Blur, pixelate or black box?
Blur softens an area so it no longer shows detail, which looks natural for faces and backgrounds. Pixelate turns the area into large squares, the classic look for hiding faces and number plates. A black box removes the information completely.
For anything sensitive, such as passwords, bank or card numbers, ID numbers and signatures, always use a black box. Light blur on short text can sometimes be guessed or partly reversed, but a solid box cannot.
Sharing screenshots safely
Before posting a screenshot of a chat, an order or an error message, check for names, phone numbers, email addresses, order numbers and QR codes. The download is a new image file containing only the visible pixels, with location and camera details stripped, so the hidden parts cannot be recovered from layers or metadata.