# Black Highlighter: Redact Text — Censor & secure screenshots

> App to automatically redact sensitive text in images and screenshots. (iPhone/iPad app by Cocoatype, LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/black-highlighter-redact-text/id1215283742 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Cocoatype, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/284919238)
- Category: Photo & Video, Social Networking
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.40/5 from 90 App Store ratings · 21 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 14.0 · 13 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2017-05-31
- Data updated: 2026-08-26
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/black-highlighter-redact-text/id1215283742/reviews.md

## What is Black Highlighter?

Share your images, not your secrets.
Black Highlighter makes it ridiculously easy to hide sensitive information in your photos and screenshots. Just swipe over text with the Magic Highlighter, and it automatically snaps to cover everything perfectly—no more frantic scribbling or worrying if you missed a spot.

Make redaction feel like magic.
The Magic Highlighter automatically detects and snaps to text, making it easy to hide exactly what you want—nothing more, nothing less. Use multiple colors to match different backgrounds or indicate multiple speakers. Easily import images from Photos and share them immediately when you're done. Available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so you can redact no matter where you are.

Work smarter, not harder.
Want even more power? Ultra Highlighter unlocks automatic detection of sensitive information like names, addresses, and phone numbers. You can also add your own set of words to always redact automatically. Create custom Shortcuts to automate your redactions by automatically hiding personal details in screenshots instead of doing each one by hand. Use the document scanner to import and redact paper files using the power of the Magic Highlighter.

Black Highlighter is provided under a standard EULA. Learn more at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

## Key features

- Magic Highlighter for automatic text detection
- Multiple color options for redaction
- Import images from Photos
- Ultra Highlighter for sensitive info detection
- Customizable word redaction
- Shortcut automation
- Document scanner

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Annual | $4.99 | per year |
| Monthly | $0.99 | per month |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| One-Time | $19.99 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (10 of 21)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/black-highlighter-redact-text/id1215283742/reviews.md

### 5/5 — So handy, exactly what I need!

*2026-07-20*

A nice simple tool that does the job perfectly. Thank you for simplifying hiding my [redacted].

### 5/5 — This is SO COOL!

*2026-01-16*

This is so intelligent. I used photos of text not even PDFs and it was able to detect the text in the IMAGE and black it out. Pure magic. It's also a beautiful app so I just enjoy using it. Love this

### 5/5 — Fast and easy redaction

*2025-06-01*

Great for quickly covering sensitive information and PII. Also good for focusing attention on what you want people to see.

**Developer response:** Glad to hear you enjoy it! 🖤

### 4/5 — Good app with some missing features

*2024-11-01*

Apart from occasional crashes, the app works well. However, I’m missing the following features:

1) Import of PDF files
2) Automatic blackening of all automatically recognized text fields (even better: with an option to manually exclude some text fields) with one click

I hope, these features will come up one day :)

### 5/5 — Works perfectly

*2024-03-24*

It picks up all text and really easy to use

### 4/5 — Note for developers

*2024-01-22*

It’s been great but I’m not able to report an issue, the app is crashing as soon as I select a photo

### 1/5 — Black Screen

*2023-10-29*

Screen turns into black when used inside the Photos app.

**Developer response:** I'm sorry to hear that. I've been trying to track down this issue for quite a while, but haven't been able to run into it myself! Does this happen with every photo for you?

### 3/5 — Abruptly quits

*2023-08-12*

App abruptly quits for some photos or screenshots, please fix

### 5/5 — Can only add 1 auto detect word - fixed

*2022-08-09*

App is really neat, but after getting the extension, I am only able to add a single word. Would also love to see pdf support and would happily pay extra for it.

Edit: thanks for fixing the single word issue, and for fixing it so quickly. Found another one: the settings button doesn’t show up unless you grant access to photos, not sure if intentional, but nothing major. Bumped up to 5*.

**Developer response:** Bah! Looks like I accidentally deleted the “add new word” button when I redid the settings section a few releases ago. I’ll get that fixed up ASAP. Thanks for the heads up!

### 3/5 — Rating

*2022-05-31*

Pretty good

**Developer response:** Hey, I’ll take “pretty good”! Anything I could do to make it “really good?” Feel free to email me at hello@cocoatype.com if you’ve got any ideas, bug reports, questions, etc.

## Frequently asked questions about Black Highlighter

### What does Black Highlighter do?

Black Highlighter is an application designed to help users easily hide sensitive information within their photos and screenshots. It utilizes a 'Magic Highlighter' feature that automatically detects and covers text, ensuring that private details are not accidentally shared.

### How does the Magic Highlighter work?

The Magic Highlighter automatically identifies text within an image or screenshot. When you swipe over the text, it precisely snaps to cover it, eliminating the need for manual scribbling and reducing the risk of missing any sensitive information.

