UniFi Protect: Evidence Authenticity and Visible Watermarks

The Evidence System helps verify that any exported recordings originated from an enrolled Protect system. Each clip is cryptographically fingerprinted with SHA-256 and digitally signed, so downloaded recordings can be verified at evidence.ui.com. Authentic videos are confirmed, while altered or tampered-with clips are automatically flagged.

Enrollment is site-wide, requires no licenses or subscriptions. It is available in UniFi Protect 7.2 and later. Once enrolled, every downloaded recording includes an invisible authenticity hash.

How It Works

• Fingerprinting at capture: Each clip is hashed with SHA-256 during recording, creating a unique cryptographic fingerprint.
• Secure signing: The fingerprint is digitally signed, establishing a verifiable chain of trust from capture to download.
• Verification at evidence.ui.com: During verification, the file's contents are re-hashed and compared against the signed fingerprint generated at capture, so any modifications are detected and flagged. The file name is not part of the hashed content and can be changed freely without affecting verification.

Enabling Evidence

1. In the UniFi Protect application, open Settings and select the Evidence Trust section.
2. Turn on the Enroll in Evidence toggle.
3. Confirm enrollment: the status line below the toggle shows Enrollment active since with the date and time.

Verifying a Recording

1. Download recordings or cases from UniFi Protect.
2. Go to evidence.ui.com and upload the file (.mp4 or .zip). 
3. Review the result: authentic recordings are confirmed, while altered or tampered-with files are flagged. 

Visible Watermarks

In addition to the invisible authenticity hash, you can add visible overlays to recordings. In the Visible Watermark section, enable any combination of:

• UniFi Logo: Adds the UniFi logo overlay.
• Custom Logo: Upload your own logo, such as a company or site mark.
• Date & Time: Stamps recordings with the capture date and time.
• Camera Name: Identifies which camera produced the footage.
• Custom String: Adds custom text. The following stream values can also be added: resolution, codec, bitrate, bitratefull, width, and height.

The Preview panel shows a live preview of your watermark layout as you make changes. Watermark settings apply globally by default and custom settings are supported on individual cameras as well. The Reset to Global button returns all custom settings to the site-wide configuration.

Camera Compatibility

Visible watermarks are supported on G6 Series and AI Series cameras only. Manage basic watermarks for other cameras in Recording Manager.

Evidence enrollment and the invisible authenticity hash are independent of visible watermark support. Cameras without visible watermark support still benefit from cryptographic verification.