iOS and iPadOS 17.5.1 fix a nasty bug that resurfaced old photos

Enlarge / iPadOS 17.5.1 ready to install on an iPad Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple has released its first bug fix update for iOS and iPadOS. The 17.5.1 release claims to fix a bug that saw some users’ deleted photos resurface long after deletion.

The release notes list just one bullet point:

This update provides important bug fixes and addresses a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.

Users started reporting the issue after iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 were released on May 13. The optics certainly weren’t great for Apple, as some users assumed that the company was keeping their long-lost deleted photos (sometimes nude photos, as some reported seeing those pop up again) in the cloud without telling them.