Tim Hardwick
Last week, some iPhone users reported that Apple's iOS 17.5 update introduced a bug that was causing old deleted photos to reappear in the Photos app. Apple quickly released the iOS 17.5.1 update to address the issue, but for many users, the “database corruption” explanation in the release notes was too brief and did little to assuage concerns about their data privacy.
Apple has now provided more detailed information about the problem and its causes. Speaking to 9to5Mac, Apple reportedly said the issue had nothing to do with iCloud Photos and that the company never had access to the deleted photos. The most likely reason for the reappearance of deleted photos is a corrupted database entry on the affected devices. In other words, the deleted images that were recovered were located locally and never left those devices.
Apple said that in some rare cases, iOS 17.5 accidentally recovered files from corrupted data and repopulated the Photos app with deleted images. Apple said the problem affected a small number of users and a small number of photos.
To explain reports that some recovered photos were very old, Apple said that in some cases the corrupted data may have been copied from one of the them. device to another when restoring from a local backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or restoring an iCloud device backup (that is, without using iCloud Photos).
One statement posted on Reddit, which has since been deleted, claimed that the user's photos had reappeared on an iPad that had been wiped and sold to a friend. Apple stated that this could not have happened if the user had deleted the data from the device before selling it using the “Erase all content and settings” option located in the Settings ➝ General ➝ Transfer or Reset menu. Either the user did not complete this required step, or the claim was false.
Notably, Apple's iOS 17.5.1 update to fix the problem does not remove previously deleted photos that reappeared after updating to iOS 17.5. As such, affected users will have to manually delete these images again, and they will be moved to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app, where they will remain for 30 days. Recently deleted photos in this folder can also be deleted immediately by selecting “Delete from all devices.”
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