Comparison · checked November 8, 2026
Best offline face blur apps for iPhone (2026)
I'm David Balderston, and I make Blur Photo & Face Censor, one of the 13 apps in this table. I rechecked every row against its current U.S. App Store listing on November 8, 2026. An app counts as on-device or offline only where its own listing says so, and I say plainly where another app is the better pick.
The short version. Nine of the 13 apps say on their listing that photos are processed on the device. Which one to pick:
- Video: Kumo (on-device, Data Not Collected; Premium $9.99/year removes the watermark). Blurize and Auto Blur Faces also do video on-device, but both contain ads and have privacy labels that include tracking.
- Free, with auto-detection of plates and text: Blurshot. It needs iOS 26.
- Free on an older iPhone: BlurFace or FaceBlur photo editor. Neither lists in-app purchases. FaceBlur says it keeps location data in the photo and hasn't been updated since 2020. BlurFace's privacy label includes tracking.
- A different emoji or style on each face: Poof, Kumo, or Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji.
- Pay once, no watermark, no data collected: Blur Photo & Face Censor ($4.99). It also gives you batches of up to 20 photos, iPad support, and iOS 17 support.
The comparison table
| App (developer) | U.S. price | Subscription? | On-device / offline? | Standout | Limits | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blur Photo & Face Censor David Balderston (this site) · Label: Data Not Collected | $4.99 one-time | No; no in-app purchases | Yes (per listing) | You choose faces or use Protect All. Opaque Privacy Cover, Mosaic, Emoji, or Soft Blur. Batches of 1–20. iPhone and iPad. Exports drop GPS, date, and camera data. | Photos only, no video. No automatic plate or text detection. One cover style per photo. Paid upfront. | Listing |
| Blurshot (Blur Faces: Censor) ENGINES STUDIO LAB · Label: Data Not Collected | Free | No; no in-app purchases listed | Yes (per listing) | Auto-detects faces, license plates, and text in one pass. Mosaic, pixelate, Gaussian blur, or a solid black bar (the default for text). No watermark. Strips EXIF and location. Says it works in airplane mode. | Requires iOS 26. iPhone only (no iPad listed). No video mentioned. | Listing |
| Kumo – Blur Faces Franck Geslin · Label: Data Not Collected | Free download; Kumo Premium $9.99/year | Yes (yearly) | Yes (per listing) | Video with face tracking. Per-face stickers and 3D animal masks. Strips EXIF and GPS. | Premium removes the watermark and unlocks unlimited video and HD export. iPhone only. | Listing |
| Poof: Blur Faces in Photos SHEPHERD TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. · Label: Data Not Linked to You | Free download; Pro $3.99/month, $11.99/year, or $24.99 lifetime | Optional; lifetime available | Yes (per listing) | Emoji, blur, pixelate, solid color, or stickers, with a different style per face. Shortcuts action. Exports drop location, date, and camera data. | Free exports auto-cover only the most prominent faces and add a watermark. Batch editing is Pro. iOS 18+. iPhone only. | Listing |
| Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji 逸文 周 · Label: Data Not Collected | Free download; $2.49/week or $26.99/year | Yes | Yes (per listing) | Seven effects, including a solid cover and grids. Hundreds of emoji and stickers. Per-face controls. Add a region for a missed face. | Weekly or yearly subscription. The listing doesn't say which features are free. | Listing |
| Blurize: Offline Face Blur OKAN ATABAG · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free download; Premium $1.49/week, $14.99/year, or $44.99 lifetime | Optional; lifetime available | Yes (per listing) | Video up to 10 minutes with Premium. License-plate detection. Voice changer. Many photos at once. | Free includes blur and pixelate and videos up to 1 minute. Premium unlocks videos up to 10 minutes, no Blurize watermark, and all conceal styles. Contains ads. Label includes tracking. | Listing |
| Auto Blur Faces: Photo & Video Duong Vu · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free download; in-app purchases $1.99–$34.99 (including a $34.99 lifetime option) | Yes, or lifetime | Yes (per listing) | Video tracking and batch video. Auto-detects faces and license plates. Metadata editor. Tap to choose who stays visible. | Contains ads. Label includes tracking. The listing doesn't say what's free. | Listing |
| BlurFace Lukas Lubbe · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free | No; no in-app purchases listed | Yes (per listing) | “Completely free: No subscriptions, no watermarks.” Pixelate, blur, mosaic, or crystallize, plus a brush. iOS 14.1+. | Label includes Data Used to Track You and Data Linked to You. Last updated June 2025. | Listing |
| FaceBlur photo editor Roman Shevtsov · Label: No Details Provided | Free | No; no in-app purchases listed | Yes (per listing) | “100% free, no ads, no watermarks.” Feathered masks. iOS 11+. About 1,900 ratings, 4.7 average. | Listing says photo metadata and location are preserved. Last updated May 2020. | Listing |
