#apple intelligence

Apple's iOS 27.2 update has quietly added an invisible watermark to certain AI-made images on the iPhone, according to a MacRumors report published Monday.

The watermark is based on SynthID, a tool created by Google for flagging AI-generated content. Rather than living in an image's metadata, SynthID is embedded in the pixels themselves. Google says it does not noticeably change how a picture looks and is built to survive common changes such as cropping, filters and compression. MacRumors notes that Apple said in June it planned to support SynthID, and the feature is now live in iOS 27.2.

Apple has confirmed that Siri AI will have a daily usage limit, and that limits will also apply to other Apple Intelligence features. The details appear in Apple's published terms, which MacRumors read.

When a person reaches a limit, the feature becomes available again after a time-out. Apple says the limits can vary by feature, by the complexity of a request, by system demand and by system policies, so there is no single number users can expect.

Apple also says expanded access will be offered for a fee at some point. It has not said how much this will cost or how it will be billed. At WWDC in June, Apple indicated that higher iCloud+ tiers would include expanded access to the limited Apple Intelligence features.

Apple said at its September event that iOS 27 will be released on Monday, September 14, together with iPadOS 27, watchOS 27 and macOS 27. It is the public debut of the rebuilt Siri, which Engadget says Apple developed in partnership with Google using Gemini models.

Engadget's early testing found that the new Siri could answer complex questions and handle multi-step requests. On the Mac, Siri AI is built into Spotlight.

Compatibility is a big part of the story. Siri AI supports the iPhone 15 Pro and newer, so owners of older iPhones will not get it. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air get a better experience thanks to a more capable on-device model that improves speech recognition and dictation.