searching for a separate app for it.

Redact is part of enhanced Markup

Google has included the new tool in the enhanced Markup feature, which allows you to draw with a pen, highlight, and write text on photos. In addition to blurring, Markup also received new fonts and precise thickness sliders for pens and highlighters.

The sliders may seem like a minor detail. However, anyone who draws arrows or highlights lines in a document on screenshots will appreciate being able to set the line thickness precisely and not having to settle for a few presets.

The new Markup is being rolled out gradually, so it may not appear to everyone in Photos on the same day. If you don’t see Redact in the app yet, just wait a little while.

Do you cover license plates or personal data on screenshots before sharing, or do you send photos as they are?

Sources: Engadget