This issue goes beyond a bug. The bug here just revealed what was going on. "Deleted" items weren't really deleted.
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Troubling iOS 17.5 Bug Reportedly Resurfacing Old Deleted Photos
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Respectfully, I think it's a bit rash to think we know where the issue lies based on anecdotes from MacRumors comments. It's quite possible you're right but this is still a very newly uncovered issue.
I think yes... I've updated my iPhone yesterday without syncing with iCloud services and I've not found any zombie pics on my photo library.
What do you see if you go into...
Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> Messages -> Photos/Videos
...in terms of storage usage?
Traditionally, you could tap on any of the Document categories and see the actual files taking up space, but that appears to also now be broken. Ideally, one could view them there and see if they match up with what is now appearing in users Photos library.
People who don't have cloud sync on are seeing photos come back. My best guess is they are either coming from old messages or caching issues with restoring a new phone from the old phone's backup.
That gets cleared out after 30 days automatically according to Apple. I think you misunderstood what happened here.
No iCloud control panel on windows machines that would have synced photos? or Photos app doing the same?
This works for me, but note that I do not have (and have never had) “Messages in iCloud” enabled.
The photos I ’recovered’ were never sent in messages, they were taken by a device long deactivated and deleted ont that device, and no iCloud backup is present in my cloud storage library. Back then I’m sure the device was backed up to the cloud but I haven’t done that for years and old backups were deleted.
I never really looked at this (my iCloud Photos is off) other than to check if it is off or if the update had “fixed” it.
Right now I am looking and trying to figure out why I have extra photos. My last 15PM manual backup (Scandisk Extreme SSD) last week showed 435 photos. Today I have 600. Now to figure out what the diff is.
Concerning.
I do have a device iCloud BU for emergency restores.
Makes me wonder what else may have been “restored”.
It's still a bug any time sofware doesn't do what is expected is a bug, it is just potentially a major bug.
No, I don’t believe I’ve ever installed a windows iCloud sync, and certainly not in the last 5+ years. I don’t even have iCloud web access enabled for security reasons.
All devices connected to icloud are up to date as I have data protection on which required sunsetting anything older.
When a major bug is less significant than what it actually revealed...
I repeat... after the update no zombies on my iPhone!! Terminal synced and backed up on my Mac before the OTA update.
You have started every new phone from fresh, and you've never restored any backups, regardless of where they were stored.
first mistake is using icloud to store your photos. its called a computer. transfer them over
I'm not referring to iCloud at all. I'm asking in regards to Apple's "Shared With You" feature which indexes your local Messages history.
What I experienced is that the 17.5 update either toggled that feature back on, or it was already on but it indexed further back in time. I thought I'd toggled it off previously so my guess is that the update toggled it on, but I'm not certain.
I toggled it back off, and most of the photos I started seeing this AM were removed again. But there appears to be another bug that is causing some photos to remain. For me specifically, the photos that remained are photos that I believe I sent to others via Messages, not photos that were "Shared With" me. So my best guess is that this is the culmination of multiple bugs.
But after setting the device as new, you load your old backup? Maybe those deleted photos were being stored in Time Machine or other backup (Mac/iCloud) and this update reveals them.
I’ve NEVER used automated backups, always manually save my pictures on a folder on my Mac, and never load old data on my recently restored iPhone. Maybe it would be interesting for me to restore/update and see if any old picture appears…
Obviously, the first thing I do when I restore my devices is switching off iCloud Photos, it is among my set up protocol along with setting the UI size, DDG as the search engine, and setting up my ad-blocker.
Sorry, I have ”shared with you” disabled, and it did not re-enable for me upon updating to the latest OS on either my iPad or iPhone.
BTW this is already an issue I discovered on my new iPhone 15 PRO with 17.4.1
While trying to get more room, I deleted old videos in messages and they reappeared in my Photos library and among recent. I had to delete them again sigh
While trying to get more room, I deleted old videos in messages and they reappeared in my Photos library and among recent. I had to delete them again sigh
I suspected it for many years since they introduced trashbin for deleted photos. Like, if I really want to delete something I DELETE IT. It feels like some under-the-hood feature when they store all the deleted files in some kind of recycler to prolong life of iPhone flash storage.
Also it was always foolish to think that the ML chips which enable search option in photos app do not "look" at the shots. For years iPhones have been searching for faces in photos. Most people like it. Afaik there is also a gigabytes-long image preview archive.
IMO Photos app has been the most ugly app in iOS ever since iOS 7. It was simple and useable back in the days and "delete" was "delete", not "archive" or some other b$.
Now you guessed it - NSFW only in your bed. Ideally with iPhones completely turned off for these nice moments of intimacy. It just does not feel right to me when you are afraid to store some interesting shots on your phone, because when you want to delete those there is a chance they will reappear. Also the shots might not be related to NSFW at all, there is a lot of other information that people would rather want to be removed with a click, such as invoices, numerous useless screenshots, docs with sensitive info etc.
People wanted "circle to search" kind of features? They got it. Minus the privacy of any kind.
Also it was always foolish to think that the ML chips which enable search option in photos app do not "look" at the shots. For years iPhones have been searching for faces in photos. Most people like it. Afaik there is also a gigabytes-long image preview archive.
IMO Photos app has been the most ugly app in iOS ever since iOS 7. It was simple and useable back in the days and "delete" was "delete", not "archive" or some other b$.
Now you guessed it - NSFW only in your bed. Ideally with iPhones completely turned off for these nice moments of intimacy. It just does not feel right to me when you are afraid to store some interesting shots on your phone, because when you want to delete those there is a chance they will reappear. Also the shots might not be related to NSFW at all, there is a lot of other information that people would rather want to be removed with a click, such as invoices, numerous useless screenshots, docs with sensitive info etc.
People wanted "circle to search" kind of features? They got it. Minus the privacy of any kind.
This is absolutely brilliant ! No joke. When I converted to family shared photos, I thought I’d made a mistake and a lot of photos disappeared (thought I had done something wrong with duplicates) Now they are back
Thank you Apple! I guess it was your bug, but I dont care 😁
Thank you Apple! I guess it was your bug, but I dont care 😁
Ok, that's great, but you asked for others to help validate this with you, and that's what I'm trying to do.
Can you still go into...
Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> Messages -> Photos
... and let us know how large your Photos stored in Messages is? If it's 0, then that rules out a lot of possibilities. If it's large, then that leaves the door open to a lot of possibilities.
Can you then go into...
Settings -> Messages -> Shared With You
...and toggle it on, then off again, give it a few minutes, and see if any of the photos were removed from your Photos library?
Think that thought through.
If a “goof” in an iOS update can bring those Back (to a device not in use at the time of the pics), that means that Apple has a way to gather and deliver that data. This means it is accessible to Apple. While getting there may be something not commonly done (maybe), it is apparently available.
This is something I never really checked during the betas and until this item showed up in Reddit or here, I would not have looked.
Now I am in the process of checking and have 165 pics (approx) that I didn’t have a couple of weeks ago on my 15PM. 435 at bu vs 600 currently.
I don’t BU photos to iCloud. It is set to Off.
I do BU device to iCloud for emergency restores.
Pics prior to the 15PM were done to a different SSD. Haven’t checked that yet.
I am finding pics from 2022/2023 (as listed on my 15PM Photos) that were not in my last photo backup (manual BU to Sandisk Extreme). They were primarily screenshots, downloads from Pinterest, or photos. Not from Messages or Email.
UPDATE: I went ahead and bu (manual) the photos on my 15PM and have removed all but 49. This has not apparently affect my iPad Pro 11. The Recents and Deleted appear to remain unchanged after the update.
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