Apple has offered a possible explanation as to why deleted photos could suddenly resurface on devices. The company said in a statement that this likely happens when a corrupt database is transferred to a new device.
Apple responded to 9to5mac on recent reports from users who suddenly saw old, deleted photos popping up on new devices. This happened to several users, who reported it on Reddit. Users were sometimes presented with photos in their galleries that they had deleted years ago. Apple released a fix for the problem in iOS 17.5.1.
In the release notes of that version, the company already wrote that it was a bug fix for an issue 'where photos that showed database corruption could reappear in the library'. However, the company did not elaborate on what exactly that database corruption meant. Apple has now provided slightly more details about the problem to 9to5mac, although much remains unclear.
Apple is refuting a Reddit user's claim that he reset his iPad to factory settings before selling it to a friend. Apple calls it impossible that photos could still be seen in that case. The company says that in rare cases, a corrupt database entry can occur when users delete photos. In that case, that corrupt entry only remains on the device, but is not synced with iCloud Photos. However, the company does say that it may be possible that those corrupt entries can be transferred to a device through a device-to-device transfer or from iCloud Backup. This is 'not possible if you use iCloud Photos', the company says.
It is still not clear how many users have had the problem and what the exact cause of the database corruption is. Apple seems to be implying that the user who initially posted on Reddit was wrong or didn't follow the proper process for clearing devices. The original post has since been deleted, but more users raised the issue in the thread.
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