Apple has released iOS 17.5.1 for iPhone. The software update specifically addresses the issue with deleted photos reportedly returning after updating to iOS 17.5.
While the bug is certainly alarming, it’s important to note that Apple does not access your photos or videos. The issue resulted from a small number of photos being impacted by a corrupted database entry, making it possible for the photo to not fully delete from the device, Apple says.
Apple says update fixes issue
Apple directly acknowledges the deleted photo problem that we reported last week in the release notes:
This update provides important bug fixes and addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.
No, Apple isn’t secretly keeping deleted photos
While some have asked if this means Apple keeps our deleted photos, the explanation for what actually happened is suggested in the release notes. Apple is clearly embarrassed by the bug as it doesn’t meet their mark for privacy. However, the behavior wasn’t by design.
Instead, Apple appears to be describing the fix as repairing the database handling mechanisms, ensuring that the photo library records of deletions are accurate to prevent previously deleted photos from resurfacing.
The way photo deletion is designed to work is as follows: photos are deleted by the user, moved to the Recently Deleted album, and actually deleted 30 days later. Photos can be manually and permanently erased before 30 days are up by deleting images from the Recently Deleted album.
What actually happened
So if Apple isn’t secretly keeping your deleted photos, how could this have happened? First, the bug occurred on-device and had no involvement with iCloud. Next is how file deletion generally works behind the scenes.
Top comment by Andres
English translation:
I previously erased my iPad 6th (completely) and installed version 17.5.1, so that it would have better performance with the new emulators (I did not sync anything from my previous system, only my Apple ID), without knowing about this bug. I do not have my photos synced on my iPhone, since I still have an iPhone 6s with 16gb, so I sync the photos with Airdrop to the iPad, and there they sync the photos with iCloud. Today, upon learning about this "bug", I see that on my iPad, which has just been restored, more than 200 photos from the year 2016 have returned, when I bought my iPhone. I find it worrying that after 8 years, a "bug" would cause MY information to return to a device that was not strictly where those photos were located, much less that they would remain on that iPhone since it is only 16gb, and it is not synced with iCloud. This means that Apple keeps the files, even if you yourself decide to delete them. Let's hope it's just the "photos", and not technically all of your information entered on the device.
Files on NAND storage aren’t truly deleted when you issue a delete command; instead, the space they occupy is marked as available for future use. The actual data remains intact until new data is written over it, which is why specialized software can often recover “deleted” files.
Still, that shouldn’t result in a deleted photo reappearing in the Photos library. In this case, Apple points to a rare issue caused by a corrupt database that resulted in some photos not being fully deleted as expected. However, the issue was never widespread and is addressed in iOS 17.5.1.
First bug fix for iOS 17.5
The update comes one week after iOS 17.5 first became available. iOS 17.5 includes new games for News+ subscribers, the 2024 Pride wallpaper, cross-platform tracking detection, and more changes for Digital Markets Act compliance in the EU.
iOS 17.5.1 is available as an over-the-air update now. Grab it from the Settings app under General > Software Update.
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