fix: prefer pixelation over gaussian blur

Author: mwfarb

AllSpark-ios/AppConstants.swift

@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ enum AppConstants {
         static let actionToggleOff = Color.red
     }
 
+    enum Privacy {
+        // High scale for strong privacy masking (pixelation)
+        static let pixelationScale: CGFloat = 50.0
+    }
+
     enum Video {
         static let defaultChunkDurationMs: Int = 10000
         static let dimensionHigh: Int = 1920

AllSpark-ios/CameraViewController.swift

@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
 
     // Display layer
     private var imageView: UIImageView!
+    private var loadingOverlay: UIView?
+    private var activityIndicator: UIActivityIndicatorView?
     private var switchCameraButton: UIButton!
     private var timerLabel: UILabel!
     private var captureModesLabel: UILabel!
@@ -72,6 +74,7 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
         super.viewDidLoad()
 
         setupImageView()
+        setupLoadingOverlay()
 
         setupSwitchCameraButton()
         setupTimerLabel()
@@ -124,6 +127,39 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
         view.addSubview(imageView)
     }
 
+    private func setupLoadingOverlay() {
+        let overlay = UIView(frame: view.bounds)
+        overlay.backgroundColor = AppConstants.Colors.backgroundBaseUI.withAlphaComponent(AppConstants.UI.overlayOpacityDark)
+        overlay.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
+        
+        let indicator = UIActivityIndicatorView(style: .large)
+        indicator.color = .white
+        indicator.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
+        indicator.startAnimating()
+        
+        let label = UILabel()
+        label.text = "Initializing Privacy Models..."
+        label.textColor = .white
+        label.font = .systemFont(ofSize: 16, weight: .medium)
+        label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
+        
+        let stack = UIStackView(arrangedSubviews: [indicator, label])
+        stack.axis = .vertical
+        stack.spacing = AppConstants.UI.spacingMedium
+        stack.alignment = .center
+        stack.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
+        
+        overlay.addSubview(stack)
+        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
+            stack.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: overlay.centerXAnchor),
+            stack.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: overlay.centerYAnchor)
+        ])
+        
+        view.addSubview(overlay)
+        self.loadingOverlay = overlay
+        self.activityIndicator = indicator
+    }
+
     private func setupSwitchCameraButton() {
         switchCameraButton = UIButton(type: .system)
         switchCameraButton.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
@@ -497,13 +533,6 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
         let fileExtension = formatString == "mov" ? "mov" : "mp4"
         let fileType: AVFileType = formatString == "mov" ? .mov : .mp4
 
-        // Get device name for filename
-        let deviceName = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "deviceName") ?? UIDevice.current.name
-        let deviceNameForFilename = formatDeviceNameForFilename(deviceName)
-
-        // Get camera position for filename
-        let cameraPosition = currentCameraPosition == .front ? "front" : "back"
-
         let timestampMs = Int(Date().timeIntervalSince1970 * 1000)
         let videoName = "tmp_recording_\(timestampMs).\(fileExtension)"
         videoURL = documentsPath.appendingPathComponent(videoName)
@@ -976,7 +1005,7 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
         self.privacyMode = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "privacyMode") ?? "segmentation"
 
         let segRequest = VNGeneratePersonSegmentationRequest()
-        segRequest.qualityLevel = .accurate
+        segRequest.qualityLevel = .balanced // Balanced is much faster for real-time video than .accurate
         self.personSegmentationRequest = segRequest
 
         self.bodyPoseRequest = VNDetectHumanBodyPoseRequest()
@@ -991,10 +1020,10 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
             let scaleY = image.extent.height / maskImage.extent.height
             let scaledMask = maskImage.transformed(by: CGAffineTransform(scaleX: scaleX, y: scaleY))
 
-            if let blurFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIGaussianBlur") {
-                blurFilter.setValue(image, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
-                blurFilter.setValue(30.0, forKey: kCIInputRadiusKey)
-                if let blurredImage = blurFilter.outputImage {
+            if let pixelateFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIPixellate") {
+                pixelateFilter.setValue(image, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
+                pixelateFilter.setValue(NSNumber(value: Float(AppConstants.Privacy.pixelationScale)), forKey: kCIInputScaleKey)
+                if let blurredImage = pixelateFilter.outputImage {
                     let clampedBlur = blurredImage.cropped(to: image.extent)
                     if let blendFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIBlendWithRedMask") {
                         blendFilter.setValue(clampedBlur, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
@@ -1040,13 +1069,16 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
 
                 let poseRect = CGRect(x: expandedX, y: expandedY, width: expandedWidth, height: expandedHeight)
 