| Censor: Face Blur & Pixelate PRODEKS UA · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free download; $4.99/week or $12.99/year | Yes | Not stated | Auto-detection plus manual areas. Black bar, mosaic, or motion blur. | Listing says face blur, mosaic, and black bars come with the subscription. Contains ads. | Listing |
| Blur Photo Effect Background Honk Honk Punch · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free download; Premium $2.99/month or $11.99/year; Remove Ads $2.99 | Yes | Not stated | General blur editor with AI face, object, and background detection. About 27,500 ratings, 4.7 average. | Subscription for all effects. Contains ads. | Listing |
| Blur Photo Grey Desk SA · Label: Data Linked to You | Free download; in-app purchases $4.99–$99.99 (weekly, monthly, and yearly plans) | Yes | Not stated | General manual blur-brush editor. About 31,500 ratings, 4.4 average. | The listing doesn't mention automatic face detection. Subscription plans. | Listing |
| Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic GIGABUBBLE INC. · Label: Data Used to Track You | Free download; $4.29/month, $29.99/year, or $69.99 one-time; Hide ads $4.99 | Optional; one-time available | Not stated | Automatically blurs faces and license plates. Filters, text, and joining photos. About 6,400 ratings, 4.7 average. | Contains ads. Label includes tracking. | Listing |
Checked November 8, 2026. Prices, in-app purchases, privacy labels, “Contains ads,” and device compatibility come from each app's U.S. App Store page. On-device statements are quoted or paraphrased from each listing's description. Rating counts are from Apple's iTunes lookup API. Privacy labels are self-reported by developers and not verified by Apple. We did not lab-test detection or network behavior. Prices change, so check the App Store before buying.
What each listing says about on-device processing
- Blur Photo & Face Censor: “The app has no photo server. Processing stays on-device.”
- Blurshot: “Everything runs on device. Your photos never leave your iPhone, the app works in airplane mode.”
- Kumo: “Everything runs on your iPhone. No upload, no account, no servers.”
- Poof: “No cloud. No uploads. No accounts. 100% private, 100% on your iPhone.”
- Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji: “Photo processing stays on your device. No photo upload required.”
- Blurize: “Your photos and videos never leave your device — turn off your internet and Blurize still works.”
- Auto Blur Faces: “We process everything 100% OFFLINE on your device.”
- BlurFace: “100% on-device processing — no cloud.”
- FaceBlur photo editor: “Everything is done instantly on your device in offline, NO uploading your photos to any remote servers.”
- Censor, Blur Photo Effect Background, Blur Photo, Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic: no on-device or upload statement in the listing, so we mark them “Not stated.” That doesn't mean they upload. It means their listings don't say.
Where each one fits
Blur Photo & Face Censor
Choose it if you want to pay once ($4.99) for every feature, with no watermark and nothing uploaded. Faces are detected on the device and you pick which to cover. Covers: opaque Privacy Cover, Mosaic, Emoji, and Soft Blur. Batches of 1–20 photos. Exports drop GPS, date, and camera data. Works on iPhone and iPad from iOS 17.
Skip it if you need video, automatic plate or text detection, a different style on each face, or a free tool.
See a before-and-after example (sample photo, in-app preview).
Blurshot
Better fit if you're on iOS 26 and want a free tool that finds faces, license plates, and blocks of text in one pass, with no watermark. It defaults to a solid bar for text, which is the right call. Data Not Collected, and no in-app purchases listed.
Catch: requires iOS 26 or later. iPhone only.
Kumo – Blur Faces
Better fit if you need to hide faces in videos. It tracks faces across a clip, lets you choose who stays visible, and offers lots of sticker masks. Data Not Collected.
Catch: Kumo Premium ($9.99/year) removes the watermark and unlocks unlimited video and HD export.
Poof
Better fit if you cover crowds and want a different emoji or style per face, a Shortcuts action, or a lifetime unlock ($24.99).
Catch: free exports cover only the most prominent faces and add a watermark. iOS 18+.
Blurize and Auto Blur Faces
Better fit if you need video plus license-plate detection on-device. Blurize also changes voices and offers a $44.99 lifetime unlock. Auto Blur Faces can process several videos as a batch.
Catch: both contain ads and have privacy labels that include “Data Used to Track You.”
BlurFace and FaceBlur photo editor
Better fit if you want a free tool with no subscription on an older iPhone. Both listings say processing is on-device and exports have no watermark.
Catch: BlurFace's label includes tracking. FaceBlur says it keeps photo metadata, including location, and was last updated in 2020.
Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji
Better fit if you want lots of sticker, grid, and solid-cover styles with per-face control. Data Not Collected.
Catch: $2.49/week or $26.99/year subscription.
