Overview

BrightBlur is a privacy-first photo sharing platform that uses per-face encryption so that only the people you choose can see the faces in your photos.

The problem

Sharing photos through WhatsApp groups or social media means every member of the group sees every face, forever. There’s no way to revoke access, no way to control who screenshots what, and no way to protect someone who didn’t consent to being shared. Whether it’s a family gathering, a work event, or a club outing — once a photo is sent, you’ve lost control.

How BrightBlur solves it

When you upload a photo, BrightBlur:

1. Detects faces on your device using AI — no image data is sent to the server.
2. Permanently pixelates every detected face in the base image (a destructive 5×5 mosaic — the original pixels are overwritten and cannot be recovered).
3. Encrypts each face separately as a “face slice”, using a key that only authorised people hold.
4. Uploads only encrypted data — the server receives blobs it cannot read.

When someone views the photo, their browser fetches the encrypted face slices they have permission to see, decrypts them locally, and composites them over the pixelated regions in real time.

Key features

• Privacy by default — every face is pixelated until someone with the right key decrypts it.
• Zero-trust architecture — the server never sees private keys, unblurred faces, or biometric data.
• Automatic face recognition — the app learns to recognise people you frequently tag, suggesting matches for faster uploads.
• Circles — group people (Family, Friends, Colleagues) and control access at a granular level.
• Batch upload with clustering — upload a whole event at once; the app groups the same person across photos so you tag them once.
• Forensic watermarking — decrypted photos are invisibly watermarked with the viewer’s identity, so leaked screenshots are traceable.
• Post-quantum encryption — a hybrid scheme (X25519 + ML-KEM-768) protects data against both current and future threats.