Weird iOS 17.5 Bug Is Resurfacing Years Old Deleted Photos for Some Users

May. 16, 2024

Apple recently started rolling out theiOS 17.5 updatewith a new Cross-Platform Tracking Detection, Repair State mode on Find My, and other improvements. Merely after a few days of release, there are reports from iOS users claiming their iPhone is bringing back old deleted photos out of nowhere after updating to iOS 17.5. In some cases, the photos which were deleted some years ago have started resurfacing in the user’s photo libraries.

Ever since the discussion started, there have been several comments from users about facing the same thing.“I had a random photo from a concert taken on my Canon camera reappear in my phone library, and it showed up as if it was added today.”

At the moment, there’s no clear explanation of what’s happening. When you delete photos or videos in the Photos app, they are moved to the Recently Deleted album for 30 days. You can opt torecover the deleted photosor permanently delete them from all your devices. Since some users are saying the photos were taken months or years ago, this doesn’t seem to be an issue with recently deleted photos being undeleted.

It’s worth knowing that it’s not just one app that’s causing the issue. An X (formerly Twitter) user,ssmithdevposted an image that his iPhone XR is showing him 26 voicemail notifications, even though he had already either listened to them or deleted them a long time ago. Again, this happened after updating to iOS 17.5.

Apple hasn’t made any comments on this issue yet. Although the problem doesn’t seem to be widespread, it obviously raises concerns about data privacy and retention. Some Reddit users speculate that iOS 17.5 may have introduced some changes to the Photos app, requiring the app to re-index photo libraries. Well, even if the Photos app has to go through re-indexing process in iOS 17.5, there’s no excuse for deleted photos to reappear.

The deleted photos might be showing up due to photo library corruption, an indexing bug, or a syncing issue between Apple devices andiCloud Photos.It might also be possible that Apple is trying to fix a photo syncing bug that occurred in iOS 17.3. There are just speculations. We’ll get to know the exact reason, whenever Apple addresses this issue.

Is your iPhone also showing old deleted photos after updating to iOS 17.5? Don’t forget to share your experiences in the comments section.