Apple is discussing a bug in iOS 17.5 that caused deleted photos to reappear

Earlier this week, Apple released iOS 17.5.1 to address a rare issue where deleted photos would reappear on a user’s device after installing iOS 17.5. In the release notes, Apple said this was due to “database corruption.” The company has now confirmed some additional details 9 to 5Mac to further clarify the situation.

iCloud Engagement

Many people have wondered how images from 2010 resurfaced because of this issue. After all, most people no longer use the same devices as they did in 2010. Apple confirmed to me that iCloud Photos is not to blame. Instead, it all comes down to a corrupt database entry that existed in the device’s file system itself.

According to Apple, photos that were not fully deleted from the user’s device were not synced to iCloud Photos. These files were only on the device itself. However, files may have been retained on another device when restoring from a backup, moving from device to device, or restoring from iCloud backup but without using iCloud Photos.

Photos reappearing on sold devices? NO.

In a now-deleted post, a Reddit user last week claimed that his photos had reappeared on an iPad he sold to a friend, even though he had deleted the iPad’s contents before selling it. Apple says this claim is false.

The company claims that once you completely erase your device using the steps below, all files and content will be permanently deleted.

1. “open settings”
2. Select “General”
3. Select “Move or reset”
4. Select “Erase all content and settings”

Following these steps will permanently delete all data from the user’s device and old photos will no longer be able to reappear. In the Reddit user’s situation, he probably didn’t take the proper steps when resetting the device before selling it… or he fabricated the situation in hopes of earning some Reddit karma.

A rare problem

Apple has repeatedly stressed that this issue was rare and affected a small number of users and a small number of photos. The company did not and does not have access to the user’s photos or videos.

This is still a concerning issue, but it is reassuring to know that the photos in question were not stored in iCloud and could not reappear on the device once it was properly deleted and sold.

Part of this is also due to the overall performance of NAND memory. Files in NAND are not actually deleted when the delete command is issued; instead, the space they occupy is marked as available for future use. The actual data remains intact until new data is written to it, so specialized software can often recover “deleted” files.

Also worth paying attention to: iOS 17.5.1 does not automatically re-delete photos that reappeared after updating to iOS 17.5. If this issue applies to you, you need to go to the Photos app and manually delete these images. The photos will then be moved to the “Recently Deleted” album in the Photos app, where they will remain for 30 days. You can immediately delete these images by selecting “Delete from all devices” in the “Recently Deleted” album.

Follow Chance: threads, TwitterInstagram and Mastodon.