Think about the last screenshot you shared. A delivery confirmation, a banking app balance, a parked car photo with the license plate in full view. Chances are it revealed more than you meant to share.
Google just fixed that, directly inside Google Photos. Here’s exactly how the new tool works, and how to use it today.
Core Highlights
- Google Photos has added a new “Redact” tool that pixelates or blurs sensitive information in any image.
- It lives inside the app’s upgraded Markup feature, alongside the pen, highlighter, and text tools.
- Three redaction styles are available: Mosaic, Mosaic Light, and Blur.
- The feature is rolling out globally to all Google Photos users on Android.
- The update also includes new pen thickness sliders and additional fonts for the Markup text tool.
- A separate AI feature called Wardrobe is expanding to more users in the US, India, and Brazil.
- Android users are also getting “Moods,” a set of AI-powered vintage photo filters.
- Gemini Spark integration lets AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US find and edit photos using plain text prompts.
1. Why This Feature Actually Matters.
License plates and house numbers are two of the most common details people overshare.
Screenshots leak more information than most people realize. A photo of your car often includes the license plate. A screenshot of an order confirmation often includes your address. Meanwhile, a banking app screenshot might reveal an account number without you even noticing it’s visible.
Until now, fixing this meant exporting the image to a separate editing app, blurring the sensitive area manually, and re-saving it. That extra friction meant most people simply skipped the step entirely. Redact removes that friction by building the fix directly into the app you’re already using to share the photo.
2. How to Actually Use Redact, Step by Step.
Open the photo, tap Markup, pick Redact, then draw over the area and save.
Here’s the process, broken down simply. First, open the photo you want to edit inside Google Photos. Look for the Markup tool, represented by a pen icon, and tap it to open the editing options.
Next, select the Redact pen from the toolbar, which sits alongside the regular pen, highlighter, and text tools. Choose your preferred style: Mosaic for a classic pixelated look, Mosaic Light for bigger, chunkier blocks, or Blur for a grainy, static-like effect. A slider also lets you adjust the brush size.
Then simply draw over the area you want to hide, whether that’s a license plate, an address, or an account number. Finally, save your edited image before sharing it.
3. Three Styles, and Which One Actually Works Best.
Mosaic Light uses bigger blocks than Mosaic, while Blur adds a grainy, static-like texture.
Not all redaction looks are created equal. According to hands-on testing by Android Authority, Mosaic breaks the selected area into small pixelated blocks. Mosaic Light, despite its name, actually uses larger, coarser blocks. As a result, it hides more detail, which makes it the stronger pick for text like plate numbers or account digits.
Blur, on the other hand, isn’t a smooth camera-style blur. Instead, Google layers a grain-like noise over the area, closer to TV static. In practice, that noise makes shapes and colors underneath harder to read than a soft blur would.
Still, no pixelation or blur is completely foolproof, especially on small text. For anything truly sensitive, a solid block drawn with the regular Markup pen is the safest option.
4. One Important Warning Before You Share.
A single missed edge can undo an otherwise perfect redaction, so always zoom in before sharing.
Here’s the part worth taking seriously. Redaction tools are only as good as how carefully you use them. A missed edge, a reflection in a window, or a shadow can sometimes still reveal the information you thought you’d hidden.
Before sending any redacted photo, zoom in and check the full-size image carefully. This is especially important for anything involving financial details, government ID numbers, or personal addresses. In those cases, a small mistake could matter a lot more than a typo.
5. The Rest of This Update, Quickly.
Redact isn’t traveling alone. Alongside it, Google also expanded Wardrobe, its AI-powered closet cataloging feature that scans your photo library to help with outfit ideas, to more users in the US, India, and Brazil. Android users are additionally getting Moods, a set of AI vintage-style filters including looks inspired by 35mm film and early-2000s digital cameras.
For subscribers to Google’s AI Pro and Ultra plans in the US, Gemini Spark integration now allows finding and editing photos using plain text prompts instead of manual tools. However, that particular feature remains limited to the US for now, with no international rollout timeline announced yet.
6. Who Should Actually Care About This.
If you regularly share screenshots, whether for work, marketplace listings, or just chatting with friends, this update is worth paying attention to. Redact doesn’t require a subscription or any special account tier. That makes it one of the more genuinely useful privacy tools Google has shipped recently.
Samsung, OPPO, and OnePlus have offered similar built-in redaction tools at the system level for a while now. With this update, Google is bringing the same convenience to Photos itself. In other words, the feature now works consistently regardless of which Android phone you’re using.
Frequently Asked Questions.
What is the Redact tool in Google Photos?
Redact is a new feature inside Google Photos’ Markup tool that lets you pixelate or blur sensitive information in a photo, such as a license plate, address, or account number, before sharing it.
How do I use Redact in Google Photos?
Open a photo, tap the Markup pen icon, select the Redact pen from the toolbar, choose a style (Mosaic, Mosaic Light, or Blur), draw over the area you want to hide, and save the edited image.
Is the Redact tool free to use?
Yes. Redact is part of the standard Markup feature in Google Photos and does not require a Google One or Gemini subscription.
Is Redact available on iPhone?
As of this rollout, Redact is launching on Android. No iOS availability has been announced yet.
If you’re curious how AI is showing up elsewhere in Google’s ecosystem, you might also want to check out our breakdown of the recent Gemini AI security incident, which covers a very different side of how Google’s AI systems are evolving.
Sources: Reporting based on Engadget, Android Authority, 9to5Google, and Dataconomy.