Key Takeaways:
Apple has addressed a rare issue that surfaced on the iPhone following the iOS 17.5 update where deleted pictures from the Photos app reportedly made a comeback. Many iPhone users raised complaints about the bug after updating their devices to the latest version of the mobile operating system.
“Rare” iOS Bug Leads to Deleted Pictures Reappearing in Photos App
The bug was related to corruption in the database entry that resulted in deleted pictures reappearing for some users. The issue caused pictures to not be fully removed from the iPhone.
On Monday, the tech giant released iOS 17.5.1 for the iPhone and iPadOS 17.5.1 for the iPad just days after the 17.5 update. In its release note, Apple directly acknowledged the issue, stating that the update provides “important bug fixes” to address a “rare issue” where photos that experienced database corruption were reappearing in the Photos library even after they were deleted by users.
Many users expressed concern about the bug after they found pictures in their Photos app that were deleted years ago. One iPhone user commented on a Reddit thread that they discovered four pictures from 2010 that kept reappearing as the latest media uploaded to iCloud.
The issue raised another major concern among iPhone users, with some questioning whether Apple is keeping hold of deleted photos. The company has asserted that it does not store any deleted user content and takes its privacy and security policies seriously. Apple is embarrassed by the bug, assuring users that it wasn’t by design.
Apple is fixing the issue by repairing its user database handling mechanism, ensuring that the records of photo library deletions are accurate to prevent previously deleted pictures from resurfacing in galleries.
iOS Keeps Two Copies of Files, Media, and Pictures on the iPhone on Two Separate Apps
How the system works is that when a picture is deleted by the user, it is then moved to the Recently Deleted album. The supposed image is actually removed from the iPhone 30 days later. Users can manually or permanently delete the pictures before the 30 days by removing them from the Recently Deleted album.
The bug reportedly occurred on-device and had no involvement with iCloud – Apple’s cloud storage platform – and has to do more with the Files app than the Photos app. Every case that Apple investigated has been caused by the pictures being deleted from Photos but not the Files app.
iOS keeps two copies of pictures on two separate apps. When a user downloads, shares/receives, or takes a screenshot on their iPhone, it is saved to both the Files and Photos app.
Now when the user decides to delete the said picture from the Photos app, an identical copy of the image still exists within the Files app. Therefore, the content is only deleted from the Photos app.
However, due to a rare bug within the iOS 17.5 update, the software is attempting to restore all photos, media, and files from the Files app into the Photos app. This usually occurs during the re-indexing process which happens when the iPhone is installing an update.
Since the Photos app can’t display files but can show media and photos, it gives users the impression that deleted pictures have reappeared in their gallery. Meanwhile, the deleted media, pictures, and files have been present on the iPhone the entire time, but just on the Files app.
iOS 17.5, which was released last week, brought new features and services like games for News+ subscribers, a 2024 Pride wallpaper collection, cross-platform tracking device detection, and changes related to third-party app marketplaces to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the EU.
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