iCloud deleted photos really gone?

[Ninho]

Hello,

I couldn’t find an answer regarding my question after reading different websites.

If I delete a photo from my device and iCloud and I delete it also permanently and don’t keep it for 30 more days…is it really gone or can it still be seen by Apple? I already read that the photos are still on the server and can be recovered with different programmes, even after 30 days, and that the data has to be overwritten or the server has to be “cleaned” by Apple, so that the photo is finally gone.

Do you have some clearer information?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Kind regards

 

[xyz369]

The fact that the files are not completely deleted. I once tried to upload and delete a file via web iCloud Photos. After a complete deletion, I tried to upload the same file and got a message that the file was being duplicated. This means that the information about this photo file was still on the server, but it was not in my library. I tried to change the file name and the file was successfully uploaded to the iCloud Photos...

 

[Ninho]

Thanks! But do you know if the photo itself is still on the server or just some data information of it?

 

[xyz369]

I would also like to know!
I can only guess, if you look at the files in the photo library on the macos, the photos are stored in the origin folder and all the meta is in the data bases. Each origin file is named as a key and possibly meta data is associated with that key. Perhaps when you delete a photo, the original still remains somewhere in a big pile of garbage on the server but is no longer linked to your account and is waiting for its turn to be deleted forever.

 

[Ninho]

I would also like to know!
I can only guess, if you look at the files in the photo library on the macos, the photos are stored in the origin folder and all the meta is in the data bases. Each origin file is named as a key and possibly meta data is associated with that key. Perhaps when you delete a photo, the original still remains somewhere in a big pile of garbage on the server but is no longer linked to your account and is waiting for its turn to be deleted forever.

Thanks again. ?? Maybe someone else knows more details about what will happen to a photo if it will be deleted permanently from the device and from iCloud.

 

[appltech]

Sure thing you can look for it and restore. If you're having physical full access to the server's array with all certs and encryption keys either.
But after 30 days of removal, it's impossible unless there's a photo with nude children
It could be a real mess for Apple to handle such recovery on regular basis.
And I'm not sure if 3rd party services can obtain hashes and data of the removed files from Apple servers

 

[Ninho]

Sure thing you can look for it and restore. If you're having physical full access to the server's array with all certs and encryption keys either.
But after 30 days of removal, it's impossible unless there's a photo with nude children
It could be a real mess for Apple to handle such recovery on regular basis.
And I'm not sure if 3rd party services can obtain hashes and data of the removed files from Apple servers

Just to be clear. I don’t ask this regarding the kind of pictures you just mentioned. That is disgusting.

I just read some texts in the last days about data privacy and this topic came to my mind. Now I’m looking into my apps and settings to get them all correct…like giving third party apps access to the photo library or giving them the ability to track everything and this kind of stuff.

Edit: Thank you for your help!

 

[Ninho]

Sometimes I have so much pictures and delete them from the device. But they disappear also from iCloud. I would like to delete them from the device but still want to have them in iCloud. So they don’t get lost. Is there a possibility?

 

[xyz369]

To me it looks like a process similar to throwing garbage in the real world. The deleted photos no longer belong to you and Apple is responsible for the process of removing them from their servers.

 

[xyz369]

Sometimes I have so much pictures and delete them from the device. But they disappear also from iCloud. I would like to delete them from the device but still want to have them in iCloud. So they don’t get lost. Is there a possibility?

If iCloud photos is enabled, deleted photos will also be synchronized.