Latest iOS Update Resurrects Dead Photos

Apple’s latest iOS update is bringing back images that had been permanently deleted.

• The issue was first brought to light on Reddit by u/Specialist-Fix8582, who noted the reappearance of explicit material from 2021.
• Users kept coming forward with their situations.
• Apple has yet to comment.

Apple’s latest iOS 17.5 update is bugged, as deleted photos are reappearing in photo libraries after the update, according to several iPhone users.

It all started with a Reddit post that MacRumors clocked. u/Specialist-Fix8582 posted to r/ios about the update bringing back deleted photos from 2021. They explained how, while sending a picture, they noticed some explicit material that dated back to 2021. For all intents and purposes, those images were permanently deleted years ago.

If you are unfamiliar with iPhones. When you delete an image, it isn’t automatically permanently deleted. Instead, it’s moved to a deleted folder, where it remains for 30 days before being permanently deleted. Of course, you can always permanently delete any item in that folder before those 30 days are up. This system is set up this way so that, in case users delete something by accident, they can still retrieve it. We’ve all been there, freaked out, and forever regretted it. Not fun.

Now, however, images that have been permanently deleted at one point are showing up again after the iOS update.

The most concerning post yet is that of u/AnimatorAmazing190, who claims that about 300 of their old photos showed up on an iPad that they had already sold to a friend after the update. The post reads, “I sold my iPad [which was wiped according to Apple’s official guides] to a friend in September 2023, they called me today after updating to iPad OS 17.5 and said my old pictures appeared in their Photos app.”

As of writing this article, the tech giant has yet to comment on the situation. This whole thing could very well be a hoax. After all, Reddit is the natural habitat of Internet trolls. However, if any of this rings true, it will be a privacy violation of epic proportions.

Several iPhone users seem to think that the issue originates from iCloud. Except that one of the victims has never used iCloud. They instead think it’s a library corruption issue.

There could be an innocent, albeit bizarre explanation for this. According to a 2017 NPR piece, “When you delete a piece of data from your device — a photo, video, text or document — it doesn’t vanish. Instead, your device labels that space as available to be overwritten by new information.” Perhaps the update jolted the data back to life, like some Dr. Frankenstein’s monster.

The other explanation implies that Apple is storing your data. Where and what for? No clue.

Regardless, this is a security and privacy violation like nothing we’ve seen before when it comes to Apple. Especially if users’ images are appearing on devices that they’ve already sold. Their products’ biggest selling point is security.

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