BlurDataNative Mac app · since 2024
Redact a screenshot on Mac with Markup (free) or BlurData (automatic)
To redact a screenshot on a Mac for free, open it in Markup (click the thumbnail after Shift-Command-4, or use Preview), draw a rectangle over each item, set its fill to black and save: in a PNG the box becomes part of the image. BlurData does it automatically, finding emails, names, IP addresses and account numbers on its own.
- Made in Europe
- 100% offline
- 14-day money-back guarantee
Customer since 2023 · Ticket #4821
- Last login IP
- API key
- Card on file
- Visa ending 4242
- Plan
- Pro, billed monthly
- NameEleanor Whitfield×1
- Email[email protected]×1
- IP address203.0.113.42×1
- Your pattern: tokensk_live_EXAMPLE…×1
The free way: Markup, built into macOS
Open the screenshot in Markup
Right after Shift-Command-4, click the thumbnail that appears in the corner of the screen. For a screenshot you already saved, open it in Preview and click the Markup button.
Draw a rectangle over each item
Click Shapes, pick the rectangle and drag it over the email, name, number or token you want to hide.
Make the box solid black
With the box selected, set Fill Color and Border Color to black. An empty outline hides nothing, and a light or see-through color can still be read.
Save it, then share the saved file
Click Done, or save in Preview. In a PNG or JPEG the box becomes part of the image once it's saved, and it can no longer be moved or deleted.
The automatic way: BlurData finds it for you
Drop the screenshot into BlurData
Drag in any PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF or WebP, taken with Shift-Command-4 or any other screenshot app, or a whole folder of them.
Let it find the data
BlurData marks emails, names, addresses, IP addresses, URLs, amounts, account numbers and license plates on its own, in one pass. Turn on Barcodes & QR codes to cover those too.
Add what's specific to you
Presets add phone numbers, card numbers and ID formats. For tokens, API keys, usernames or ticket numbers, add your own pattern once and it's found with everything else. Draw a box by hand for anything left.
Export the redacted image
Choose blur, pixelate or a solid box, then save a new PNG or copy it to paste into Slack, a ticket or a post. The covered pixels are replaced, so there's no hidden layer to remove.
Screenshots and PDFs are not the same here. Preview's Redact tool is built for PDFs, so for a screenshot a filled shape is the way, and it holds once the image is saved. In a PDF, a box drawn with Markup is only a layer on top of the page: the text underneath can still be selected, copied or found by search. To redact a PDF on Mac, use the Redact tool or BlurData, then drop the file into the free redaction checker to see if any text is left.
Redact an image or photo, not just a screenshot
The same scan works on any image, PNG, JPEG, HEIC (iPhone photos), TIFF or WebP: a photo of a contract, a picture of an ID card, a scanned page saved as an image, a parking photo with a license plate in it. On-device OCR reads the text in the picture, BlurData marks what it recognizes, and you add anything else with a box.
Photos of documents
Letters, receipts and forms photographed with a phone. Names, addresses, account numbers and amounts are found in the picture like in any screenshot.
License plates
Plates in street and parking photos are detected and covered, so a picture can be posted or filed without the car being identified.
A clean new file
The exported image is written from scratch, so the camera details and location stored in the original photo are not carried over.
BlurData vs other Mac screenshot redaction tools
| Tool | Auto PII detection | PDF support | Batch | Native Mac |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BlurData | ✅ 8 built-in + regex for anything | ✅ | ✅ folders | ✅ |
| CleanShot X | ❌ 0, manual only | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Xnapper | ~4 types, no regex | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Snagit | ✅ Smart Redact, 9 types | ❌ images only | Not stated | ✅ |
| Shottr | ❌ 0, manual only | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| macOS Preview | ❌ manual only | ✅ since Big Sur | ❌ | ✅ |
Snagit's Smart Redact (Mac and Windows, $39/user/year as of October 2026) finds addresses, card numbers, dates, emails, faces, IP addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and URLs in images, and TechSmith states the image is not uploaded. Its documentation covers images, not PDFs.
Common screenshot redaction use cases
Developers
Share terminal output, error logs, API responses and database dumps without leaking tokens, IPs, internal hostnames or production data.
Customer support
Attach screenshots to public help threads or shared docs with customer emails, names and account numbers automatically removed.
Product & design
Post screenshots of your app in beta channels, Twitter or Show HN without revealing real user data sitting in the demo account.
Sales & marketing
Use real-world screenshots in pitch decks and case studies, with names and amounts auto-redacted so you stay NDA-safe.
Healthcare
Share clinical app screenshots and EMR dashboards with PHI stripped before they hit a chat, ticket or training slide.
Journalists
Publish screenshots of documents, chat logs and leaked materials with sources and bystanders anonymized.
Frequently asked questions
How do I redact a screenshot on Mac for free?
Use Markup, which is built into macOS. Click the thumbnail after Shift-Command-4 (or open the image in Preview and click Markup), choose Shapes, draw a rectangle over each item, set Fill Color and Border Color to black, then click Done or save. In a PNG or JPEG the box can't be moved or deleted after saving.
What's the fastest way to redact credit card numbers and email addresses from screenshots on a Mac?
Let an app find them instead of boxing each one by hand. BlurData finds email addresses on its own, and the Bank Statement preset adds full and masked card numbers. Drop one screenshot or a whole folder, check the marks and export. In Markup you have to spot and cover every number yourself.
Which Mac screenshot tool can redact IP addresses, usernames and tokens at once?
BlurData finds IP addresses on its own, along with emails, names, URLs and account numbers. Usernames and tokens look different in every team and service, so you add your own pattern for them, for example a token prefix or your team's username style, and from then on they are covered in the same pass, without uploading the screenshot.
Is a black box drawn in Markup a real redaction?
In a screenshot, yes, once it's saved: in a PNG or JPEG the box becomes part of the pixels and can't be moved or deleted. In a PDF, no: a shape is a separate layer on top of the page, and the text under it can still be selected and copied. To redact a PDF on Mac, use Preview's Redact tool or BlurData, then test the file with the free redaction checker.
Does BlurData upload my screenshots, and is it free?
Nothing is uploaded: finding and covering the data happen on your Mac, and the exported image has the covered pixels replaced. BlurData isn't free and there's no free trial. It costs $79 a year or $149 for a lifetime license, with a 14-day full refund if it doesn't fit your screenshots. Markup, built into macOS, costs nothing.