Typically, when you delete a photo, it’s supposed to stay gone. That hasn’t been the case for iPhone and iPad owners on iOS 17.5, where deleted photos are making a surprise comeback. Apple has released iOS 17.5.1, which it says fixes the issue. Its changelog says only that the update “addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.” The bug caused quite a stir as online. On one occasion, a Redditor said his photos disappeared before 17.5 and reappeared after the update. Apple asked him if he’d ever used the Files app to connect to an outside server and he said yes.A commenter on 9to5Mac posits that the Files app is the culprit. In short, a photo is saved in both the Photos app and Files app separately. When the photo is deleted in the Photos app, the bug prevents it from also being deleted in the Files app, which then makes an effort to re-save the images to the Photos app, causing the file to reappear.In other words, due to database corruption, your phone forgot that the photo in question was supposed to be deleted, so Files put it back where it was. Fortunately, there are no incidents of photos reappearing after a factory reset, so folks who recently sold or traded in their iPhones or iPads who properly wiped their devices first don’t have anything to worry about there.
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Apple started rolling out the update yesterday so most iPhone owners should have it by now. It’s also the first bug fix update for iOS 17.5. Aside from the database bug, the update also adds an offline mode to Apple News+, a new word game called Quartiles, and tracking notifications if a Bluetooth tracker they do not own is moving with them.
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