When Apple released iOS 17.5 yesterday it brought with it a few new features and as many as 15 different security fixes, but it would appear that it also had something else to share, too. That something seems to be a strange bug that causes previously deleted photos to make a reappearance. And often, an unwanted one at that.
Reports have started to pop up on social media of people finding that photos that they deleted years ago have popped back up as if they were recently taken, seemingly with no reason or pattern to their return.
Now, iPhone photographers who deleted photos and might not want to see them again are being forced to delete them all over again — assuming they'll stay deleted this time which doesn't sound to always be the case.
Photos that just won't go away
The new bug was first reported by MacRumors and is being discussed in a Reddit thread detailing people's experiences after installing iOS 17.5.
One user says that they had pictures reappear from 2010 and that they've deleted them repeatedly with little luck. Others say that photos from last year are doing the same thing.
The strange thing here is that the photos appear as if they were brand-new, suggesting that they aren't the original file but rather a new one that's being provided by iCloud. These photos aren't ones that the Photos app has stored for 30 days after deletion in case the user wants to restore them, either.
It's unclear exactly what is happening right now, nor do we know how people can fix the issue. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post when we get a response — hopefully with confirmation that Apple is working on a fix.
