Apple Provides More Details About the Deleted Photo Bug in iOS 17.5

 A issue that caused previously deleted photographs to return in the photographs app was reportedly introduced by Apple's iOS 17.5 update, according to some iPhone users who reported it last week. The problem was promptly resolved by Apple with the release of iOS 17.5.1, but many users felt that the release notes' explanation of "database corruption" was far too brief and did little to soothe their fears about the privacy of their personal information.

Apple has recently provided additional information about the issue and its root cause. According to reports, Apple told 9to5Mac that the business never had access to the destroyed photographs and that the problem had nothing to do with iCloud photographs. Rather, erased photos were resurfacing because of a faulty database entry on the impacted devices. Stated differently, the restored deleted photos were local to those devices and never moved.

According to Apple, there have been isolated instances where iOS 17.5 has unintentionally restored files from corrupted data and filled the Photos app with previously deleted photos. According to Apple, just a small percentage of users and images were impacted by the problem.

Apple stated that in certain situations the corrupted data may have been moved from one device to another when restoring a local backup, carrying out a device-to-device transfer, or restoring an iCloud device backup (i.e. not including iCloud photographs), in response to concerns that some restored photographs were extremely old.

An iPad that had been erased and sold to a friend was purported to have the user's images back on it, according to a Reddit post that was later removed. According to Apple, this would not have happened if the customer had used the Erase All Content and Settings option under Settings ➝ General ➝ Transfer or Reset to clean the iPhone before it was sold. Either the claim was untrue, or the user had neglected to complete this essential step.

Interestingly, none of the previously deleted photographs that resurfaced after switching to iOS 17.5.1 are eliminated by Apple's iOS 17.5.1 update, which fixes the problem. Because of this, impacted users will have to manually remove these photos once more. They will then be transferred to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app, where they will stay for 30 days. You can also quickly remove recently deleted photos from this folder by selecting Delete from All Devices.