### Is Black Highlighter free to use?

The application is free to download and use, offering core redaction functionalities. Additional advanced features, such as the Ultra Highlighter for automatic sensitive information detection and custom word redaction, are available through in-app purchases.

### What devices is Black Highlighter compatible with?

Black Highlighter is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. This cross-platform availability allows users to redact images and screenshots seamlessly across their Apple ecosystem.

### Can I automatically redact specific types of information?

Yes, the Ultra Highlighter feature can automatically detect and redact sensitive information like names, addresses, and phone numbers. You can also create a custom list of words that you want to always redact automatically, further streamlining the redaction process.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 25.6 — 2025-09-22

Black Highlighter 2025.6 cleans up a few things:

- Sharing an image to Black Highlighter on iOS and iPadOS opens the image instead of just launching the app.
- Menu items on iPadOS and have been renamed and given icons to help find what you need.

### 25.5 — 2025-09-15

Black Highlighter 2025.5 builds in support for Apple's September 2025 releases with a whole bunch of new features:

## Liquid Glass Design

Black Highlighter fully embraces the Liquid Glass design aesthetic of iOS and iPadOS 26. Liquid Glass has been fully baked into all parts of Black Highlighter, with many design improvements throughout the app.

## Recognize Text Shortcuts Action

A new Shortcuts action, "Recognize Text", finds and returns all text in an image. Use this action alongside the new system "Use Model" action to safely use AI models to help with redaction.

## Open Recent on iPad

The iPad version of Black Highlighter supports opening recent files and images, directly from the home screen.

### 25.4 — 2025-07-30

Black Highlighter 25.4 improves bug tracking and fixes Shortcuts issues.

## Enhanced Bug Tracking

Black Highlighter has some more new ways to track down thorny issues, so future updates can be even better.

## Shortcuts Improvements

- Fixed the "Open Image" action on macOS.
- Cleaned up the names of Shortcuts actions.

### 25.3 — 2025-07-16

Uh-oh! The improved Ultra Highlighter purchase page design from the last update removed the ability to… actually make a purchase. That's not a very good improvement! This release brings that functionality back.

### 25.2 — 2025-07-14

Black Highlighter 2025.2 adds several ways to quickly get to the document scanner, expands Shortcuts integration, and improves the purchase experience.

## Document Scanner Quick Control

Add Black Highlighter's document scanner to Control Center for easy access. A quick tap opens Black Highlighter ready to scan documents for redaction.

## Document Scanner Shortcuts Action

A new "Open Document Scanner" Shortcuts action opens Black Highlighter's document scanner, perfect for workflows that need to capture and redact documents.

## Auto-Hidden Words in Redaction Action

The unified "Redact Image" Shortcuts action now includes an option to use your auto-hidden words list for redaction. Automatically redact any words from your custom list without specifying them each time.

## Improved Paywall Design

The subscription screen shows clearer information about available free trials and pricing options.

## Bug Fixes

- Purchasing errors that previously failed silently now show a helpful message.
- Fixed an issue where canceled purchases prevented starting a new purchase without closing and reopening the purchase screen.

## Apps similar to Black Highlighter

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Blackout: Censor, Blur, Redact](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/blackout-censor-blur-redact/id1672966131) | 4.3 (27) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Screenshot Editor - ScreenCut](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/screenshot-editor-screencut/id6480429347) | 4.6 (126) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Snapchat](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/snapchat/id447188370) | 4.5 (5,914,024) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Whiteout: Redact & Blur Photos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/whiteout-redact-and-blur-photos/id1642452158) | 4.3 (241) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [ScreenshotApp](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/screenshotapp/id1491016129) | 2.8 (12) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Screenshot Editor Capture Tool](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/screenshot-editor-capture-tool/id1643131813) | 4.2 (85) | Free | Photo & Video |

## More apps by Cocoatype, LLC

- [Kineo — Flipbook Animations](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kineo-flipbook-animations/id286948844)
- [Scrawl Notes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scrawl-notes/id1229326968)
- [Debigulator](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/debigulator/id1510076117)
- [Wing Luke Museum](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wing-luke-museum/id1547154551)
- [Barcodes Wallet: Barc](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/barcodes-wallet-barc/id6642707689)

All apps by Cocoatype, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/284919238

## Related topics

[highlighter text](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/highlighter-text) · [redaction](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/redaction) · [black highlighter](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/black-highlighter) · [redact privacy](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/redact-privacy) · [black sms](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/black-sms) · [highlighter document](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/highlighter-document) · [redact documents](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/redact-documents) · [textmask](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/textmask) · [highlighter](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/highlighter) · [highlight text](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/highlight-text) · [redacted](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/redacted)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-26.*