-                // Blur the bounding box
-                if let blurFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIGaussianBlur") {
+                // Pixelate the bounding box
+                if let pixelateFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIPixellate") {
                     let poseCrop = outputImage.cropped(to: poseRect)
-                    blurFilter.setValue(poseCrop, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
-                    blurFilter.setValue(30.0, forKey: kCIInputRadiusKey)
+                    pixelateFilter.setValue(poseCrop, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
+                    // Set center to the middle of the crop to align blocks locally
+                    let center = CIVector(x: poseRect.midX, y: poseRect.midY)
+                    pixelateFilter.setValue(center, forKey: kCIInputCenterKey)
+                    pixelateFilter.setValue(NSNumber(value: Float(AppConstants.Privacy.pixelationScale)), forKey: kCIInputScaleKey)
 
-                    if let blurredOutput = blurFilter.outputImage {
+                    if let blurredOutput = pixelateFilter.outputImage {
                         let croppedBlur = blurredOutput.cropped(to: poseRect)
                         outputImage = croppedBlur.composited(over: outputImage)
                     }
@@ -1212,24 +1244,6 @@ class CameraViewController: UIViewController, UINavigationControllerDelegate {
     }
 
     // MARK: - Helper Methods
-
-    private func formatDeviceNameForFilename(_ name: String) -> String {
-        // Remove non-ASCII characters
-        let ascii = name.filter { $0.isASCII }
-
-        // Split on non-alphanumeric characters and filter empty components
-        let components = ascii.components(separatedBy: CharacterSet.alphanumerics.inverted)
-            .filter { !$0.isEmpty }
-
-        // Build title-case: capitalize first letter of each word
-        guard !components.isEmpty else { return "Device" }
-
-        let result = components.map { word in
-            word.prefix(1).uppercased() + word.dropFirst().lowercased()
-        }.joined()
-
-        return result.isEmpty ? "Device" : result
-    }
 }
 
 extension CameraViewController {
@@ -1296,7 +1310,17 @@ extension CameraViewController: AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate, AV
             let uiImage = UIImage(cgImage: cgImage)
 
             DispatchQueue.main.async { [weak self] in
-                self?.imageView.image = uiImage
+                guard let self = self else { return }
+                self.imageView.image = uiImage
+                
+                if let overlay = self.loadingOverlay {
+                    self.loadingOverlay = nil // Nullify immediately to prevent duplicate animations
+                    UIView.animate(withDuration: 0.3, animations: { [weak overlay] in
+                        overlay?.alpha = 0
+                    }) { [weak overlay] _ in
+                        overlay?.removeFromSuperview()
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
     }

AllSpark-ios/SettingsView.swift

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ struct SettingsView: View {
         let defaultName = UIDevice.current.name
         if UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "deviceName") == nil {
             UserDefaults.standard.set(defaultName, forKey: "deviceName")
-        }
+        } 
     }
 
     var body: some View {

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Use `@AppStorage` for managing persistent user preferences and UI toggles.
 ### 2. Privacy Filtering Patterns
 
 Any new computer vision pipelines must respect user privacy. We utilize Vision framework to automatically identify humans in the frame.
-- **Camera Frames:** Real-time facial blurring must be applied to video/image captures before they are transmitted.
+- **Camera Frames:** Real-time facial and body blurring prefer pixelation over gaussian blur, and must be applied to video/image captures before they are transmitted.
 
 ### 3. Code Style & Architecture
 
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ Any new computer vision pipelines must respect user privacy. We utilize Vision f
 
 **All dependencies must use exact, pegged versions** (no `^`, `~`, or `*` ranges). This prevents version drift across environments and ensures reproducible builds for security.
 
+### 5. Magic Numbers & Constants
+
+**No magic numbers allowed inline.** Any numerical layout properties, structural modifiers (like opacities, heights, constraints), and complex configurations (duration bounds, bitrates) must be formally extracted and organized into the `AppConstants.swift` structure. This guarantees centralized governance of our UI aesthetics and networking policies.
+
 ## Build & Test
 
 To build the project locally, open `AllSpark-ios.xcodeproj` with Xcode.