Troubling iOS 17.5 Bug Reportedly Resurfacing Old Deleted Photos

[Delgibbons]

This is the "issue" that I'm seeing. The photos are not undeleted. They simply flipped on the feature to include photos from your Messages chat history.

It *is* admittedly confusing and is exactly why Apple needs to include a change log of fixes/changes for each release, which they almost never do, or even when they do, is so nondescript that it is effectively worthless.

Not the case though. Or not only the case. I have whole deleted videos of a concert (recorded on my iPhone) from 2018 that have magically reappeared in recent!

Swiping through recents - Going from images dated 13th may 2024 (correct) to 26th October 2018 (clearly wrong) to 14th May 2024 (correct)!

Absolutely bizarre.

 

[vicviper789]

Now this is a feature!

 

[gokhano]

That sounds more like a feature to me than a bug - all other artificial idiocies they committed in the past few years aside.

 

[hardwickj]

For anyone seeing this, go into Settings -> Messages -> Shared With You, and turn it off.

Problem solved. Guessing the 17.5 update toggled that on for no obvious reason.

 

[incidentallycheckout]

For anyone seeing this, go into Settings -> Messages -> Shared With You, and turn it off.

Problem solved. Guessing the 17.5 update toggled that on for no obvious reason.

Shared With You is something entirely different.

People are reporting photos they personally deleted re-appeared.

Photos they took before Shared With You was even a feature in some cases!

 

[thebeans]

Apple has never been good with cloud and sync stuff. This is a normal level of incompetence for them so I am not surprised or even disappointed anymore (desensitized), but I hope the incompetence is not getting worse.

Yep. My family has a shared note, “Shopping List”. We all 3 put things in there to get at the store. More often than not, it doesn’t sync and we have to ask the others to text us what they want. Sad that such basic things don’t work well.

 

[incidentallycheckout]

Yep. My family has a shared note, “Shopping List”. We all 3 put things in there to get at the store. More often than not, it doesn’t sync and we have to ask the others to text us what they want. Sad that such basic things don’t work well.

Use the Reminders app for that instead of Notes. They added a grocery list there even for auto-sorting. We use that and everything has been syncing fine.

 

[hardwickj]

Shared With You is something entirely different.

People are reporting photos they personally deleted re-appeared.

Photos they took before Shared With You was even a feature in some cases!

Shared With You is simply a feature that scans your Messages history. That history can extend much further back than when Shared With You was released.

I was literally seeing the same issue as reported by everyone else. Photos that just appeared today after updating last night. Turned off "Shared With You" and they're now correctly removed from my library.

 

[spazzcat]

You mean… that those photos resurfaced on a different iPhone that they were taken, and you also have iCloud Photos deactivated? Did you have it deactivated as well on the device where you took them? I ask because it is on by default when you set up a device as new.

They most likely restored their new phone from backups of their old phone which is why it is most likely a caching bug.

 

[willybNL]

Reminds me a bit of https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-17-4-icloud-tabs-syncing-bug.2421236/

Where I just can't remove some 'safari icloud tabs' that were once open during a safari upgrade (litterly one site told me about the update and I remember starting the upgrade after reading about it), now weeks ago.

 

[spazzcat]

Correct, this is also important.

1. Did this occur on anyone’s account with icloud backup turned off (which would mean Apple is mishandling data in icloud photo library and is very bad.)
2. Did this occur on anyone’s account with ADP on, and if so were those photos older than 30 days.

These 2 points are the most important thing because it will paint an extremely revealing picture. It’s a big deal in general, but if there are old backups floating around that the software looked at it could plausibly cause some merge conflict and not wanting to lose data, restore the ones it finds missing.

If either or both 1. and 2. apply, all bets are off here and it needs another, distinct top-headline story and a full investigation.

You are missing 3 have then been restoring their new phones with backups from their old phones.

 

[sdf]

We're talking decades here, not years. Holy shxt.

I don’t think anyone has bounds on it. It’s possible this was a bug in 2010 that was fixed in 2011 but left debris behind for 2024. Or it’s possible it affected photos from 2010 that people deleted in 2015.

We really need a full disclosure from Apple.

 

[sdf]

This seems like Apple's recent MO, lock everyone in with claims of security, but lack any actual extra security. In the end, they treat our data the same way Google does.

I look forward to you explaining how this bug (whatever year it’s from) helped Apple make extra profit, as opposed to costing them the tiniest bit extra for storage and (potentially) a lot of reputation.

This is why I trust Apple a little more than Google. Google has made it in their own self-interest to violate my trust. Apple has made it in their own self interest to not do so. Mistakes happen either way.

 

[hardwickj]

I don’t think anyone has bounds on it. It’s possible this was a bug in 2010 that was fixed in 2011 but left debris behind for 2024. Or it’s possible it affected photos from 2010 that people deleted in 2015.

We really need a full disclosure from Apple.

For anyone seeing this, go into Settings -> Messages -> Shared With You, and turn it off.

