Overview of Facial Blur/ Obfuscation

Indeemo offers the option to enable facial obfuscation on projects of a sensitive nature where participants may want to conceal their face in their responses, or those with hard data privacy constraints.


This means that respondents' faces will be blurred or blocked out, thus ensuring privacy/ anonymity. 

This feature is enabled at the moment of video/photo capture, within the Indeemo app.


In order to further remove the need for any respondent PII (Personally Identifiable Information) to be in the Indeemo Dashboard, clients often use Indeemo Anonymous emails in conjunction with facial blurring. 


To note:

  •  Screening respondents during Recruitment
    • The 'tech specs' are slightly harder for this feature, meaning respondents will need slightly newer phones than standard requirements - this needs to be included at the screening stage of your recruitment. 


  • Facial Blur/ Obfuscation is enabled on a target group level
    • This must be enabled on each target group in your project. 
    • This must be enabled before respondents are added to a project
    • Once enabled, all videos respondents record via the Indeemo App will have facial blur enabled. 
    • Respondents cannot enable/ disable this feature


Example of respondent video with facial blurring

When to Use Facial Blur/ Obfuscation


Facial obfuscation has been designed to work in ‘selfie’ mode for single respondent videos and photos.

This feature must be enabled on all your target groups prior to respondents being added. 


Videos recorded via the Indeemo App

  • Only videos/photos recorded via the Indeemo App will have facial blur enabled


 Short Videos

  • This works really well in studies requiring short videos (max 1-2 minutes per video), where participants can ensure their face is blurred to be able to talk candidly and feel secure. 


Selfie Mode Video Tasks

  • In Selfie Mode for a single face
  • With the camera not moving


When Not to Use Facial Blur/ Obfuscation


Longer videos

  • If respondents are required to upload longer (more than 2-3mins) videos, this will cause uploading times in the App for respondents. 


Desktop Projects or iPads or Tablets

  • Facial blur is not available on projects where respondents will upload photos/ videos via Desktop.
  • iPads and Android Tablets are not currently supported.


Videos recorded outside of the Indeemo App

  • If respondents record a video/photo outside of the App, ie record via their camera and then open the Indeemo App to upload, facial blur will not be applied.


If respondents are required to record videos in the following: 

  • In a public setting
  • With the camera moving: for example it will not effectively blur faces in stores, etc.


If you plan to watch first and blur later

  • If the researcher plans to watch videos/photos first and see respondent faces, and then blur later (using software outside of Indeemo) before presenting their findings, then this feature should not be enabled.
    • Note: Indeemo cannot blur faces after the upload hits the Indeemo Dashboard. 


Task List considerations for Facial Blur/ Obfuscation


Key Considerations

  • Respondents must use the Indeemo in-App camera.
  • The blurring occurs at the moment of recording. 
  • If they begin to record and their face is not blurred, this means the video you receive on the dashboard will also not be blurred. 
  • It works best for selfie videos hand held with little movement of the head) or in-home scenarios e.g. a partner recording a respondent (where the respondent is not moving a lot)
  • Recording should take place within 1.5 metres to ensure faces are consistently blurred. 


Test Task

It is essential that Respondents do a test task first so they can ensure the feature is working on their Indeemo App.


Add the below task to your task list


Task TitleTest out the Indeemo App
Task Description

To protect your privacy, facial obfuscation has been enabled on your Indeemo App. This will ensure your face is obscured when you record a video or take a photo. 


Facial obfuscation has been designed to work in ‘selfie’ mode for single videos and photos. 

Please do not record videos or take photos where other people can be seen in the background. 


To get started, follow the steps below.


1. Choose Video then ‘Take a Video’

2. Rotate your phone as requested in your task. 




3. Position the camera carefully:

  • Keep the phone at arm’s length (or no more than 1.5m / 5" from your face). 
  • Position your head in the centre of the camera as follows. 




4. Is your face obscured?

  • No: If you can still see your face, please check your set up and contact [email protected]. 
  • Yes: Start recording and make sure your face is centred in the camera throughout the recording.  


5. Important! Check each video/ photo before uploading. 

Before uploading, it is essential that you preview your video by watching it in full to ensure that your face does not appear at any point. 

If your face appears in the video please record the video again and ensure your face is obfuscated throughout the recording.


Phone tips

  • Ensure your battery is charged
  • Ensure your internet connection is strong, steady and powerful
Required Response1 video



Recruitment and Smartphone Requirements

When recruiting for your Indeemo project, smartphone requirements and some level of tech savviness need to be screened for. 


Photos and Videos must be recorded using the Indeemo in-App Camera therefore there are smartphone specifications requirements to ensure the App will run seamlessly for your respondents.


If the obfuscation of faces is a critical requirement, we recommend that you make this a critical part of your screening requirements and reserve the option to screen out respondents if their phones do not support this capability.


Respondents must have either:


iPhone: iOS 15 and above

or

Android: Android 12 and above.


Notes:

  • Facial obfuscation is currently not supported on Huawei and Xiaomi devices or older / low spec Android devices.
  • iPads & tablets are currently not supported. 

Email Template to send to your Recruiter regarding the Screener


The link below has an email template that contains information and instructions for your Recruiter to enable them to screen Respondents and ensure that Respondents have the necessary Smartphone specs to take part in your Indeemo project.

It is essential to update the template's specifications to to those for Facial Blur/ Obfuscation.


Email template to send to your Recruiter regarding the Screener


Respondent Experience

Watch the below video to learn about how the respondent will use the Indeemo App when this is enabled. 




Deleting a non-blurred upload


If a respondent uploads a photo or video with their face visible and you wish to delete it, please follow these steps:


Note: 

  • this will delete it for the respondent too - please ensure to communicate this to the respondent


1. On your Indeemo Dashboard - Board view

2. Hover over the relevant upload, and a small Bin icon will appear next to the date/ time stamp.

3. Click this icon and confirm you want to remove this response. 

The upload will be fully deleted from the dashboard and the respondents app.


You can also ask the respondent to delete it from the App which will remove it from the Dashboard.