Google Photos' Redact Tool Censors Sensitive Areas with Pixelation

Google Photos has been working on a new feature called Redact, which would allow users to censor sensitive areas of their photos. A recent APK teardown revealed that the feature was buried in code and could be enabled by tapping a button in the Markup section. However, the initial attempt crashed the app, leaving the actual redaction method unclear.

After further development, the Redact tool is now functional in version 7.89 of Google Photos. It offers three redaction styles: Mosaic, Mosaic Light, and Blur. The Mosaic style breaks up selected areas into pixelated blocks, while Mosaic Light does a similar job but with larger blocks. Blur, on the other hand, applies a grain-like noise over the area.

The Redact tool is still in development and has not been made available to users yet. It's unclear when or if it will be rolled out publicly. However, the progress from a non-functional button to a working feature in just a month is a significant step forward.