Is there a bug in iOS 17.5? Users’ private photos reappear after being deleted!

This Tuesday, Apple pushed an update to the official version of iOS 17.5, which not only added a new "Rainbow Glow" wallpaper, but also opened web sideloading for EU users, added a new "repair mode", and added alerts for abuse of tracking functions.

However, many users encountered a bizarre bug after upgrading to iOS 17.5: old photos that had been deleted from the album for many years were "resurrected"!

According to foreign media 9to5mac, an iPhone user posted on the Reddit forum that after upgrading his iPhone to iOS 17.5, he found that the latest photos in the Photos app were private photos that had been permanently deleted a few years ago.

This user said, "I was chatting with my partner and wanted to send a photo, but I found that the latest photo was actually a private photo we took when we were in a long-distance relationship a few years ago. But the name of this photo had been permanently deleted a few years ago, but now it inexplicably appeared in the album."

Another user wrote in the thread: "I have the same experience. I have deleted four photos taken in 2010 multiple times, but they keep reappearing in the iCloud list of recently uploaded photos.

Many users on the Reddit forum said they had encountered this problem, and it is not clear what caused it.

Some media have verified this issue with Apple customer service in China. In response, Apple said that it has not received any feedback in this regard, but it can guarantee that any personal privacy data of users will not be saved in the background in any form.

According to the settings of Apple's photo application, deleted photos and videos will be kept in the "Recently Deleted" album for 30 days. If the user does not restore these photos or videos within 30 days, they will be permanently deleted. If the user wants to delete the photos immediately, just delete the photos again in the Recently Deleted album to permanently delete them.

It is reported that the bug in iOS 17.5 may be due to a problem in the synchronization between local devices and iCloud photos. Another possibility is that when trying to fix the photo syncing error that occurred in iOS 17.3, Apple inadvertently caused a new syncing problem that may involve iCloud backup.

If you are worried that some old private photos will be "re-discovered", please go to the album and look through them immediately to avoid being confused when the time comes.