Guide
How to blur part of a video on a Mac
Screen recordings leak things: emails, API keys, customer names. Here’s how to hide them properly, including when they scroll.
In short
iMovie has no tool for blurring part of the frame. Full editors such as Final Cut Pro can blur a masked area with keyframes. For screen recordings, ScreenRecordii adds blur, solid or spotlight masks on the timeline, and can scan the recording on your Mac for keys, tokens, emails and card numbers and blur them automatically, following them as they move.
Blur or solid?
A light blur over large text can sometimes be read, or reversed. For secrets, use a strong blur or a solid block. Spotlight (dimming everything except one area) is for drawing attention, not hiding things.
In ScreenRecordii
Add a mask
At the playhead, choose blur, solid or spotlight, and drag it over the area.
Or scan for secrets
Hide secrets on screen reads the text in your recording, on your Mac, and finds keys, tokens, emails and card numbers.
It follows them
Found text is tracked frame to frame, so a key that scrolls up the page stays covered.
Check before export
Scrub through the masked parts, and use solid for anything sensitive.
Questions
Can I blur part of a video in iMovie?
Not directly; iMovie has no blur effect for part of the frame. People work around it with picture-in-picture, or use another app.
Does the secrets scan upload my video?
No. It uses your Mac’s own text recognition and nothing leaves the Mac.
Will the blur follow scrolling text?
Blurs added by the scan follow the text as it moves. Masks you draw yourself stay where you put them.
Keep reading
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Hit record.
ScreenRecordii is in early access for macOS 14 and later.