Signal lets you blur faces in photos and you can use them in other apps too

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asked people to download encrypted messaging app Signal as protests against George Floyd’s death rages on in the US. The app has also just added a very cool blur feature that makes it all the more helpful right now

Twitter is one social media platform that is taking real active initiative in being a part of the protests that are raging across the US. After taking the call to moderate Donald Trump’s tweets on the platform, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted today about Signal.

Signal is an encrypted messaging app that’s considered to be one of the most secure apps in the world. And now, Signal has added a very cool feature that is going to be super helpful for people out protesting.

Signal has been a go-to solution for a lot of protestors across the world, even in India, since the app is more secure than any other messaging app out there. Now, imagine you are out protesting and you happen to click a photo of the demonstration or of yourself at the protests and want to post it on social media or send it to a friend. While there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s not safe. Your photo, if it falls in the wrong hands could help identify people and put them in trouble.

And since it is important to share these moments, especially right now, it’s all the more important to take certain precautions to stop authorities from snooping on these photos and targeting people in them.

Signal has launched a new tool in its app that lets you automatically blur the faces of people in your photos and the cooler thing is, you can download the photos and use these images anywhere on social media.

To get this feature, you need to make sure your Signal app is updated on your iPhone or Android device to the latest version. And then you can follow these steps:

How to blur faces on Signal:

- Open the app and head to any chat in it. Tap on the camera icon to add images.

- Select images from your gallery and then tap on the Blur icon.

- You then tap on the Blur Faces toggle to automatically blur all the faces in the photo.

- If the app is unable to detect all the faces in the photo, like say half a face or something, you can manually blur them by using the blur tool.

- Once you are done you can share your photo on Signal with anybody you want, you can also download it and save it in your gallery to use on other apps. Face recognition programs will have a tough time skimming through photos that have faces blurred, so you and those around you are safe. Authorities have used facial recognition software to gauge crowds at protests. 

Signal announced this new tool via a blog post. You can read it here.