Apple is working on a way to authenticate that a photo came from an iPhone camera
References included in iOS 27 beta 5 point to a new feature designed to authenticate the camera source of an iPhone photo. Here are the details.
Apple is working on a new feature called Apple Reference Image, which aims to authenticate the camera source of iPhone photos. This move comes as AI-generated images increasingly pass as authentic, posing a challenge. To combat this, Apple is introducing a unique data system tied to the iPhone camera hardware to verify photo authenticity.
The feature, currently off by default, can be activated in Settings > Camera > Reference Image via the "Reference" mode. When photos are taken using Reference mode, they retain provenance information to authenticate later. Users can choose to authenticate photos later, at which point the raw image and provenance data are sent to Private Cloud Compute for verification.
Once authenticated, Apple assigns the photo a unique ID, allowing sharing without revealing which images were viewed to Apple. The system prioritizes user privacy, with authenticated photos shareable across Apple devices without disclosing image views. When sharing "All Photos Data," hardware identifiers and uncropped footage may be included.
Additionally, a "Transfer with Provenance" option enables authenticated photos to carry provenance data during USB transfers to Macs or PCs.
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