Apple users are reporting that old photos — including NSFW ones — are reappearing on their devices after updating to the latest iOS 17.5.
A series of Reddit posts from freaked-out users have drawn attention to the problem with one describing how they went to send a picture but found that at the top of their “Recents” folder was an NSFW picture of them taken years ago which the user says they had permanently deleted.
Another user took to Reddit to explain how they had sold an iPad to a friend in September 2023 and the same friend has text them to say their old photos had appeared on the device despite insisting they wiped the device and logged out of Apple ID before the sale.
However, it’s not just deleted photos that are reappearing. One iOS user reports that old photos appeared in Recents but doesn’t think that they deleted them.
“I have a small number of photos from 2016 which are suddenly at the end of my Recents. I don’t think these are the ones I deleted. It is a weird bug,” they write.
According to a report by The Verge, iOS beta testers had the same complaint that old pictures were reappearing. So far Apple hasn’t commented on the bug but one user said their old photos returned despite not using iCloud or syncing their phone which suggests the photos are originating from on-device storage.
When deleting a photo from an iPhone, it doesn’t actually delete the data it just marks that space as available to be overwritten by new information and cuts off references to the old binary code. This could be what’s causing the bug but understandably people are concerned about their privacy.
“If even half of these Reddit posts turn out to be true this is one of the biggest privacy/security scandals Apple has ever had,” writes one Redditor. Although that remains to be seen.
What is Going On?
Android Authority reports that the bug appears to be affecting local storage and photos from previously owned iPhones may appear on new devices if the user has done a full restore when upgrading hardware.
“Photo deletion typically breaks the link between stored data and the accessible user interface. As long as you’re not out of storage, the data could remain there in an unreadable state. So, the bug may be reestablishing these broken links and reindexing deleted photos on the user-facing side,” writes the mobile phone news website.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.