is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will only authenticate photos when placed into Reference mode. Once the camera captures signed sensor data, Apple says its Private Cloud Compute will develop it “into an unalterable reference image” that can be viewed in the Photos app. You’ll be able to compare the reference image with other versions of the photo to see if any edits were made.
As AI-generated images and videos become more realistic, several new standards have emerged to label images not created by a human, such , and . Apple is putting a twist on these methods by building authentication directly into its hardware.Apple is letting developers access a Reference Image API across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, which could eventually allow users to inspect these digitally-signed photos in third-party apps. The company says the iPhone 18 Pro lineup won’t come with its Reference Image feature at launch in the European Union, but says users in the region will still be able to “develop and view” them in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.
- Emma Roth