iOS 17.5 bug resurfaces old deleted photos for some reason

16 May 2024
Deleted photos should cease to exist after 30 days, but apparently they're still around.

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HopeFilledIdiot, 16 May 2024That's some good insight from your work experience. Th... moreOh I fully agree with you dude, unlike last weeks iPad ad total non controversy, this fully deserves fingers being pointed angrily at Apple. If not for the policy itself, and I won’t pretend to know the answers to your questions sorry, hell I’m not even sure the of the specifics of my own employers long term back up retention, let alone Apple’s but I would be interested to hear them explain it.

No, Rather for the total screw up that has allowed this to happen, Apple never used to make mistakes like this. As I said it is the expectation of Apples customer base that something so simple as deleting a photo means you don’t expect to see it again, let alone have it randomly pop back into your library almost half a decade later 🤦‍♂️

So if they have some ‘valid’ reasons for keeping that data around for however long, so be it. It’ll be up individual users to agree or not. For gods sake though Apple make sure your systems function as expected, people delete photos for a reason!

One potential silver lining of this blunder though is that it could force a major tech company like Apple to explain practices that were previously obscure, and customers had to go out of their way to discover 🤷

    DaFink, 16 May 2024'Keeping the troll comments aside' Always a good... moreThat's some good insight from your work experience. Thank you. Gives me some much needed perspective on this issue, but it's still such a bad look.

    I understand keeping stuff stored as a "backup post deletion" but how many years should it be stored for? Is a good thing? If we're really storing things beyong user facing deletion, then why? What is the purpose?

    It's honestly a rabbit hole I wouldn't want to go into considering I can already see it'll end in despair at our imminent corporate cyberpunk future...

      Yeah so much for your hardware and software integration Apple. iOS has been a POS since iOS 15. The fact that Apple only have a limited and specific hardware configurations, one should question their inability to maintain software quality.

        its a smurf, 16 May 2024Ok..lets say I do that and find stuff I dont like. What the... moreYep, that likely is the crux of it 🤷‍♂️

          DaFink, 16 May 2024If that is your opinion dude, you might want to go through ... moreOk..lets say I do that and find stuff I dont like. What then? You either agree or are unable to use said service. And it's not like any altarnative opton won't do the same.

            its a smurf, 16 May 2024I wont argue about the legality of what they do. Im pretty ... moreIf that is your opinion dude, you might want to go through the T&C's for any digital service you have signed up to, you may find more in them than you first bargained for 🤷‍♂️

            And I'm not being funny there, it's good advice for all to consider. But that's probably what this is going to boil down to, a previously ignored aspect of a major tech company's retention polices laid bare in the worst possible way.

            Well maybe not 'worst possible', I can imagine far worse than this, but it ain't good that's for sure........

              DaFink, 16 May 2024Is it stealing???? Again, not a defence! (I really feel ... moreI wont argue about the legality of what they do. Im pretty sure they have figured how to get away with all this. That being said, it is still a scummy thing to do.

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                • Anonymous
                • 8XV
                • 16 May 2024

                One more obvious reason why I don't backup my photos on iCloud

                  its a smurf, 16 May 2024Well I guess anything you upload to the cloud ain't sa... moreIs it stealing????

                  Again, not a defence! (I really feel I need to point that part out whenever I comment) but we all agree to hand over various forms of data whenever when we choose to use digital services provided by Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and all the rest.

                  It's how they claim to use or not use said data that is often the issue. And again, I'm gonna bet that this is already covered in a policy document somewhere. Apple's blunder here is that their customers expect not to see photo's they delete, ever again 🤷‍♂️

                  Lamith, what part of what i said above is funny??????

                    Anonymous, 16 May 2024If this is true, it means that Apple keeps deleted photos a... moreYup. Im sure other companies do it too, but being caught red handed is gonna make me stay away from them for sure.

                      Well the only really secure brand on market is Vertu after all.
                      They even use another A5 CPU just for security.

                        Well I guess anything you upload to the cloud ain't safe..they had pictures from late 2020 reappear...and they'll claim trhey dont steal your data.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • KRW
                          • 16 May 2024

                          ''What happens on iPhone, stays on iPhone''.. I still remember this marketing slogan.. Lol

                          Seems like apple introduced a time machine features on their iphone.. I never realised this bug, will check on my iphone later since I just use it as secondary device.

                            HopeFilledIdiot, 16 May 2024Keeping the troll comments aside, this is a very serious co... more'Keeping the troll comments aside' Always a good idea given that on any Apple related article on this site, they make up about 90% of the comments.

                            I agree though this does need to be explained by Apple. Where I work we have system of deletion that allows users to put documents into a recycle bin which operates on a 30 day rolling retention cycle. Those documents are not destroyed at that point however, instead they are transferred to back up servers, the governance of which is all but unknown to those outside of our IT departmen.t And for all intents and purposes, end users will consider those documents destroyed and unrecoverable once they leave the recycle bin.

                            I know this isn't a direct analogy but my assumption is it's similar to how Apple are managing retention. It also wouldn't surprise me to learn similar applies to the other big players, Google, Amazon etc. And as you said this is likely addressed deep in their respective policies.

                            This is not a defence of Apple by the way (I know how quick people are to jump to that conclusion), they have dropped the ball here, and they need to address it. My guess is though that this is only going to bring to light policies and practices that have long been the case, but that the user base have largely been unaware off.

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                              • Anonymous
                              • YUU
                              • 16 May 2024

                              It's unbelievable when I said something truth people here start to mark my comments with ❌
                              You haters really a jokers. Keep on entertaining me with your biased because it's really crack me up. Haters gonna hate anyway 🤷🏻‍♂️

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                                • sors
                                • MUL
                                • 16 May 2024

                                And people would still say they are buying Iphone because, they care about their privacy and it's safer than android!

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                                  • ProMax Ultra
                                  • CbK
                                  • 16 May 2024

                                  HopeFilledIdiot, 16 May 2024Keeping the troll comments aside, this is a very serious co... moreYou don't have to wait for explanation by Apple as you can guess what's they're gonna say with >95% accuracy.
                                  Think of something that consider users complete idiot & mixed with some marketing/responsibility bla bla like- it is our duty/we are utmost dedicated...something like that.
                                  it's Apple! The great marketing company of present era,so what else can anyone expect.

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                                    • ProMax Ultra
                                    • CbK
                                    • 16 May 2024

                                    raj, 16 May 2024Meanwhile Apple brags themselves as Soooo SECURE!!Apple is secure as all of your new/old data is secure............at Apple servers,only to take user experience to a whole new level,as Apple says in every presentation😂🤣

                                      It's a feature!

                                        Keeping the troll comments aside, this is a very serious concern.
                                        Images from a month ago being in storage even after the 30 days deletion period cab still be written off as "backup of a backup" but images from 2021 being reinstated? That's honestly a huge breach of privacy but I'm sure Apple will have positioned their own privacy policy to account for this. If yes, then it's clearly a proof of intent by having this baked into the policy that they were always going to store the photos well beyond the 30 days.

                                        Speculation aside, going to wait for whatever explanation they come up with.

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