4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Sep 10, 2026 02:31 PM IST
The need to help people distinguish real images from AI-generated ones is so urgent that Apple, during its hardware-focused keynote on Wednesday, September 9, squeezed in an announcement about its latest efforts to prove if a photo is authentic or not.
The tech giant announced a new feature called Apple Reference Image that is designed to serve as a ‘digital negative’, allowing users to see what the camera originally captured and compare it with any altered images.
Apple Reference Image ships with the slate of new premium smartphones unveiled by Apple on Wednesday, including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, that comes with iOS 27 the latest version of Apple’s operating system designed for iPhones.
Besides finding its own approach to digitally watermarking photos, Apple also announced support for Google DeepMind’s SynthID watermarking standard to help users identify images that have been generated or edited with AI.
The move comes as generative AI tools grow more capable of outputting photorealistic images. Tech companies have been stepping up efforts to help users identify when an image was generated by AI. These efforts, however, are being held back by a lack of consensus around a common standard. That is what makes Apple’s support for SynthID significant.
SynthID is an AI watermarking tool that essentially works by embedding an invisible digital watermark directly into AI-generated images, audio, text, or video to be later detected using SynthID tech. SynthID is already used across Google’s generative AI products, as well as by OpenAI for images generated through ChatGPT, Codex, and its API.
“Users can now prove the authenticity of a photo taken on iPhone 18 Pro models with Apple Reference Image, powered by the new sensor in the Main camera that can sign every pixel it sees,” Apple said in a press release. “Together with Apple Reference Image, this set of features represents a multifaceted approach to image authenticity — vital for photojournalists, photographers, and everyday viewers,” it added.
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How it works
The feature is powered by the new sensor in the Main camera of the newly launched iPhone 18 Pro models that can sign every pixel it sees.
Users have to first navigate to the new Reference mode on the iPhone 18 Pro before taking a photo. Once this is done, the camera captures signed sensor data when taking the photo. This data is then processed using Apple’s Private Cloud Compute to create an unalterable reference image, as per Apple.
The reference image or ‘digital negative’ can be viewed in the Photos app alongside the regular photo. In order to allow third-party apps to view Reference Images, Apple is making APIs for the feature available in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 27.
Reference Image will also be paired with other tools designed to make AI-generated and edited images easier to spot.
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However, the feature will not be available in all markets at launch, including China and EU, due to regulatory requirements. Although users in the EU with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 might still be able to develop and view Reference Images.
