Why Are Deleted Nudes Reappearing on iOS? 

IOS 17.5: “Today we’re gonna do an unboxing”

"The internet is forever" is applicable to more things than people think.

This is a large reason why I have, for a long time, advocated not taking, storing, or sending spicy photos on phones. Ideally, this wouldn't be an issue, and data security is respected, but we don't live in that world.

apple telling you not to sell your device as used/second hand because they aren't making money 😂

People should know by now "the cloud" means someone else's computer. Store your intimate photos locally...

Wear-leveling for Nand creates a lot more data over-writing than you'd expect, so the idea that old photos are being "undeleted" is pretty unrealistic for anything that's been deleted for more than 1-2 months.

It's not about having something to hide it's about having nothing to show

Tim Apple: get your friend a new iPhone

I reckon there was a bug in an earlier iOS that removed them from the photos library but left them on the phone without being indexed and possibly decrypted. It was only until this latest iOS that certain actions would cause it to find these unindexed files and bring them back into the photos app. The file wasn’t even deleted as such it’s just that it wasn’t visible on a closed operating system. Although it doesn’t explain why a reformat / reset didn’t clear it.

I know quite a lot of Apple users don't really understand how the whole ecosystem works. I can imagine them saying they've wiped their device and on-sold it when they've only really deleted photos/email etc off the local device rather than actually a factory reset wipe.

5:50 Just because the transfer is end-to-end encrypted, doesn't mean the storage at the data center or the devices ID are.

iPhones used to have a folder in the photos section that showed what photos were in the cloud. For some reason (probably nefarious) they did away with that years ago.

Linus, the word you're looking for is "transparent"

This is an iCloud / Apple Sync. Same happens to iMessage conversations. You delete a text conversation, then empty the Messages trash bin. If two months later you erase an iphone (A fresh start, not a restore). If you use the same Account and enable iMessage. There is a big chance that conversation will sync back down. Even if other iDevices sync'd AT THE TIME and removed the conversation.

And this is why I like to use phones with microSD card slots for as long as I can... Not because of compromising photos, but because I don't want all my information stored on someone else's computer, not to mention storage expansion payments.

And this is why I backup to my OWN home cloud. The moment you put something on a public cloud, its no longer yours , its their data. You have 0 control on what its happening to it. People should finaly realize that you need to have your own NAS. Almost everybody is making small ones (2-4 bays for the average user are enaugh). Keep your data at home.

So, like, what does “delete” mean anymore?

It is probably a indexing issue , NOT an ICloud issue. Indexing issue means: normally a phone keeps all the data on your device indexed. When you delete something this index will get removed and thus the image isn’t shown to you anymore. The image is still physically there though and could be brought back. ICloud doesn’t make sense, if it is device-bound

S/O: "Are you cheating on me??" you: "Noo baby, iphone restored 4 year old photos" 😏

I don't have an iPhone but this is why I always uninstall/disable Google Photos on my devices and occasionally check to make sure no backup options are on

It could be possible the government might not allow them to delete data until N-months for federal investigations. Thus, they just can't go and "delete data" when the user asks them to. On the other hand, the file system's index might have been marked as corrupted (or they are migrating it to a new version?) and the update's maintenance/migration procedure might be bringing up "deleted files" that might have been marked as corrupted.

Apple released today(for me at least) a 17.5.1 update whose patch notes state "This update provides important bug fixes and addresses a rare issue were photos that experienced database corruption could appear in the Photos library even if they were deleted" so maybe corruption..? or they just dont know what to allude it to

WTF. Even after wiping? How is this possible???? Isn't there encryption present????

How about deleted things still show up on my dead Apple watch after charging it a month later

This has since been fixed in iOS 17.5.1

I wonder if this is related to a recent issue that's been driving me CRAZY where the iPhone (7 iOS 15.6) ALWAYS whines about being out of space and thus can't take any photos or videos despite iPhone Storage saying there is 2.5GB free (and yes, I rebooted the phone but that doesn't work anymore). 🤔 - That said, some people have had this issue on a NEW phone (eg it's being pulled from iCloud since it's a new device).

15:39 so from what little app said in the update, there was some sort of corruption going on and photos that should have been deleted was not. So it sounds like this is on device and not an iCloud issue. Which explains potentially the user who reset his iPhone and sold it. The photos weren’t deleted and it came back in the memory.

drug dealers that take stupid photos, then "hand me down" their phone to a younger family member who pawns it, be like......

He just reminded me about the Vision Pro. Whatever happened to it?

Are we sure this is from iCloud and not from the internal device storage?

Uhm... It was just local photos right? Did I miss something? Because there is quite a big difference between files in the cloud not being removed and files technically not being removed locally (quite standard on any computer) and having a database bug (different from normal pc filesystems tbf) cause them to reappear, especially if they're only recent ones, isn't that weird, and more importantly in the case it's all local it honestly matters very very little.

So what I think is happening and would explain the example Linus and Luke gave that the user isn't syncing photo's to iCloud. I wonder if all these images were received or sent via text message. If you're backing up your messages to iCloud and you've deleted the image off your photo's app the image still exists in the message. Under photo's if you click the 3 dots in the top right of the albums select filters and then click all filters there is a toggle under Include shared with you from messages. This will now include photos that only exist in messages and not just your camera roll. So i'm wondering if these pictures exist in a text message somewhere and that is why they are showing up?

