WhatsApp forward photo checker

Forwards lose detail

Chat apps usually shrink and compress photos to send them quickly, and every forward can do it again. By the time a photo has gone round a few groups, much of the fine detail detectors rely on can be gone, and any Content Credentials it carried have been stripped.

When a photo is too small or too compressed to judge fairly, Checko refuses it and says why, instead of guessing. A refusal doesn't use a free check.

How to check a forward

• Save the photo from the chat to your phone. Saving keeps more detail than a screenshot.
• Upload it here. The result says AI or No AI detected, which detector fired, and a one-line reason.
• If the message has several photos, check each one.
• If you find a larger copy online, paste its link instead. Bigger is better.

Find the original

• Ask the person who sent it where they got it. Often they don't know, and that's worth knowing too.
• Run a reverse image search. It finds earlier and larger copies, and often the first person to post it.
• Search a few words from the message along with 'fact check'. Independent fact-checkers often cover forwards that spread widely.

Not every misleading forward is AI

Many misleading forwards use an ordinary photo with a new story: an old flood, a protest from another country, a crowd from a different year. An AI detector can't catch that, because the pixels haven't changed. Only the caption has. A No AI detected result doesn't make the message true.

Where it can miss

• Heavily compressed forwards are harder to judge. Some AI images pass once enough detail is gone, and very low-quality photos get flagged by mistake more often.
• Screenshots of forwards add another layer of compression. Save the photo instead.
• Illustrated or cartoon faces, common in greeting-style forwards, can trip the face analysis.
• It checks images only. It doesn't check forwarded videos, voice notes or the text of the message.

Questions