You don’t have to pay for a subscription if you stumble across blurred text. One of these easy methods can be used to unblur text and allow you to evaluate whether or not you want to subscribe.
Why Websites Do Blurred Content?
Websites often blur text to protect their paid members and subscribers. Some websites blur text, but not all of them require that you subscribe to view the content. Some websites just ask you to enter your email address and sign up for a free membership. Some sites allow you to view a limited number of pages before the blurred text is activated.
How View Blurred Text on a Website?
It’s helpful to know how to view hidden text if you have a bit more time to review the content before signing up for a paid subscription or sign-up.
These methods may not work for all websites. They should only be used to determine if a subscription or membership is required. We don’t condone the use of these techniques to bypass journalism. We recommend that you use a disposable email address to create an account.
1. Use Google Translate as a Proxy to View Hidden Text
Google Translate can be used to unblur text on a website. It allows you to see the full version of a page that has blurred content. Here’s how:
- Open the page you wish to unblur.
- Copy the URL of the page.
- Google Translate: Copy the URL into the box to the left.
The URL will be displayed in the right-hand column. Click on the URL in the right-hand box if you prefer to view the content in another language.
A new tab should open with an Unblured copy of the web page.
2. Use Internet Archive to See Blurred Content
Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine allows anyone to save and search for web pages. It can also crawl the web and archive cached pages. It can be used to search for blurred articles that have been saved, if they are still available.
Copy the URL to the page with blurred content that you wish to view. To check if the page has been archived, go to Internet Archive. Choose the page version that you wish to view. To view the most recent content, choose the archived version that is the latest based on time and date. The calendar shows the blue circles indicating available archived versions.
You will be taken to the archived version that you have selected. Here you can view the blurred content.
3. Use Google Search to View the Page
Non-paying visitors can view all content on websites that offer premium content. This is done to increase their traffic. This method allows you to only view the URL of the page you clicked. If you look deeper into the website you will see blurred content. This is how to bypass this restriction.
- Copy the page title containing the blurred text that you wish to view, and then paste it into Google Search. You can see the page title by hovering over the tab. You can highlight the page title and copy it, but you won’t be able to do so manually.
To get more precise search results for particular page just copy the URL of web page and search it in google.com. Click on the result that has the same URL as the page you wish to unblur. You should now be able to view the entire page.
- 2. Just type Cache: in front of blurred content webpage URL and hit enter in google chrome, for example: Cache:https://quora.en.uptodown.com/android, there is a change that google have its cached version saved on its server so you can see it very easily.
4. Use Browser’s Inspect Element Tool to View Blurred Content
All desktop web browsers have the Inspect or Element tool. Right-click the page you wish to inspect and you will see “Inspect” or the “Inspect Element” menu.
The Inspect tool allows you to view and modify a website’s HTML, CSS, JavaScript and source code. You can see any changes you make on the page you are “inspecting” and they will be visible in real-time. This feature also allows you to undo some text. This is how it works:
- Right-click on the page that you wish to unblur and choose “Inspect” or the “Inspect Element” option. The Inspect section will appear at the top or bottom of your browser.
- Select the code line that relates to the hidden content. Make sure you choose the parent element, i.e. The one that encompasses all of the elements that make up the blocker. We’re looking to find a line that begins with ” “
After you have found the right line, click on it right-click and then click on “Delete element” from the context menu. This will delete the blocker element from the page.
- Next, modify the code starting with ” body …< Em =””>” On that line, find the style=”overflow; hidden;” code.
- Right-click this snippet, and choose “Edit attribute.” Change the value of the attribute from hidden to visible and hit the Enter key.
This action unblur the content behind the blocker, making it viewable.
Few things to keep in mind
If you don’t enable developer tools, Inspect may not appear in some browsers. To check if these tools have been enabled, look for the “Develop” menu or something similar.
The names of the blurred and blocker content elements may differ from one website to the next. Sometimes the style attribute might not appear as overflow. It could be ” visibility hidden,”, ” filter;blur,” and other names. It may take some trial and error before you find the code that you need to modify, delete or add. Refresh the page to reload if you make a mistake.
5. Change Browser’s View to Reader Mode
Modern browsers have a reader mode that allows you to remove web page clutter such as ads and other distractions. This mode is called Reader Mode in Chrome, and Reader View in Firefox or Safari. This mode allows you view blurred and pay walled content from certain websites. This feature is only available in some browsers. To use it to unblur text, you will need to enable it.
To enable Reader Mode in Google Chrome:
- Type chrome://flags into the address bar.
- Look for “Enable Reader Mode” in the “Experiments” section. You can change its status to “Enabled” from the drop-down menu. To apply the changes, relaunch Google Chrome.
You should now see the Reader Mode icon in your address bar after the relaunch.
Go to the page that has the blurred content and click the Reader Mode icon. The page should now be unblurred and free from distractions.
Most Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal or Not for a website Content to be unblurred?
If you aren’t planning to distribute, copy, or use the blurred content commercially, it’s legal to unblur websites. The country in which you live will also affect the possibility of legal action. You could face a penalty for bypassing a paywall , or a DMCA violation notification. Your IP address may also be blacklisted.
Is it Worth to Remove Any Blurred Content from a Website?
It is not ethical to remove text you cannot access under certain conditions, such as signing up for memberships or paying for a subscription.
Can We Reverse the Blurred Content?
It’s sort of. You don’t need to revert unblurred text when using Google Translate or Internet Archive. Simply close the page. Refresh the page to reverse the unblurred text for the Inspect tool. To hide pay walled content, go to Reader Mode and click the Reader Mode icon.