Dispatch
Apple's Reference Image uses the iPhone 18 Pro sensor to sign a photo as unmanipulated at capture
Announced at Apple's 2026-09-09 event and shipping with the iPhone 18 Pro line later this month, Reference Image is meant to let users prove a photo was not altered, including by AI, by having the device's new camera sensor sign the image at capture time. It is provenance from the hardware end rather than detection after the fact, which is the approach C2PA has been arguing for. It shipped alongside Siri Recap, Live Rewind, Sound Recognition and Music Recognition on Apple Watch, features that drew immediate privacy pushback over ambient listening and prompted Apple to publish a separate document on how the audio never leaves the device as raw recordings.
↳ Follow the thread