Problem solved. Guessing the 17.5 update toggled that on for no obvious reason.

Again, this isn't a bug per se. It's photos indexed from users Messages history.

Did Apple toggle the "Shared With You" feature on, or did they extend how far back it scans the history, I don't know. In either case it's definitely confusing but they are not restoring deleted files!

 

[gphome]

iOS 18 will have a data privacy tracker

I don’t think anyone has bounds on it. It’s possible this was a bug in 2010 that was fixed in 2011 but left debris behind for 2024. Or it’s possible it affected photos from 2010 that people deleted in 2015.

We really need a full disclosure from Apple.

I hope we get full disclosure from apple too however this is very unlikely, the Apple legal team are probably telling everyone internally to keep quiet already and just push out a fix. Presenting users with images on their personal device that they have marked as deleted has got lawsuit written all over it. Can you imagine the mental health impact of someone getting a image pop back up of a friend or parent they lost to suicide years ago?

 

[hagjohn]

Congrats on being the first one to actually ever answer me when I ask that question.

I would not consider that an answer.

 

[gphome]

Again, this isn't a bug per se. It's photos indexed from users Messages history.

Did Apple toggle the "Shared With You" feature on, or did they extend how far back it scans the history, I don't know. In either case it's definitely confusing but they are not restoring deleted files!

Some people are getting images that are 10 years old reappear, I can't believe they still have the iMessages for that? So if the user has deleted the photo, and deleted any iMessages that has shared it, then they are still restoring deleted files.

Even if they still have the iMessages and that is why it has re-indexed and through some sort of bug throwing it back in the gallery as a recent photo, that is still wobbly ground legally. The user deleted it from their photos app, it should stay deleted from the photos app.

 

[macguru212]

After the last iOS update (and Mac OS Sonoma) - I'm experiencing quite a few new bugs across the ecosystem.

For the first time in years, I'm a bit too terrified to update anything.

Oh, the humanity of first world problems!

 

[one more]

I wonder how people manage to find out. I have about 3.5K photos stored in iCloud and would not have a clue if an old photo reappeared somewhere. 🤔

 

[sdf]

Again, this isn't a bug per se. It's photos indexed from users Messages history.

If that’s the only source, they really only need to better indicate where the photo came from. That sounds like best possible case. Wouldn’t that be nice.

 

[novagamer]

You are missing 3 have then been restoring their new phones with backups from their old phones.

You’re right.

Anyway, I did investigate this on my own. It’s bad.

Set up iphone as new / have no old or outdated Apple devices that would have stale photos / have icloud backups off / have data protection enabled. I’m even using lockdown mode on all supported devicies.

I believe I’m seeing old photos I know I deleted appear, some from 5+ years ago. They have the correct timestamp so you have to hunt through your library.

EDIT: I found an old offline backup and am re-verifying this, please do not quote this post as evidence for the time being.

@MacRumors - please quote my anonymously as ‘a user’, I don’t want to be spammed for this.

 

[Delgibbons]

Again, this isn't a bug per se. It's photos indexed from users Messages history

Did Apple toggle the "Shared With You" feature on, or did they extend how far back it scans the history, I don't know. In either case it's definitely confusing but they are not restoring deleted files!

Turned it off. Deleted videos still present in recents.

2024>>>>deleted from 2018>>>>>2024

 

[sdf]

I wonder how people manage to find out. I have about 3.5K photos stored in iCloud and would not have a clue if an old photo reappeared somewhere. 🤔

Yeah, I can’t even say with confidence that all my photos are the right way up at the moment.

 

[hardwickj]

Some people are getting images that are 10 years old reappear, I can't believe they still have the iMessages for that? So if the user has deleted the photo, and deleted any iMessages that has shared it, then they are still restoring deleted files.

Even if they still have the iMessages and that is why it has re-indexed and through some sort of bug throwing it back in the gallery as a recent photo, that is still wobbly ground legally. The user deleted it from their photos app, it should stay deleted from the photos app.

10 years old means iPhone 6 era. For many people, that's only 1 or 2 iPhones ago. Having photos from that long ago still saved in Messages/iMessage isn't just feasible, I'd argue it's likely for most people.

I don't disagree that it could be wobbly ground legally, but again, Apple is not restoring previously deleted photos! Restoring a supposedly deleted photo from the cloud is something entirely different than showcasing an indexed and never deleted photo from another application.

 

[gphome]

You’re right.

Anyway, I did investigate this on my own. It’s bad.

Set up iphone as new / have no old or outdated Apple devices that would have stale photos / have icloud backups off / have data protection enabled. I’m even using lockdown mode on all supported devicies.

I’m seeing old photos I know I deleted appear, with the correct timestamp so you have to hunt through your library. Apple is mishandling our data.

@MacRumors - please have an admin PM me and we can change my user ID before posting.

Thank you for the very informative detailed personal test, the first we've seen on this thread.