BlurGuard is a browser extension that hides sensitive data on any webpage before you share your screen. It takes less than two minutes to install and configure. Here's exactly how.
Step 1 — Install the extension
Open the Chrome Web Store listing for BlurGuard and click "Add to Chrome". The extension appears in your toolbar instantly — no restart needed.
BlurGuard also works on Microsoft Edge, Brave, and other Chromium browsers. For Firefox, use the Firefox Add-ons store. The extension uses Manifest V3, so it requires Chrome 110+ or Firefox 128+.
Step 2 — Open the popup
Click the BlurGuard icon in your browser toolbar. A popup appears showing:
- The current site name at the top
- The number of active blurs on the page
- Toggle switches for Auto-detect PII, Toolbar, and Keywords
- A "Remove all blurs" button
- A link to open the full settings page
Step 3 — Enable the floating toolbar
The floating toolbar is your main control panel while browsing. To show it:
- In the popup, flip the Toolbar toggle, or
- Press
Alt+Shift+Ton your keyboard
A glassmorphism panel appears at the top-right of the page. You can drag it by the grip handle (⋮⋮) to any position — BlurGuard remembers where you left it.
Step 4 — Create your first blur
There are four ways to blur content:
Element blur
Click ▣ Element on the toolbar. Your cursor turns into a picker: hover over any element on the page (a paragraph, a table cell, a form field) and click. The element is instantly blurred. Click it again to reveal.
Area blur
Click ▭ Area. Click and drag a rectangle on the page. Everything behind that rectangle is blurred with a backdrop-filter overlay. You can pin the zone so it scrolls with the page, or leave it fixed to the viewport.
Text blur
Click T̲ Text. Select any text on the page with your mouse. On mouseup, the selected text is wrapped in a blur span — only the matched portion is hidden.
Image swap
Click 🖼 Image. Click any <img> element. A modal appears showing the current image URL — paste a replacement URL to swap the image (useful for hiding screenshots or profile photos).
Step 5 — Enable auto-detect (recommended)
Toggle ◉ Auto on the toolbar. BlurGuard immediately scans the visible page for 9 categories of sensitive data:
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Credit card numbers
- API keys
- JWT tokens
- SSN
- Passwords
- Private keys
- Connection strings
Click the ▾ caret next to Auto to see category checkboxes. Enable or disable individual categories — for example, you might want emails blurred but not phone numbers.
Step 6 — Persistence
By default, manual blurs persist across page reloads. BlurGuard stores a CSS selector for each blurred element in chrome.storage.local. When you revisit the page, the extension restores every blur before the page becomes visible — no flash of unblurred content.
Auto-detected blurs are not persisted — they are recalculated on each page load. This keeps the behavior predictable and lightweight.
That's it
You're ready to share your screen. Open Zoom, Google Meet, OBS, Loom — whatever tool you use — and BlurGuard ensures sensitive data stays hidden on your screen in real time.
BlurGuard works at the page level, so any screen recorder or video call tool captures exactly what you see: already blurred. No post-production needed.
