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Redactly

Guide

How to blur faces in a video on iPhone

The short version: there isn't a native tool for this, because covering a face and tracking one across a moving clip are different problems.

You can blur a face in a video on iPhone two ways. Manually, using Markup in the Photos app — but Markup only edits a still image, so it can cover a face in one screenshotted frame, not follow it as it moves. Or automatically, with an app like Redactly, which finds every face on the device, tracks it across frames, and exports a video where the cover moves with it. If the person in frame moves at all — and in video, they almost always do — the manual route can’t keep up. That gap between a still frame and a moving one is the actual difficulty here, not finding something that draws a blur shape.

Method 1

Using only what's built into iPhone

This works, but only on a single still frame — read step five before you rely on it for a whole clip.

  1. Pause the video on the frame you want to hide

    Open the clip in Photos and drag the scrubber until the face you want to cover is on screen, then stop right there.

  2. Screenshot that paused frame

    Press Side button + Volume Up to capture exactly what's on screen. This gives you a still photo of that one moment — the video itself is untouched.

  3. Open the screenshot and tap Edit, then Markup

    In Photos, open the new screenshot, tap Edit, then the Markup icon (the pen in a circle) in the toolbar.

  4. Draw a solid shape over the face

    Tap the + button, choose a shape, then resize and position it over the face and set its fill to solid. This covers the face in that still image — it doesn't blur it in the moving sense, but it hides it. Tap Done to save.

  5. Repeat for every frame the face appears in

    A face that moves for even two seconds of video is visible in dozens of frames, each slightly different. Markup only edits the one image you screenshotted — there's no way to apply that cover across a moving clip without redoing this for every frame, which is not practical by hand.

Method 2

Using Redactly to track the face automatically

Detection, tracking and export all happen on the device — nothing about the video is uploaded.

  1. Install Redactly and open your video

    Import the clip from Photos or Files, or record a new one in the app. It's processed on your iPhone and never uploaded.

  2. Let it scan

    Redactly finds every face on-device and lists each one with its timecode and a HIGH or REVIEW confidence label, so you can see what it found before anything changes.

  3. Review the list

    Deselect any face that should stay visible — yourself, for instance — and draw a region manually if the scan missed one. Turn on motion tracking so the cover follows the face as it moves through frame instead of staying fixed in one spot.

  4. Confirm with the before/after slider

    In Preview, drag the slider across the frame and scrub the timeline. You watch the actual exposed face disappear, rather than trusting that it worked.

  5. Export

    Save to Photos or share. The free version exports at up to 1080p with no watermark and no length limit; Redactly Pro keeps the source resolution up to 4K and adds Pixelate and Block styles alongside Blur.

Redactly finds faces on-device, tracks them as they move, and lets you verify the result with a before/after slider before you export.

Download on theApp Store

Alternatives

Other ways to do it, and the trade-offs

iMovie

Apple's free editor doesn't include a blur, pixelate or mosaic effect at all. You can crop, cut away or drop a title card over a shot, but nothing that covers and tracks a moving face — for this specific task, iMovie isn't actually an option.

Desktop editors (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro)

These include a blur or mosaic effect with motion tracking, and can do a more precise job if you already edit on a computer. The trade-off is the learning curve, the software's cost, and moving the footage off your phone and back.

Online face-blurring tools

Quick for a single clip and no app to install. The trade-off is that you upload the video to someone else's server to redact it — often the exact thing blurring a face is meant to avoid — and many cap the free tier's length or stamp a watermark on the result.

Redactly

Finds and tracks faces on-device, with nothing uploaded. Detection, editing, preview and export are free with no watermark and no length limit at up to 1080p; Pro adds full-resolution export up to 4K plus Pixelate and Block.

FAQ

Questions people ask about this

Can Photos or iMovie blur a moving face on their own?
Not a moving one. Photos' Markup tool can cover a face in a single still frame you've screenshotted, and iMovie has no blur or pixelate effect at all. Neither can track a face as it moves through a video.
Why doesn't covering one frame cover the whole clip?
A face that's visible for even a couple of seconds appears in dozens of individual frames, each one slightly different as the person or the camera moves. A cover drawn on one screenshotted frame only exists on that one image — the video's other frames are unaffected.
Will the blur stay on the face if it moves or the camera pans?
With motion tracking turned on in Redactly, yes — the redaction follows the face across frames. If tracking becomes uncertain, Redactly widens the covered area rather than risk exposing the face, and tells you exactly where that happened so you can re-anchor it.
Does this change my original video?
No. Exporting writes a separate redacted copy — the file you started with is left exactly as it was.
Is my video uploaded anywhere when I use an app for this?
Depends on the app. Redactly processes everything on your iPhone using Apple's on-device frameworks and works the same in airplane mode — there's no server for your video to be sent to. Many web-based tools require an upload; check before you use one if that matters to you.
Can I blur more than faces in the same pass?
Yes — Redactly also detects on-screen text and license plates in the same scan, each listed separately with its own timecodes.

More on how detection and tracking work in the app is in the support FAQ.