Stop Using IOS Highlighter to Hide Personal Information in Your Photos
You don’t have to follow every TikTok tip that goes through your feed, but it’s worth heeding this recent tech tip: don’t use an iOS marker to block out important information in screenshots and other images.
As the TikTok account lifehack.america (not related) shows, other iOS users can undo certain edits you make to images. For example, let’s say you use the marker tool in the stock iOS Photos app to block out information. Another user can also open the marked up image in Photos and then edit the exposure and brightness to “undo” the marker marks and see what you’ve been hiding. This trick is possible because the selection tool doesn’t actually draw opaque pixels directly on the image, it just changes the hue and brightness of the pixels that are already there.
While this disturbing discovery will likely leave users wondering the next time they turn to the selection tool to block phone numbers, usernames, bank card details, and other sensitive information, it doesn’t necessarily preclude drawing over images as a way to preserve information. private.
As some users pointed out in the comments of lifehack.america, the brightness and exposure trick only works if the information below it is hidden by a single line from the selection tool. Repeated strokes are more likely to confuse what you’re trying to hide. Note that “multiple strokes” doesn’t mean chaotic writing at a time – you need to constantly draw lines by touching the screen, swiping, and then lifting it again and again to create multiple strokes.
Easy Ways to Securely Hide Sensitive Information on Your iPhone
However, there are better ways to hide your information, like the rectangle tool in the Photos app, or even blocking things with emoji. You can also crop your image in Photos so that personal information is not displayed. There are also third-party apps like MaskerAid or Signal that let you blur or paint directly on the image (rather than new “layers”) to safely block out whatever you’re trying to hide. And, of course, you can also upload your photos to image editing tools like Photoshop or GIMP, paint over or crop sensitive information, and then save as a JPEG or PNG to merge layers and prevent other people from undoing your edits.
Whatever tools you use, just make sure whatever you’re hiding is completely hidden, as there are tools that can easily reveal partially hidden text and “blur” images . Or, you know, just don’t send or upload anything with sensitive data at all.
[ New York Post ]