References included in iOS 27 beta 5 point to a new feature designed to authenticate the camera source of an iPhone photo. Apple is working on something called Apple Reference Image, which aims to combat AI-generated imagery by using unique data tied to iPhone camera hardware.

The system sends the image to Private Cloud Compute for authentication, while only certain sensor information and photo metadata are sent back to Apple, preventing Apple from accessing the raw photo. If a sensor may have been compromised, Apple may revoke prior authentications.

Reference Mode must be used when capturing the photo; photos taken normally won’t contain the provenance information needed for authentication. During authentication, Apple assigns a unique ID. Authenticated photos can be shared with other Apple devices, which can check locally without telling Apple which images they are viewing.

Apple is also adding a “Transfer with Provenance” option for USB transfers. This follows similar efforts by Google (Synth ID), Meta, and OpenAI to identify AI-generated content.