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The same thing happens to me all the time with messages. I'll erase them from my iPhone, Apple will present me with a statement saying it will be erased from all my devices. I erase it and it's gone. Then I start up an old iPad I haven't used in a long time and voila! I get three years of messages downloaded (messages that were supposed to be permanently erased).
Messages syncing seems to work via some kind of queuing, and I think this is why it happens. There's other problems with it too, though, one of which I experience. I can delete a message/conversation from one of my devices, go to another device, and it's still there. I only recently figured out that I have to go into "recently deleted" and clear it out. So for some reason, "recently deleted" state doesn't seem to sync. Very user unfriendly.
 
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Deletion normally just removes the file index until the space is needed....

FYI: Readers of this thread may be interested in the "ShredIt Mobile" (aka "ShredIt HD") iOS app, available in the Apple App Store. The app conveniently overwrites all unused storage on an iPhone, destroying data that has been deleted. Periodically running the app as part of routine iPhone maintenance may be advisable, given recent events discussed herein.

P.S.: I have no affiliation with the company that created this app. While it has not been updated in some time, I have personally used it successfully for many years, including on an iPhone 15 Pro.
 
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So you can keep the previous owners deleted nudes as long as you dont update? Cool.

Apple really needs to explain why this happened and how and ideally do more to prevent it. This is insane
 
What did apple fix if this bug was made up?
There were two possible scenarios. One, that is true, is that photos deleted re-appeared on devices that were not wiped and were still logged in to the user’s Apple ID. Two is the scenario where a wiped device given to someone else showed photos from the original user. The first one is what Apple fixed. We don’t know if that second scenario even happened since the Reddit user who claimed it happened, deleted the entry shortly afterwards.

The current working theory is that this bug appears only on your own Apple ID and therefore would not manifest in others seeing your deleted photos if they are logged into their own Apple ID, not yours. The other potential scenario is still unknown as to whether it’s real. If it’s only scenario 1, then that significantly reduces the impact of this bug since the result is you seeing your own deleted photos. If so, install the fix and re-delete those photos. If scenario 2 is real, then it’s potentially devastating because of the privacy impact.
 
Now we just need the opposite, my Apple TV third generation cannot use iCloud photos because you can’t sign in anymore, they need to fix that so I can repurpose those old devices. :rolleyes:
 
You say it as if that is the truth. Even if we assume the Files apps is one way to cause the Photos to come back, is there any proof that no other ways the Photos are being stored? Did you audit Apple's source code to find out there are no other possible triggers of the bug?
If you don't trust the entity which designs (a lot of the) the phone's hardware, the firmware, the operating system and the software services used by the phone, it's time to look elsewhere.

So many here don't trust Apple at all and even dislike Apple, but still continues to buy their products and use their services. Strange behaviour.
Where did the trusting Apple question come from? If I don't trust anyone, it was the person I was responding to who talk as if there is a only single possibility without proof I do not trust.

Last I checked, Apple didn't have a good transparent explanation on the bug (nothing more than a vague one line "database corruption"). I can't distrust them if they didn't say anything yet. Many of us are simply asking Apple to provide more details. Yet people are saying there is no need for an explanation because they know everything, just move on.
 
Well in that case, I can assume that there are millions of possibilities then, if I fear for it like you do. It's already been explained and it's very clear to understand too. If you fear for it then buy another phone.
It's been explained by you. It hasn't been explained by Apple. Unless you're the spokesperson from Apple, no, the issue has not been fully explained. You are drawing your conclusion from a self proclaimed friend of a contractor supposedly working at Apple posting on Reddit.

It isn't about trusting or not trusting Apple. If Apple comes out and tell us it the issue is caused by the Photos being copied into the Files app and that is the only way it will trigger the bug, that is fine by me. But they did not do that. That is a problem with a company not owning up to their mistakes.

