How to Hide Google’s Visible Watermark on AI Images
Learn how to turn off Google’s visible watermark on AI‑generated images, what stays invisible, and the pros and cons of doing so.
Images generated in the Gemini app carry a visible watermark in the corner. There is a setting to turn it off — but it is gated behind a subscription tier, it varies by country, and it does not remove the watermark most people are actually asking about.
Two different watermarks, and only one is removable
This distinction is the whole article, so it goes first:
| Visible watermark | SynthID | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The Gemini mark rendered into the corner of the image | An imperceptible watermark embedded in the image data |
| Can you see it | Yes | No |
| Controlled by the setting | Yes | No |
| Removable by you | Yes, with the right plan | No |
Google is explicit: the Media Watermark setting controls only the visible watermark and “doesn’t affect SynthID watermarks or Content Credentials for media created with Gemini Apps.” All AI-generated media created or edited with Gemini Apps includes an invisible SynthID watermark.
So turning the setting off gives you a clean-looking image that is still identifiable as AI-generated by anyone with a SynthID detector. If your reason for wanting the watermark gone is that you would rather people not know the image was generated, this setting does not achieve that, and no setting does.
Who can turn it off
Access depends on your plan and your country:
- Most regions: the watermark setting appears if you have an AI Ultra subscription. Otherwise visible watermarks are applied automatically.
- India, South Korea and Vietnam: only AI Ultra subscribers can control it, and everyone else has visible watermarks applied automatically with no option.
If you are on a free plan, or a paid plan below AI Ultra, the setting will not be there. This is the single most common reason people cannot find it — not a hidden menu, just an absent one.
How to turn it off
On a computer:
- Go to
gemini.google.com - Click Settings at the bottom left
- Select Media Watermark and toggle it off
On Android:
- Open the Gemini app
- Go to Menu → Settings
- Next to Media Watermark, tap to turn it off
The change applies to media you generate afterwards. It does not retroactively strip the mark from images you already made — regenerate them if you need clean versions.
Why the visible mark is there
Visible labelling of AI-generated media is becoming a regulatory expectation rather than a design choice, which is why the control is tied to a paid tier and restricted outright in some countries rather than being a simple on/off for everyone.
It is also worth noticing what Google chose to make optional. The visible mark is a courtesy to the viewer; SynthID is the durable provenance signal, and that one is not negotiable at any subscription level. The company is willing to let paying customers have a cleaner image, and not willing to let anyone ship media without provenance.
A note on removing watermarks by other means
Cropping or cloning out a visible watermark leaves SynthID intact, because SynthID is carried in the image data rather than in the visible pixels of the badge. Heavy editing, recompression or re-generation degrades it to varying degrees, but “I cropped the corner” does not remove it.
If you need images without AI provenance for a commercial deliverable, the answer is to use assets that were not AI-generated, not to try to launder ones that were. Licensing terms for AI-generated media, and any disclosure obligations you have to a client, are unaffected by whether a badge is visible.
Sources
- Gemini Apps Help — Manage watermark settings (plan and region requirements, exact setting paths, SynthID exclusion)
- Google DeepMind — SynthID
- Gemini Apps Help — Verify AI-generated images, video and audio
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