- iOS 17.5 allegedly brings back deleted photos.
- The exact cause behind this bug is not known.
- Apple is yet to release a fix for this bug.
Some iPhone users are surprised to see their old deleted photos appearing after the latest iOS 17.5 update. If this sounds creepy, what’s more alarming is that even when users try deleting them, they reappear. So, among new features and improvements, the latest iOS update has brought back long-forgotten photos that are hard to remove.
iOS 17.5 photo bug: what’s happening
- The bug came to light when an iPhone user posted on Reddit that photos deleted in 2021 had resurfaced on their phone after the iOS 17.5 update.
- These photos appeared with the tag — recently uploaded to iCloud.
- Other users have also claimed to have experienced this bug. A user says their pics from 2010 have emerged `as the latest pics uploaded to iCloud`.
- One user says `Six photos from different times` have appeared out of nowhere.
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byu/ifallupthestairsnok from discussion
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byu/ifallupthestairsnok from discussion
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So, photos from several years back and over different periods have appeared like this. This is not only freaking out people but also opens up the discussion around how long Apple keeps deleted user data.
Does Apple keep deleted photos?
Per Apple Support, images you delete from your Photos app are kept in the Recently Deleted Album for 30 days and thereafter removed from the device. If you manually delete images from the Recently Deleted Album, then they are permanently gone.
Technically, when an image is deleted, only reference to its location is deleted. It would require that reference, the encryption key (if any) and perhaps other conditions to restore the deleted image.
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A Reddit user thinks the iOS system may be somehow able to “re-find” these deleted images. We are not sure how it is doing that or if that’s even the actual cause.
So, let’s wait for Apple‘s response or a fix. The company is known for its on-device photo processing and encryption practices.
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