Apple introduces cryptographic photo verification for iPhone 18 Pro

Apple is introducing a new security feature called ‘Apple Reference Image’ for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to combat deepfakes and AI-generated imagery. The system uses cryptographic signatures at the hardware level, where the camera sensor signs pixel data immediately upon capture before any software processing occurs. This creates a ‘secure digital negative’ that includes encrypted timestamps and metadata verified via Apple’s Private Cloud Compute.

While this technology aims to prove photo authenticity, new AI-driven editing tools in iOS 27 have shown limitations. Features such as ‘Expand’ and ‘Spatial Reframe’ can use generative AI to fill in missing image areas, which has resulted in the creation of entirely fictional people and faces that were not present in the original scene.

Additionally, a new data-wiping feature discovered in the iOS 27.2 beta will allow users to overwrite iPhone storage with empty data to ensure permanent deletion. Due to regulatory requirements in China, this specific deep-cleaning function is expected to be available only for models sold in that region.