Show HN: Prove that video of a UFO was real, by using this

3 rh-app-dev 2 9/17/2025, 3:21:42 PM reel-human.com ↗
Seriously though, you see something unbelievable. Grab your phone and record it. Post it online and immediately people start asking "is that real?" And can you blame them? How can anyone prove what they post is real.

I’ve been working on a tool to address one of the biggest problems I see with digital content: the inability to prove that it was captured by a real human, on a real device, at a specific time — without manipulation or AI involvement.

Witness by Reel Human is a privacy-first camera app that generates cryptographically signed photos and videos. Each file includes an embedded JSON manifest with: - The exact capture time - Device info (not user identity) - The app version and signature metadata

The manifest is stored inside the media file (MP4/JPEG) and travels with it, even if shared. The result is a verifiable, human-authored piece of content.

What’s working now (POC): - Android and iOS apps (available for testing) - Signed JSON manifests inside every photo/video - No accounts, no tracking, no upload

What’s coming: - Public verification portal (in progress) - Registry backend with optional verification logging - Open API for platforms to verify content at scale

I’d love your feedback on: - The idea and approach - Security model (crypto choices, manifest design, etc.) - Use cases beyond journalism (legal, education, social media)

Site: https://reel-human.com POC App: - Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reelhuman.... - iOS: https://testflight.apple.com/join/GzfTsCNF

Ask me anything — I’m solo-building this because I think trusted content should be a human right.

Comments (2)

eitland · 43m ago
Interesting idea and I think Nikon did with high end(?) cameras a number of years ago.

Nikon tried this a number of years ago, and I am not sure if they ever managed to stop hardware hackers from extracting their private keys, here are some examples: https://petapixel.com/2011/04/28/nikon-image-authentication-...

On a second reading it seems that Canon keys were leaked even earlier.

anon191928 · 3h ago
This is one those things that are great on theory but not practical. I can list things to bypass or fake this type of tech. Because I've thought it for long before.

very basic one, what if they record screen in a very good in dark room and in a technical way, can you prove that?

what makes it impossibloe to extract or copy the json, modify it or modify the video then put it back? or make a way to some similar way? it's a video file in the end.

This is like those AI calorie apps, works most of the time but possible to fake or get wrong results.