Apple could help you prove your iPhone photos aren’t deepfakes
infonews
safety
Source: The Verge (AI)August 11, 2026
Summary
Apple is developing a feature for iOS 27 that can verify when photos were taken on an iPhone by embedding provenance metadata (hidden information about the photo's origin and creation method) into images at the moment they're captured. This would let users prove their photos are authentic and not AI-generated deepfakes (synthetic media made to look real).
Solution / Mitigation
The feature will be off by default when released and can be enabled by navigating to Settings > Camera > Reference Image > Reference Mode, according to code found in the iOS 27 beta 5.
Classification
Attack SophisticationModerate
Impact (CIA+S)
integrity
Affected Vendors
Apple
Related Issues
Monthly digest — independent AI security research
Original source: https://www.theverge.com/tech/977921/apple-reference-image-iphone-metadata
First tracked: August 11, 2026 at 02:01 PM
Classified by LLM (prompt v3) · confidence: 75%