Last week, we saw some iPhone users report that after installing Apple’s iOS 17.5 update they saw old deleted photos make a return engagement in the Photos app. Apple quickly released an iOS 17.5.1 update to fix the issue, but its release notes for the fix merely said the update “addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.”
To say the least, the explanation left users with concerns about the privacy of their data.
Apple has now offered additional details about the issue and what caused it. An Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac that the photos that were not fully deleted from a user’s device were not synced to iCloud Photos. The files were only on the device itself. However, the files could have persisted from one device to another when restoring from a backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or when restoring from an iCloud Backup but not using iCloud Photos.
Apple continued, saying that in some rare cases, iOS 17.5 had inadvertently restored files from the corrupted data and repopulated the Photos app with the deleted images. Apple said the issue affected only a small number of users and a small number of photos.
Users on Reddit had reported that iOS 17.5 introduces a bug that causes old images that were deleted (in some cases years ago) to reappear in their photo libraries.
Other users have also chimed in with similar stories. “Same here,” said one Redditor. “I have four pics from 2010 that keep reappearing as the latest pics uploaded to iCloud. I have deleted them repeatedly.”
“Same thing happened to me,” replied another user. “Six photos from different times, all I have deleted. Some I had deleted in 2023.”
To explain reports that some restored photos were very old, Apple said that in some cases the corrupted data may have been copied from one device to another when restoring a local backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or restoring an iCloud device backup.
The iOS 17.5.1 update does not remove the previously deleted photos that were resurrected by iOS 17.5, meaning users will need to manually delete the images again. Those images will then be moved to the “Recently Deleted” album in the Photos app. The images will remain in that folder for 30 days when they will be removed. Users can immediately remove recently deleted photos by choosing “Delete from All Devices.”
