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Troubling iOS 17.5 Bug Reportedly Resurfacing Old Deleted Photos
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Thanks for your message. Messages is turned off ofc since forever.
But yes, i did backup from 14 pro to 15 pm, but i do see pictures on my phone, which have never been on any of those devices before (13pm and XS), because i set them (13pm and XS) up as a new device.
Edit: i do not use iMessage.
My Windows ME computer had fewer bugs than what I see in my apple products now.
Not sure for all, but mine and some others have reported that they re-appear in Recents.
Not only in Recents, they reappear under
Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Review Large Attachments
or and
Settings → General → iPhone Storage →Messages → Review Large Attachments
I did try to "Auto Delete Old Conversations" where I was supposed to get back 20GB~ but as said in this thread about everything stays where it is
just the setting disappeared and my iPhone still has more than 20GB, didn't change a bit, not even after restarting, waiting few days etc
I don't use iCloud messages and never did .
Should I have used Ozempic for iPhone ?🤪
This seems like a database bug as my understanding is that Photos on iOS/iPadOS stores all of its images in an SQLite database, like Photos on macOS. My assumption is previous photo(s) were deleted and marked as such, but due to some bug the actual image data is not deleted. Maybe a garbage collection/cleanup operation didn’t happen. The act of upgrading to 17.5 causes these images to reappear. Perhaps the database is being reindexed, maybe in response to another bug that Apple was trying to resolve. Often resolving one bug introduces others.
I’ve seen similar behavior twice in the past week.
First was when I migrated from an iPad to an iPad Pro. A Safari bookmark that I had deleted from a bookmark folder that itself was deleted came back in the root of the bookmarks list. On macOS, my understanding is that Safari stores its bookmarks in a single plist file. I assume iOS/iPadOS is the same. My hunch here is that the bookmark was deleted locally on the old iPad but due to a bug/glitch/network interruption/etc. the deletion operation didn’t make it to iCloud. When setting up the new iPad Pro, iPadOS downloaded the bookmark plist containing the “deleted” bookmark.
The other was the return of a browser cookie in Chrome for Windows. I know for sure that I deleted said cookie because I deliberately removed it for troubleshooting. I know it didn’t immediately return because I had reason to look at Chrome’s cookies again a day later. The following day I upgraded to Chrome 125 and this cookie returned. Chrome stores cookies in an SQLite database, so here again I’m assuming a reindex occurred as part of the version upgrade causing the “deleted” cookie to be restored.
All disturbing behavior for sure, as everyone agrees that delete means delete.
I’ve seen similar behavior twice in the past week.
First was when I migrated from an iPad to an iPad Pro. A Safari bookmark that I had deleted from a bookmark folder that itself was deleted came back in the root of the bookmarks list. On macOS, my understanding is that Safari stores its bookmarks in a single plist file. I assume iOS/iPadOS is the same. My hunch here is that the bookmark was deleted locally on the old iPad but due to a bug/glitch/network interruption/etc. the deletion operation didn’t make it to iCloud. When setting up the new iPad Pro, iPadOS downloaded the bookmark plist containing the “deleted” bookmark.
The other was the return of a browser cookie in Chrome for Windows. I know for sure that I deleted said cookie because I deliberately removed it for troubleshooting. I know it didn’t immediately return because I had reason to look at Chrome’s cookies again a day later. The following day I upgraded to Chrome 125 and this cookie returned. Chrome stores cookies in an SQLite database, so here again I’m assuming a reindex occurred as part of the version upgrade causing the “deleted” cookie to be restored.
All disturbing behavior for sure, as everyone agrees that delete means delete.
I’m perplexed by the sold/wiped device claims that have photos coming back. All user data is allegedly encrypted on-device and the reset functionality generates new encryption keys rendering all old user data incoherent noise. If the technical documents are true, and the wiped devices were not signed back into the old Apple ID, what possible route(s) exist for old data to resurface? Were the devices not using lock screen passcodes?
Biggest concern from my perspective is not the return of the pictures or other items themselves rather that some of these were never cloud synced and crossed devices; even devices set up as new.
This indicates to me there is far more interaction between Apple and your device than we know or Apple ever indicated.
Sounds like serious unapproved “phone home” syndrome.
UPDATE: fixed a couple of introduced spell/grammar items.
This indicates to me there is far more interaction between Apple and your device than we know or Apple ever indicated.
Sounds like serious unapproved “phone home” syndrome.
