Signal introduces new Blur Feature

The latest version of Signal for Android and iOS introduces a new blur feature in the image editor that can help protect the privacy of the people in the photos you share.

The new feature is Signal’s way of supporting what is currently going on in the United States relating to the recent “police murders” of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Right now, people around the world are marching and protesting against racism and police brutality, outraged by the most recent police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

At Signal, we support the people who have gone into the streets to make their voices heard. We believe that something in America needs to change, and even if we don’t know exactly how, we support and trust in the people who are self-organizing around the country to figure it out.

When users take a photo in the app, or choose photos from the gallery, they will find a new Blur option alongside the existing drawing, text, and crop tools.

Tapping on that tool will then detect the faces in the photo and obscure them; while the app might not be able to identify every face perfectly, there is a blur brush for users to apply manually. It can also be used to obscure any other personal information that might have been captured in a photo.

Once users have blurred the image, it can be saved to the gallery and shared to other social media platforms.

Some face-blurring tools may require sending information off your device, but Signal has says that in order to maintain privacy, all blurring processing happens on the device you’re using. This is using “the latest system and platform-level libraries for iOS and Android”, which is why faces may not be detected every time.

Signal will also be distributing free facing coverings:

We want to do something outside of the app too, so we’ll be distributing versatile face coverings to the community free of charge. We’ve been working to find a manufacturer capable of producing high volumes of face coverings in the current global circumstances. We’re finalizing a few remaining details and will provide more information soon.