Apple announced Apple Reference Image, a feature meant to show whether an iPhone photo has been altered. It works on the iPhone 18 Pro and was unveiled at Apple's Surprise and Shine event. The main camera sensor records signed data when a photo is taken. Apple's Private Cloud Compute service turns that into an unalterable image, viewable in the Photos app. Other versions of the photo can then be compared against it. Apple likens the result to a digital negative and calls it vital for photojournalists. Reference images start out visible only in Photos, but developers get programming interfaces to add the feature to their own apps. Apple also said it will support SynthID, a standard for marking images made or edited with AI. The camera itself gains a variable aperture built from six laser-cut blades.
What changed
iPhone photos carried no signed sensor record to compare edited copies against.
What it unlocks
Comparing an edited iPhone photo against an unalterable original to see if it was changed.
- 48 megapixel main camera
- six laser-cut aperture blades
What you need to act on it
- iPhone 18 Pro
Sources