Apple has automatically added an invisible watermark to images from Image Playground and edits made with Apple Intelligence since iOS 27.2. Which tools are affected is listed on an Apple support page dated November 5, 2026. MacRumors had already published initial tests on October 26, 2026.
The technology is called SynthID and comes from Google. According to MacRumors, the marking sits in the pixels, not in the metadata, and according to Google it survives cropping, filters, and compression. Apple does not offer a verification function on the iPhone. Whether an image is marked can only be shown by the SynthID Detector in the browser at synthid.com.
According to Apple, Clean Up, Extend, and Reframe in the Photos app mark the image, as do Image Playground and Image Wand. The version page lists SynthID as a new feature of iOS 27.2, and the support page states the same policy for iPadOS 27.2, macOS 27.2, and visionOS 27.2.
What iOS 27.2 marks
According to Apple since iOS 27.2, likewise in iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS 27.2
With watermark
- Extend and Reframe in Photos
- Clean Up for larger changes
- Image Playground
- Image Wand
Without watermark
- Photos from before the update
- Small corrections with Clean Up
- Tools outside Apple's list
For the threshold for Clean Up, only the MacRumors test is available; Apple does not specify one
Sources: Apple Support, MacRumors
The help pages are more cautious, stating that most images created or edited with Apple Intelligence are marked. According to Apple's guide, the tools themselves run on the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all models of the iPhone 16 series or newer. Apple Intelligence is not available in all languages and regions. Apple does not mention a separate restriction for the marking.
A photo that you edited before the update remains without a watermark until you apply one of these tools to it again. Your existing archive therefore does not change as a result of the update.
What does a detected watermark tell you?
A find only proves that an Apple tool was involved in the image. Even a real photo from which you removed an object using Clean Up receives the marking. Conversely, a missing watermark does not prove an unedited file: Extend and Reframe marked every time in MacRumors' test, while with Clean Up small corrections remained without marking. Neither Apple nor MacRumors specifies a threshold.
What this means for you
Feel free to test the marking yourself: apply Extend to a copy of one of your own photos, upload the file to synthid.com, and check whether the detector triggers. Repeat the test with a small correction using Clean Up. This way you find out for your device at which change the marking is created.
If you retouch customer photos on the iPhone, record which tool you worked with. A later test can reveal the editing, even if nobody asked about it. Also check the AI rules of the platforms where you sell or submit images before you apply Clean Up to product photos.
Apple published the support page on SynthID watermarks on November 5, 2026.
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