Black Out
Black Out lets you quickly hide sensitive parts of an image. This can be useful when you want to post a screenshot or photo on the web ...
Description
Black Out lets you quickly hide sensitive parts of an image. This can be useful when you want to post a
screenshot
or photo on the web that contains some information you don’t want revealed.
It also removes all metadata, like when and where a photo was captured.
Black Out is intentionally simple. It doesn’t have the ability to resize or rotate the black boxes. It’s meant as a tool to quickly redact some sensitive information, not to perfect an image. If need something more advanced, you can use Preview or any other graphics editor.
WHAT’S NEW
Version 2.3.1:
• The app now requires macOS 13. You can get the last macOS 12 compatible version from the app’s website.
REQUIREMENTS
• Intel, 64-bit processor
• macOS 13.1 or later
ScreenShots
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Size
– 5.6MB
Previous Versions
Editor-checked details
Recommended for quickly covering accounts, addresses, order numbers, faces, QR codes, location and notification previews before sharing a screenshot, single photo or first PDF page. Safe workflow: crop to the minimum necessary area; copy the original to controlled storage; cover each item with a larger solid box; inspect corners, menu bar, sidebars, reflections, thumbnails and background windows; export PNG for text screenshots or a validated JPEG/HEIC; name it explicitly REDACTED; run metadata and OCR checks; preview in Preview/Quick Look/the destination chat app; obtain second-person review; upload only from an isolated output folder; record SHA-256, reviewer and destination; handle original/clipboard/drafts under retention policy. Do not use it for multipage PDFs, legal evidence or bulk sensitive data—use a system such as Adobe Acrobat that applies redactions and records audit history. Preview/Acorn offer advanced image editing; automatic privacy tools still require human verification.
Pros
- Its narrow open-drag-export workflow reduces the chance of forgetting to flatten an overlay or remove metadata in a complex editor. Solid coverage is safer for privacy redaction than blur/pixelation and leaves no visual texture that simple enhancement can recover. A new file is exported without modifying the original, preserving evidence and rollback. Automatic EXIF/GPS stripping addresses location/capture leaks commonly missed in screenshots and photos. PNG, JPEG and HEIC balance lossless text, size and Apple workflows. Finder, Mail and Notes Quick Actions plus paste make routine handling fast. Intel and Apple silicon are supported, the app is small, and the developer clearly documents trade-offs and older-system builds.
Cons
- It performs image redaction, not compliant e-discovery or multipage PDF redaction. PDF input is first-page-only and rasterised to PNG, losing searchable text, bookmarks, forms, signatures and document structure. There is no OCR detection, batch rule, keyword search, approval log, chain of custody or enterprise policy; humans must find every region, so omissions leak. Solid boxes are safe but visibly signal redaction and do not provide aesthetic content-aware removal. Export does not delete the original, clipboard, cloud sync, mail/chat drafts or backups and cannot recall shared files. Metadata removal needs independent verification and destination services may add contextual metadata. Quick Action inherits Finder extension bugs. macOS 13 excludes older machines. Medical, legal and financial material still needs controlled, audited true-PDF-redaction tools and dual review.
Installation steps
- The site build is Black Out 2.3.1 and officially requires macOS 13. It is by Sindre Sorhus and supports Intel and Apple silicon. It permanently covers sensitive regions in a newly exported bitmap and strips metadata such as capture time and location. Test with fictitious data: drag to the window/Dock, Open, Finder Open With, paste, and the Finder/Mail/Notes Quick Action; draw solid black boxes and ensure all edges cover text, QR codes, faces, addresses, accounts and notifications. Export PNG, JPEG and HEIC while retaining the original only in an isolated location. Reopen in Preview and inspect at pixel level; use exiftool/mdls or equivalent to confirm EXIF/GPS/camera/time removal; OCR the export and confirm covered content is unreadable; inspect thumbnails, Quick Look, clipboard and share previews. PDFs are first-page input only and export as PNG, not a multipage-document solution. Before sharing, have a second person review the whole image against a checklist rather than only the black boxes.
Uninstallation steps
- No editable project needs archiving because this is a one-shot export tool; preserve audit evidence instead. For each image still being shared, retain the final PNG/JPEG/HEIC, original-file hash, final SHA-256, processing date, reviewer and destination, while storing originals in access-controlled encrypted storage away from public-sync folders. Repeat metadata inspection, OCR, thumbnail/Quick Look and whole-image review. For highly sensitive content, recapturing only the required area is usually safer than placing many boxes over a large image. Clear the clipboard and temporary share drafts, and verify Mail/Notes/chat attachments did not use the original. Disable the Finder Quick Action and remove Black Out from Applications; clear its container/preferences only after confirming no pending export window. Uninstalling cannot recall shared files or delete originals, mail attachments, cloud versions or backups; handle those through each system’s retention policy.
Common errors and fixes
- If box edges expose characters, zoom to pixels, add margin, and check Retina scaling, italics/underlines, QR quiet zones and translucent shadows. Do not substitute blur/pixelation: Black Out intentionally excludes them because some can be reversed; privacy redaction uses solid coverage. If metadata appears, ensure you inspect the new export rather than the original/Photos version and check EXIF/GPS/XMP/IPTC independently; messaging services may add filename/time context. PDF input is first-page only: securely rasterise and review each page or use a professional tool that applies true PDF redaction—never merely overlay a removable shape. If Quick Action hangs at “Estimating time remaining”, the developer attributes it to Finder; use the main app, Mail or Notes and verify completion. Use the main app for tall images whose extension UI clips. Choose PNG for lossless text screenshots; JPEG compresses and HEIC needs recipient compatibility testing. The largest human risk is uploading the original: give outputs an explicit REDACTED name and upload only from an isolated output folder.
What changed in this version
- The official history dates Black Out 2.3.1 to 18 February 2023. Its sole explicit change is raising the minimum system to macOS 13, while the developer’s website retains the previous macOS-12 build. The core boundaries remain solid black image coverage, PNG/JPEG/HEIC export, complete metadata stripping and Finder/Mail/Notes Quick Action use. Blur and pixelation are intentionally excluded because the developer notes that they can sometimes be reversed. A PDF can be opened, but only its first page is used and the result must be exported as PNG because reliable redacted-PDF export is extremely difficult. This page stays pinned to 2.3.1 and does not mix later capabilities.
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Alternatives
Screenshots