General “blur photo” editors
Better fit if you also want background blur, filters, or extra editing tools. That means Blur Photo (Grey Desk), Blur Photo Effect Background, and Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic, which each have thousands of ratings.
Catch: subscriptions, no on-device statement in their listings, and privacy labels that include “Data Used to Track You” or “Data Linked to You.”
General photo editors: Facetune and Snapseed
Facetune (Lightricks) has a Defocus blur tool, which its website says can blur “specific areas like faces in photos or license plates.” Its App Store listing doesn't describe automatic face censoring or an opaque cover. It's subscription-based (in-app purchases from $5.99 to $77.99), and its privacy label includes Data Used to Track You. It's most useful if you already subscribe to Facetune.
Snapseed (Google) is free, and its listing says “no subscriptions, purchases, ads, or watermarks.” It's an excellent general editor. Its listing describes Lens Blur (background bokeh) and Motion Blur but no face blur, pixelate, or censor tool. Its privacy label is Data Linked to You.
Web tools and free built-in options
Web tools such as BlurMe, iLoveIMG, Watermarkly, and Facepixelizer work in any browser, including on Android and Windows. Some say they process photos in the browser, and others upload them. What each one says is in blur a face without uploading the photo. On iPhone, Photos Markup can draw an opaque box over a face for free, and Clean Up on Apple Intelligence iPhones may pixelate a face you brush over. Details: free ways to hide a face on iPhone. To hide only some people in a group shot, see blur only some faces in a group photo.
How we compared
- We picked the face-blur apps that rank in Apple's U.S. App Store search for “face blur,” “blur faces,” “censor face,” “pixelate face,” and “face blur offline,” plus the apps from our September comparison. Every listing was fetched again on November 8, 2026.
- Prices and in-app purchases come from each listing's In-App Purchases section and description. Where a purchase name doesn't give a period, we give the price range instead of guessing.
- “On-device / offline” is “Yes (per listing)” only where the description says so in words. Otherwise it's “Not stated.” We did not test network behavior.
- Features and limits come from each developer's own description. We haven't lab-tested detection accuracy, so we don't rank it.
- Since September, Kumo Premium changed from $4.99/year to $9.99/year, Poof's seller is now listed as SHEPHERD TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., and Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic is now listed under GIGABUBBLE INC. We added Blurize, Auto Blur Faces, BlurFace, and FaceBlur photo editor.
- We make one of these apps. Corrections are welcome: support@safelittlefaces.com.
Sources (checked November 8, 2026)
- Blur Photo & Face Censor
- Blurshot (Blur Faces: Censor)
- Kumo – Blur Faces
- Poof: Blur Faces in Photos
- Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji
- Blurize: Offline Face Blur
- Auto Blur Faces: Photo & Video
- BlurFace
- FaceBlur photo editor
- Censor: Face Blur & Pixelate
- Blur Photo Effect Background
- Blur Photo
- Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic
- Facetune · Facetune blur feature page · Snapseed
- Rating counts: iTunes lookup API (itunes.apple.com/lookup, country=us), November 8, 2026
Questions
What is the best offline face blur app for iPhone?
It depends on what you need. For video, Kumo processes on-device and its label is Data Not Collected. For a free tool on iOS 26 that also finds plates and text, Blurshot. To pay once with no watermark, no data collected, an opaque cover, iPad support, and iOS 17 support, Blur Photo & Face Censor ($4.99). Each of these listings says photos are processed on the device.
Is there a free face blur app for iPhone?
Yes. Blurshot (iOS 26+), BlurFace, and FaceBlur photo editor are free with no in-app purchases listed. Poof and Kumo have free tiers that add a watermark. iPhone's built-in Markup can also draw an opaque box over a face for free.
Which face blur apps work on video?
Kumo, Blurize, and Auto Blur Faces handle video and say they process on-device. Unlimited video in Kumo needs Premium ($9.99/year), and Blurize's free tier is limited to 1-minute videos. Blur Photo & Face Censor is photos only.
Is there a face blur app with no subscription?
Yes. Blur Photo & Face Censor is $4.99 once with no in-app purchases. Blurshot, BlurFace, and FaceBlur photo editor are free with none listed. Poof ($24.99), Auto Blur Faces ($34.99), Blurize ($44.99), and Blur Photo Editor & Mosaic ($69.99) offer one-time unlocks alongside subscriptions.
Which face blur apps don't collect data?
On their App Store privacy labels, Blur Photo & Face Censor, Blurshot, Kumo, and Face Blur: Mosaic & Emoji show “Data Not Collected.” Labels are self-reported by developers.
Want the one-price, no-upload option?
Blur Photo & Face Censor works on your iPhone or iPad, exports a new copy without location data, and never uploads your photos. $4.99 once, no subscription.