Combat fake news and misinformation by verifying the authenticity of images with cryptographic provenance data.
Origin Lens analyzes images for C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) Content Credentials, EXIF metadata and SynthID to detect AI-generated content, verify digital signatures, and reveal the complete edit history of any image. Core verification happens on your device. An optional reverse image search feature uses external services to help detect out-of-context images.
Get Origin Lens on your iPhone or iPad to start verifying image authenticity today:
| Pick an image | Read the verdict | Check the context |
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| Analyze from the photo library, the Files app, or a pasted URL. | Verification state and EXIF metadata, here an image with no C2PA manifest and a Nikon camera signature. | Optional reverse image search: where else the image appears, and when it was first seen. |
Origin Lens runs on iPad with the same verification path:
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Origin Lens goes beyond simple metadata viewing. It performs cryptographic verification of Content Credentials, detects AI-generated content from multiple sources, and provides comprehensive provenance analysis. All verification happens locally on your device.
Cryptographically verify the authenticity of images.
- Digital signature validation – Verify cryptographic signatures on embedded C2PA manifests
- Certificate chain verification – Check if signers are trusted and certificates are valid
- Tamper detection – Identify if content has been modified since signing
- Signer information – View organization, issuer, and timestamp details
- Multiple verification states – Verified, Invalid Signature, Expired Certificate, Untrusted, or No Manifest
Identify AI-generated content from multiple sources.
- C2PA assertions analysis – Detect AI generators from standard Content Credentials
- EXIF metadata parsing – Find AI signatures in image metadata
- Multi-source detection – Combines C2PA, EXIF, and SynthID for comprehensive coverage
- 50+ AI generators detected – Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly, and more
- Detection source transparency – Shows whether AI was detected via C2PA, EXIF, or SynthID
See every action performed on an image.
- Action-by-action timeline – View capture, edit, and publish events
- Software agent tracking – Identify tools used to create and modify content
- Timestamp information – When each action occurred
- Digital source type – Understand the origin (camera capture, screen capture, AI generation, etc.)
Access detailed image metadata.
- Camera information – Make, model, and settings
- Software details – Applications used to create or edit the image
- Artist and copyright – Creator attribution
- Date and time – When the photo was taken
- AI detection markers – Prompt parameters, generation settings, and AI tool signatures
Find where images have appeared online.
- Multi-engine search – Searches across Bing, Yandex, and Google
- Context verification – Detect out-of-context or misattributed images
- Smart filtering – Removes irrelevant results like login pages
- Privacy notice – Clear warning before uploading to external services
- Bring your own keys – Use your own API keys for enhanced privacy
Note: This optional feature uploads images to external search services. A clear privacy note is shown before use.
Analyze images from anywhere.
- Photo Library – Select from your gallery
- Files App – Access iCloud Drive and local files
- URL Analysis – Paste image URLs for remote verification
Select images from your photo library, files, or paste a URL to analyze any image for Content Credentials and metadata.
Clear visual indicators show whether content is verified, has signature issues, expired certificates, or no C2PA data.
Prominently displays when content is detected as AI-generated, showing the generator name and detection method.
View signer details, complete edit history, EXIF metadata, and raw manifest data all in one comprehensive interface.
Analyze images directly from the web without downloading them first.
Core verification happens on your device. Optional features use external services with clear disclosure.
- ✅ On-device verification – All C2PA and EXIF analysis runs locally
- ✅ Zero data collection – No analytics, no tracking, no servers
- ✅ No account required – Works immediately after install
- ✅ Transparent remote features – Reverse image search clearly warns before uploading
- ✅ Bring your own API keys – Use personal keys for external services
- ✅ Privacy first – Read our Privacy Policy
Origin Lens is open source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
Want to contribute or build from source? See the Build Instructions for development setup, architecture details, and contribution guidelines.
Help make Origin Lens better:
Origin Lens is part of a broader research initiative investigating the intersection of generative AI and misinformation. We invite researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to explore our related work and contribute to advancing this critical field.