If you want an example of a company who openly communicate their mistakes with their customers, look at Cloudflare. They publish a postmortem on every outage and incident they have.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to shut your idea down here, it just doesn't make sense with how encryption works. It's entirely all or nothing. If it doesn't have the key, nothing can be read. There couldn't just be one picture left, it would be all or nothing. If they wiped it correctly (i.e. actually using the "Erase All Content and Settings" feature), it's not possible. So there could be something else going on here. Questions I'd have:

1. Did they actually wipe the device?
2. Did they simply shut it off after they wiped it, or did they go through the first time setup and then shut it off?
3. If the latter to 2, did somebody take a test photo with the device and leave it there?
4. One would hope someone wouldn't be silly enough to do this, but given the latter answer to 2, did they then log back into iCloud for some reason? Even if you log back out, if you just immediately shut the device off, it may not have had time to delete everything that just got synced by logging in. All of this is why I just shut the device off after the wipe brings me back to the welcome screen. If you really want to be sure of something, like, say, activation lock isn't enabled, do the first time setup to make sure it doesn't prompt for your creds, and then just wipe it again.

Stuff like that could easily explain it. I highly doubt anyone is seeing pre-wipe photos on a device. If they are, 99.9999% they're simply mistaken about having actually wiped it.

Definitely. I've just heard of cases (too lazy to find citations) I think it was for example early Intel SSDs didn't actually throw the key away. All kinds of weird bugs are possible and have happened over the years.

You're of course right that that's how encryption works. But they mention corruption, so maybe it was actually moved to a different block on a different partition that was loaded after recovery. It definitely was not on the wiped partition, but could have been copied from somewhere else.
 
Apple seems to be saying that the bug was not related to the Photos app, but rather the Files app. When screenshots or other shared photos are taken, there are two copies, one sent to the Photos app and one sent to the Files app. When deleted from the Photos app, the files are still present in the Files app. When re-indexing happens upon installing a new OS patch, the OS sees those files in the Files app and attempts to reintegrate them into the Photos app. They didn’t say what the fix was as to whether the Files app entry is deleted or whether they are merely preventing indexing from copying those photos to the Photos app. I’d like to see more of an explanation as to whether deleting photos from now on also affects the Files app.

Apparently Apple is saying that the scenario where you wipe a device and photos appear for others is a phony scenario, and they have found no instances of that happening.
 
Assuming iCloud is the problem, I deleted it permanently, then downloaded the lastest IOS update.
That seemed to work until, I restareted my IOS. My old iCloud account magically has reappeared.
 
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Assuming iCloud is the problem, I deleted it permanently, then downloaded the lastest IOS update.
That seemed to work until, I restareted my IOS. My old iCloud account magically has reappeared.
From what Apple is saying, it has nothing to do with iCloud, which is why the fix only appears on iOS and iPadOS. It is a Files app bug. Since there is no Files app on macOS, no fix was necessary there.
 
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
The-Man-Behind-the-Curtain-1170x550.png
 


Apple today released iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1, minor updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating system updates that came out last September. The 17.5.1 updates come a week after the launch of iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5.

iOS-17.5.1-Feature.jpg

iOS 17.5.1 and iPadOS 17.5.1 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

According to Apple's release notes, the updates include a fix for an issue that could cause images to reappear in the Photos library even after being deleted. There have been several complaints from iPhone and iPad users who saw their old, deleted photos resurfacing after installing the iOS 17.5 update. Images deleted as far back as 2010 were surfacing again, leading to confusion and worry over what was going on. Apple's information today indicates that it was a database corruption issue, and iOS 17.5.1 should solve the problem.



Article Link: Apple Releases iOS 17.5.1 With Fix for Reappearing Photos Bug
Okay, unlike MacRumors who chose not to report on the actual process involved that caused the issue, thereby allowing conspiracy theories, FUD, and disinformation to continue to generate clicks, 9to5Mac has a detailed analysis and reasoned report that explains what really happened. 9to5Mac also makes it clear that NO Apple is not keeping your deleted photos after you delete them as that would violate their privacy policy completely. Instead the photos weren’t actually deleted in the first place because of corruption in the database. They were marked as deleted but not really deleted. This update deals with that corruption issue. I guess 9to5Mac has closer ties with Apple‘s engineers than MacRumors.

So if you really want to know the details read the 9to5Mac article and ignore the FUD and blathering nonsense being vomited by the usual crowd here.

Bottom line, Apple does not have access to your photos or videos and does not keep anything after you delete it. Those who claim otherwise are liars and charlatans.
 
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