Apple explains iPhone bug that caused deleted photos to reappear after fears strangers could see old, embarrassing photos

APPLE has finally explained the reason behind a strange iPhone bug that caused old snaps to reappear years after they were deleted.

The mysterious glitch occurred after the iOS 17.5 update, which caused some users’ photos to magically reappear on their phones.

4

Previously, the tech giant only described the bug in a major update, saying it was a “rare issue where photos that suffered database corruption could reappear in the photo library even if they were deleted.”

While the phenomenon is unusual, one Reddit user claimed that his NSFW ‘stuff’ has resurfaced – even though it was ‘permanently deleted years ago’.

“We have no privacy. They have everything. Apparently even excluded,” wrote a viral comment from the Majestic Memes account on X.

Another said: “Your delete button isn’t really a delete button. Scary”.

Unsurprisingly, many iPhone users were worried about how this could be possible.

This is especially the case for those who have sold their old Apple kit to third parties.

Meanwhile, some speculated that it could be related to iCloud.

But Apple has now denied any connection to its cloud storage service.

Speaking with 9to5Macthe company said that photos that were not fully deleted from the user’s device were not synced to iCloud Photos.

They were only kept on the device itself.

But files may have remained 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.

The company repeated that the problem was rare and emphasized that it did not and does not have access to users’ photos or videos.

Apple also stated that some claims about the bug were false.

One Redditor claimed that his images reappeared on an iPad that was sold to a friend, despite them doing a factory reset.

The post was deleted and Apple said the claim was “false”.

iPhone users have been encouraged to update their phone’s operating system now to fix the issue.

To do this, go to Settings and then General, where you should find the Software Update section.

You can then download and install the iOS 17.5.1 update.

Even with this new update, the bug has not been fully resolved.

If you still find that there are photos that have reappeared, you will need to manually delete them from your main album.

These photos will remain in the recently deleted album for 30 days – unless you click the ‘Delete from all devices’ button.

4

4

How to update

You’re looking for an update titled iOS 17.5.1 in the Settings app on your iPhone.

To find it, open the Settings app, click General, then Software Update.

You can choose to update the new software – and fix the bug – now or later, when your iPhone is charging (and connected to Wi-Fi) overnight.

This update is available on iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR and newer devices.