Apple has specified that the error that allowed viewing old images deleted from an iPhone after installing iOS 17.5 was due to a problem in the database and was registered in the operating system instead of in the service. iCloud Photos.
Several users discovered a recent problem in the beta version of the OS that restored photos to this cloud storage service that had been deleted months or even years ago.
One of them even commented through Reddit that he had four photographs from 2010 that continued to appear as the last files uploaded to iCloud, despite having deleted them on “repeated” occasions.
To solve this problem, Apple released an update, iOS 17.5.1, although he did not point out the reason why situations like this occurred. Now, the firm has explained that iCloud Photos is unrelated to this problem and that the error is due to a corrupt entry in the existing database in the device’s file system.
This has been advanced by 9to5Google, which has pointed out that, as confirmed by Apple, the photographs in question that were not completely deleted from the iPhone of the affected users were not synchronized with iCloud Photos.
These files could have been transferred from one device to another – mainly for older images – by restoring from a backup, performing a device-to-device transfer, or restoring from an iCloud backup, but not by use this cloud service.
Finally, Apple has commented on the steps that must be taken to permanently delete the desired files. First of all, you must access the Settings tab, select the ‘General’ option and choose ‘Transfer or reset’. Within this last window, you must click on the ‘Delete all content and settings’ button.
In parallel, Synactiv researchers have analyzed the code of the iOS 17.5.1 update and, through reverse engineering, have determined that Apple had removed part of a function responsible for scanning and reimporting photos of the file system.
This caused it to reindex old files in the local file system and add them back to the image galleries of users affected by this ‘bug’, according to a document published by this cybersecurity team.