Two papers describe this work:
- WebSci '26 — Origin Lens: Reclaiming Trust on the AI-Mediated Web Through On-Device Image Provenance Verification. 18th ACM Web Science Conference, Braunschweig. doi:10.1145/3795513.3806658
- Preprint — Origin Lens: A Privacy-First Mobile Framework for Cryptographic Image Provenance and AI Detection. arXiv:2602.03423. Accepted at the FIIR workshop of The Web Conference 2026; that workshop was subsequently cancelled, so this one exists as a preprint only.
The first is the one to cite.
If you use Origin Lens or its underlying research in your work, please cite our paper:
Origin Lens: Reclaiming Trust on the AI-Mediated Web Through On-Device Image Provenance Verification
Alexander Loth, Dominique Conceicao Rosario, Peter Ebinger, Martin Kappes, Marc-Oliver Pahl
18th ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci Companion '26), Braunschweig, Germany
doi:10.1145/3795513.3806658
@inproceedings{loth2026originlenswebsci,
author = {Loth, Alexander and Rosario, Dominique Conceicao and
Ebinger, Peter and Kappes, Martin and Pahl, Marc-Oliver},
title = {Origin Lens: Reclaiming Trust on the {AI}-Mediated Web
Through On-Device Image Provenance Verification},
booktitle = {18th ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci Companion '26), May 26--29, 2026, Braunschweig, Germany
(WebSci '26)},
year = {2026},
month = may,
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
pages = {1--5},
doi = {10.1145/3795513.3806658},
venue = {Braunschweig, Germany},
eventdate = {2026-05-26/2026-05-29}
}
@misc{loth2026originlens,
author = {Loth, Alexander and Rosario, Dominique Conceicao and
Ebinger, Peter and Kappes, Martin and Pahl, Marc-Oliver},
title = {Origin Lens: {A} Privacy-First Mobile Framework for
Cryptographic Image Provenance and {AI} Detection},
year = {2026},
eprint = {2602.03423},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
primaryClass = {cs.CR},
note = {Accepted at the FIIR workshop, The Web Conference 2026;
the workshop was subsequently cancelled}
}Origin Lens is one strand of a wider research program on generated disinformation:
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| JudgeGPT | Empirical platform for evaluating AI-generated news authenticity |
| RogueGPT | Controlled stimulus generator for AI news authenticity research |
| CRED-1 | Open multi-signal domain credibility dataset (2,673 domains) |
| verification-crisis | Expert survey on GenAI disinformation threats and countermeasures |
| provenance-linkage | Reproducibility bundle for a benchmark audit of AI-text detection |
Our survey on the dual nature of generative AI in the context of fake news:
Blessing or Curse? A Survey on the Impact of Generative AI on Fake News
Alexander Loth, Martin Kappes, Marc-Oliver Pahl (2024)
arXiv:2404.03021 [cs.CL]
@misc{loth2024blessing,
author = {Loth, Alexander and Kappes, Martin and Pahl, Marc-Oliver},
title = {Blessing or Curse? {A} Survey on the Impact of Generative {AI} on Fake News},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2404.03021},
eprint = {2404.03021},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
primaryClass = {cs.CL}
}We are conducting an expert survey to gather insights on generative-AI–driven disinformation. Your expertise would be invaluable to this academic research effort.
Participate in the Expert Survey
This survey explores expert perceptions of generative-AI–driven disinformation and aims to inform future countermeasures and policy recommendations.
- C2PA Coalition – Learn about Content Credentials technology
- Content Authenticity Initiative – Adobe's initiative for content provenance
- Verify Tool – Official C2PA verification tool
C2PA verification, Content Credentials, image authenticity, AI detection, EXIF metadata, digital provenance, fake news detection, misinformation prevention, cryptographic verification, AI-generated content, image forensics, media verification, trust and safety, content authenticity, iOS privacy app
Verify image authenticity. Combat misinformation.