UPDATE: fixed a couple of introduced spell/grammar items.
so that would mean apple uploads your photos to the cloud, even when you have it turned off?
if you did a secure erase and they are popping back up, they can't have just been left undeleted/unindexed on the device.
the problem with all this is it is a bunch of anecdotal evidence from a bunch of people where you do not know the background. far from proper testing methodology. maybe these people did use icloud at some point and forgot, mb their wife turned it once, etc
Little more light on my case….
I don’t use iCloud Photos - had a couple of disasters with it initially where it borked the loaded photo library.
I manually load to an SSD or other storage and then delete from my iPhone. I take a lot of pics especially when traveling or on vacation.
I do keep an iCloud backup of my device for emergency restores when traveling. I do backup either on my MBP or PC. Depends on what I am using at the moment.
Take pic > off load to SSD (or other storage) > delete photo on device
This is the same process I use for all my devices, iOS and Android.
I had a 165 photos return with the 17.5 update all to the Recents folder. They were from two vacations with a small mix of photos, screenshots and downloads. Looking at the dates, they were taken with an 8 Plus, 12PM and 13PM. This is a very small amount compared to the thousands I have taken. The “reappearance” only happened on my 15PM. Nothing on my iPad Pro or MBP.
I tend to run a lot of betas and periodically have done a complete reset as new to get past some bugs or messy issues.
Why these pics? No clue. They are not from Messages, email, or other messaging apps.
This is not something I normally check on updates. If it had not posted on Reddit and MacRumors, I never would have thought to look.
Yes.
8 Plus went to my granddaughter - it has since been trashed. Passcode and TouchID
12PM went to my daughter - she still uses it. Passcode and FaceID
13PM went to another daughter who is still using it. Passcode and FaceID
Each were unlocked and reset as new (factory) when gifted.
Long-time lurker, first-time poster.
I ran the 17.5 update today on my 15 Pro Max. I do have iCloud Photos and Backups enabled.
I don't believe I see any "returning" photos. However, I do see something slightly odd: 6 "blank" photos in my library, all with the same timestamp of 8:15 AM today, which was right around the time the update completed.
Blank meaning that they show up as black squares in the camera roll, but the "info" box says they are 0x0 pixels and a very small file size (smallest is 21 bytes, largest is 68kb). That, to me, looks like the phone tried and failed to restore some image files that were orphaned or corrupted.
I ran the 17.5 update today on my 15 Pro Max. I do have iCloud Photos and Backups enabled.
I don't believe I see any "returning" photos. However, I do see something slightly odd: 6 "blank" photos in my library, all with the same timestamp of 8:15 AM today, which was right around the time the update completed.
Blank meaning that they show up as black squares in the camera roll, but the "info" box says they are 0x0 pixels and a very small file size (smallest is 21 bytes, largest is 68kb). That, to me, looks like the phone tried and failed to restore some image files that were orphaned or corrupted.
"A small number of users..."
Well, I‘ll see your “woke” and raise you a “far-right”, but what does this have to do with the issue at hand?
A single user stated this on Reddit. That user has since deleted his post once it got the attention of MacRumors. That says everything that needs to be said about the likelihood of it being legitimate.
I'd be willing to bet considerable money their story didn't line up with reality, and once they realized that, were too embarrassed to come forward and admit it.
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This bug happened for me and as far as I can visually tell, it affects the ordering of photos, not resurfacing deleted ones.
I have iCloud Photos Library turned on, going as far back as 2011. Most of these were recently uploaded, but only those with the proper timestamp and/or EXIF.
Prior to 17.5, everything behaves as expected.
After 17.5, the Photos Library still looks correct, but the Photos Recent tab is where the issue is at. A lot of seemingly random old photos surface as recent. You will see in my screenshot most photos resurfaced in the recent list. This screenshot is from another app where it conveniently counts the photos, and I cross-checked these numbers against those reported by Messages sharing sheet.
I have iCloud Photos Library turned on, going as far back as 2011. Most of these were recently uploaded, but only those with the proper timestamp and/or EXIF.
Prior to 17.5, everything behaves as expected.
After 17.5, the Photos Library still looks correct, but the Photos Recent tab is where the issue is at. A lot of seemingly random old photos surface as recent. You will see in my screenshot most photos resurfaced in the recent list. This screenshot is from another app where it conveniently counts the photos, and I cross-checked these numbers against those reported by Messages sharing sheet.
