iLoveIMG’s Blur Face page is a classic online utility: select images, process, download. Their interface shows an uploading state, Drive/Dropbox import, and server-side “stamping.” They also offer automatic face detection and extra blur areas for plates and objects — real convenience if you accept the transfer.
HideShot does not try to match iLoveIMG’s full suite (compress, convert, upscale). It matches the privacy job: cover a region locally with Blur, Pixelate, or Black Box and download a PNG.
Guide
iLoveIMG sits in the same product family as iLovePDF: lots of small web tools, familiar UI, Google Drive and Dropbox hooks, and a free tier that is good enough for everyday image chores. Their Blur Face tool is aimed squarely at anonymizing photos — automatic face detection, extra manual blur areas, and copy that mentions license plates and private objects. If your search is “iLoveIMG blur alternative,” you are usually choosing between that convenience and not sending the file.
HideShot is the alternative for the second half of that sentence. It will not compress a hundred JPEGs or convert HEIC in bulk. It will cover faces, plates, and text in the browser on your device.
What we can verify about iLoveIMG Blur Face
The live Blur Face tool at iloveimg.com/blur-face describes automatic anonymization of faces and the ability to blur specific sections. The working UI exposes “Uploading file,” upload speed, Drive/Dropbox, and a processing step. That is server-side processing. iLoveIMG’s broader site positions the app as an online editor with many utilities. We are not inventing their exact auto-delete window here; treat any “we delete after N hours” language on converter sites as a policy statement, not a substitute for keeping the original off their disk.
Automatic face detection is a real feature HideShot does not have. On a 15-person event photo, drawing 15 ovals by hand is slower than an auto-detect pass. That is a fair win for iLoveIMG if the photo is not sensitive enough to forbid the transfer — or if you have already accepted their processor for that asset class.
What HideShot does differently
No converter hop. The image is never sent to HideShot for blurring. Modes include Blur plus Pixelate and Black Box. iLoveIMG’s blur-face product is blur-centric (with additional area tools); HideShot treats opaque cover as the safe default for text. Manual selection is the entire UX: slower on crowds, better when you must cover a Slack name, a badge barcode, and a reflection in the same frame without trusting a detector’s confidence threshold.
No account is required. You will not hit a daily task counter on HideShot for a handful of screenshots. iLoveIMG’s free suite, like most of that category, is funded by ads and premium upgrades; limits can apply depending on tool and plan. We will not invent a current task quota we did not read on a pricing table today.
iLoveIMG’s family resemblance to iLovePDF is relevant if you already redact PDFs there. Image blur and PDF redaction are different engines: a Gaussian blur on a face is not the same as removing a PDF text stream. HideShot does not redact PDFs (that is HidePDF). Do not assume that because you used iLoveIMG Blur Face, the PDF you send next is safe. Likewise, do not assume HideShot’s PNG export stripped EXIF — if GPS is the worry, pair a metadata wipe after the visual cover.
Detection quality is another split. Automatic face finders miss profiles, sunglasses, small faces in the background, and non-face identifiers (name tags, school logos, unique clothing). Manual tools miss whatever you were too tired to box. Neither product removes the need to inspect the download at 100%. iLoveIMG’s detector is still a time saver on a birthday party shot that was always going to a family album. It is not a reason to send a clinical photo or a child’s school-ID picture to a converter. If the photo is already public (a press image, a product shot with a model release), iLoveIMG’s speed is a feature. If it is not public yet, local cover is the feature.
When to keep iLoveIMG
Keep iLoveIMG when you already use their compress/convert/crop tools on non-sensitive images and you want auto face blur in the same habit. Keep it for batch public-web assets where the photos were always going to a CDN anyway. Keep it when detection quality on a crowd shot matters more than local processing.
iLoveIMG also remains a reasonable choice for people who need one vendor for “all the little image jobs” and whose files are marketing photos, memes, or already-public shots.
When HideShot is the better blur alternative
Choose HideShot when the photo is the sensitive object: IDs, medical labels, children’s faces in a private context, workplace screenshots, financial app captures. Choose it when you cannot document a third-party processor in a client NDA. Choose it when you want pixelate or black box rather than blur-only anonymization.
Same local tool, related jobs: blur a face in a photo and blur an image online.
How to blur or cover with HideShot
- Drop the image into the canvas on this page (or paste a screenshot).
- Select Blur for a softer look, Pixelate for an obvious mosaic, or Black Box for text and codes.
- Draw each region. On a group photo, work face by face; HideShot will not guess for you.
- Download the PNG. Confirm nothing readable remains at full zoom before you share.
Bottom line
iLoveIMG Blur Face is a convenient online anonymizer with auto face detection and a broader image-tool ecosystem. HideShot is a local redactor with stronger “cover it for real” modes and no file transfer. If the reason you searched for an alternative was the upload step, this page is the product that removes that step.