Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority
- Like many other smart devices, iPhones don’t immediately wipe deleted photos. Instead, they hide them locally in an inaccessible location.
- iOS 17.5’s photo bug didn’t involve any Apple or iCloud servers; it strictly occurred on the local storage of affected users’ iPhones.
- Claims about deleted photos reappearing on wiped iPhones/iPads after reselling them to strangers have been refuted.
For the past couple of weeks, iPhone users have (understandably) been voicing their concerns about the iOS 17.5 photo bug and its implications. It also didn’t help when known publications engaged in fear-mongering by amplifying a baseless, anonymous report about these deleted photos reappearing on devices after being wiped and resold to strangers. Conspiracy theories and superstitions aside, let’s see what truly caused some deleted photos to resurface on select iDevices running iOS and iPadOS 17.5.
What happens when you delete a photo on your iPhone
