Apple Explains Why iOS 17.5 Brought Back Some Deleted Photos

Apple released iOS 17.5.1 earlier this week to fix a rare bug that was causing some deleted photos to reappear on users’ phones. Apple only said in the release notes for the update that this issue was only affecting “photos that experienced database corruption.” However, a bug of this magnitude deserved a more in-depth explanation.

From all of the various reports of people encountering the issue, it wasn’t really clear if the photos that had reappeared had been saved to iCloud or not. Well, 9to5Mac managed to get a clear answer from Apple, and the company has now clarified that this wasn’t a cloud syncing issue at all.

“According to Apple, the photos that did not fully delete from a user’s device were not synced to iCloud Photos. Those 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,” 9to5Mac explained.

Apple confirmed to 9to5Mac that the bug only affected a limited number of users on iOS 17.5. However, the company also said that iOS 17.5.1 won’t automatically remove deleted photos that reappeared due to the previous update. As a result, users affected by the bug will still need to delete these pictures that resurfaced manually.

Last but not least, the company dismissed reports claimings that iOS 17.5 could make some deleted photos reappear after a device has been erased completely. Apple confirmed to 9to5Mac that the “Erase All Content and Settings” option in iOS Settings works as expected and deletes everything that’s on a device permanently.