Blur the face, not the photo
Two clear options on upload: visible, or face blurred. The face is detected automatically. People who already had full blur kept it until they chose otherwise.
WhyThe machine detects. The person decides.
Protect a face without erasing the person
Privacy controls for the touchy moments of a dating app: being seen, being recognised, and going from messages to a phone call.
- When
- 2023–2026
- Team
- CEO, support, engineering, QA
- My role
- Head of Product & Lead Product Designer
- What I did
- Research, privacy flows, refusal rules, UX writing, QA
- Impact
- Face blur and permission-based calls shipped
Context
A photo was mandatory. Blurring the whole photo protected people, but it also removed what makes a profile look like a person: posture, place, style.
- People wanted to take part without being recognised too soon.
- Moving to a call removed control too abruptly.
- Existing settings couldn't change without the user's say.
Let people decide when they become more visible and more reachable.
Decisions
A call starts with a request
Accept once, allow future calls, or decline. Declining pauses new requests for seven days. A missed call isn't a refusal: the person who missed it can call back straight away.
WhyWithout a consequence, "no" is just a delay.
Result
- Face blur with automatic detection.
- In-app calls that never reveal a phone number.
- Refusal rules documented down to every state.
No feature-level uplift claimed. This case is about product rules and interaction detail.
Hiring a lead or a design manager?
Remote in Europe or MENA, or hybrid from Marseille. Tell me about the product and what's stuck. I read everything.
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