Guide · Images

How to turn off the Gemini watermark — and what stays

By Suprabhat Updated September 27, 2026 How we write these

3 min read

The short answer

Since August 2026 you can switch the visible Gemini watermark off yourself: open Gemini’s Settings, choose Media watermark and turn it off. It applies only to images made after that, it stays on automatically in some countries, and the invisible SynthID watermark stays in every image either way.

Turning the visible watermark off

In the Gemini app or on the web, open your profile picture or the menu, go to Settings, choose Media watermark, and switch the visible watermark off. Images you create from then on come without the sparkle mark in the corner (TechRadar, TechCrunch).

The setting doesn’t reach back: images you already saved keep their mark. To get one without it, make the image again with the setting off.

Where it stays on anyway

In India, South Korea and Vietnam the visible watermark is applied automatically and the setting doesn’t turn it off, because rules there require AI-generated images to be labeled. India’s 2026 IT rules, for example, call for prominent, persistent labels on synthetic media. The EU’s AI Act also requires AI-generated content to be marked in a machine-readable way from August 2026.

What stays in the image

SynthID. Google embeds an invisible watermark in the pixels of every image its models generate. It is designed to survive cropping, resizing and compression, and turning off the visible mark doesn’t remove it — so Google’s own tools can still tell the image was made with its AI.

Metadata. AI images can also carry a label in their metadata — an IPTC “digital source type” saying the image was generated, or signed Content Credentials (C2PA) recording how it was made. The photo metadata viewer shows both when they are there. It can’t see SynthID, which lives in the pixels rather than the metadata.

Why this site doesn’t remove watermarks

FixMyFiles doesn’t offer a watermark remover, for AI images or anyone else’s. A watermark on someone else’s photo is usually there to protect their copyright, and an AI label is increasingly required by law where the image is published. What the site does offer runs the other way: adding your own watermark to your photos, and seeing what a photo says about itself before you share it.

Questions

Can I remove the Gemini watermark from an image I already made?

The setting doesn’t change saved images. With the visible watermark turned off in Settings, making the image again gives a copy without the mark — except in countries where the mark is always applied.

Does turning off the watermark hide that the image is AI-generated?

No. Only the visible sparkle goes. The invisible SynthID watermark stays in the pixels, and the file may still carry AI metadata, so the image can still be identified as made with Google’s AI.

How can I tell if an image was made with Gemini?

Look for the sparkle mark in the corner. Then check its metadata in the photo metadata viewer, which shows AI labels and Content Credentials when present. Neither is proof on its own: marks can be cropped and metadata stripped, which is why SynthID exists.

Is it legal to remove an AI watermark?

It depends on where you are and what you do with the image. Some countries require AI-generated images to be labeled when they’re published, and removing a watermark from someone else’s image can infringe their rights. This isn’t legal advice; when it matters, check the rules where you’ll publish.