In my experience the photos that reappear are an issue on-device. Photos that reappeared for me only reappeared on my iPhone, they didn't show on my other devices (Mac and Apple TV). So I think it is not an iCloud thing, it is more like a device thing where the database glitched and pointers to previously deleted photos were recovered and now the photos show back up because they were never actually overwritten (the norm in most OS'). These photos for me also appeared in the same place in the camera roll as they did previously.

OMG! I'm an Iphone user and I'm seeing deleted pics back in my camera roll!!!

I have some photos i deleted long time ago that i wish i never deleted. Hope it happens to me. Does anyone know how you can increase the chance of this happening?

Even without cloud storage disabled, I think it's more believable to consumers and sceptics that everything in app is tracked by the app provider as long as you use the app. They have incentive to sync EVERYTHING even if you didn't pay for it.

iOS 14.2.something has a bug where when something happened and you deleted a photo, 30 days later when they drop out of recently deleted it deleted the library records and fails to delete the actual file. 17.5 comes out and re-indexes those files back in to the library as part of a fix for another issue with the camera The file was already in iCloud and never left it, but the visibility of it was removed with the delete, just not the file itself. But iCloud is only important if you're syncing between devices, otherwise its just the photos backup as part of the backup system, same enough thing: library being saved with all the data, orphaned and not, inside Nobody reports the issue because nobody saw the files fail to delete, since they disappeared to the user in every library view A file can exist and be synced and also be not visible to the user in any UI which Apple choose to offer the user. And I would lay money on that phone that was sold not being erased. They logged out and the file still gets left behind because there's no index left to it. The next users logs in and the file is still there invisible until 17.5 re-indexed it. So again; logging out of iCloud does not ensure all data from iCloud gets removed. It just doesn't. You have to erase all content.

my guess is they didn't log out of their cloud acc . their friend never had an iphone before and they said eff it and just kept using that one

I appreciate the lack of a clickbaity thumbnail☺️

There is no point to delete information on a cloud provider level lets say you have a HDD with a 1.7mb file in it, you delete that file, now you have a 1.7mb space where you can store 1.7mb or less. You would need to store that information somewhere, take the time to zero over the space, and compare new data against that massive list of free spaces and no you are not going to defrag petabytes of data the computation and time required to delete something does not make sense compared to the cost of just adding storage

You are still talking about low level storage stuff, but there may be up to 3 layers of "storage" managment (including low level NAND controller): 1) File system: it may be feature of their FS, that it does not propagate deletions to NAND controller so as of storage level is aware data are still to be persisted and FS is in charge what is to be viewed as deleted. 2) what if iPhone app uses some type of VFS/Database? And deletions are done by something like deleted_at = NOW() and displaying data is something like WHERE deleted_at IS NULL; ? As of resetting iPhone, we know that iOS survives this reset, and OS and data are stored on same NAND chips, so it is not NAND wide wipe, it may be just marking stuff as deleted on FS level or dropping and recreating unecrypted partition (dropping partition does not mean deleting data, if you drop and create partition of same FS type and same start-end your data will 100% survive)

This brings out the question of why Apple wiped data off products sent for repair and says it is unrecoverable. When it wasn’t really deleted. If the device was reset, it didn’t have access the original owners cloud account.

So this is real? I’ve been seeing some old screenshots I thought I deleted

I just don’t see what the cloud has to do with, the Device was released and I assume the buddy signed in, the deleted photos and the operating system update are client side. Wipe erase may not secure wipe as good as it supposed to, it’s not like the os restores to factory so the operating system writing files somewhere to keep them later.

Apple immediately released a fix for it after only a few days with update 17.5.1

The 17.4 update did it for me. And it was images deleted from 2012-15, several phones ago. I don't pay for iCloud and there is no way suck old stuff shouldn't have been overwritten. Unless it filled iCloud with the old stuff, even deleted first and did nothing else. But that wasn't how that feature worked. It only showed it had the last 100.... unless the photos showing up as new are duplicates of the ones that weren't deleted and were already on my phone.

Imagine buying a second hand iPhone and because this bug a bunch of CP photos from the former owner begins to pop up? Insane!

I kinda wanna update. There are some "photos" I've been meaning to recover 👀

when you factory reset your phone, if you don't remove your ACCOUNT first, then that phone is still tied to the old account after being wiped. EVEN IF you use Secure Erase!

Interesting thing is I’ve been on the dev beta for sometime and haven’t had this happen so it must be an official release issue

I'm an apple user, and I'm 100% loyal to the brand...but damn... That's incredibly bad...like class-action lawsuit bad... I'm not worried myself as I only got rid of one iPhone which had almost no pictures on it (and for sure no provocative pics...), and it was reset and given to apple for recycling. I also don't use iCloud photos, but still... NEVER NEVER NEVER upload anything sensitive on any sort of cloud storage solution. NEVER.

The basic rule is never store nor share anything that is private in a digital medium. Nudes ? Take them, meet with the person you want to show them to then show the nudes on the phone while you hold it. Never understand why do people send nudes then complain they became public. Same with anything that should only be saw by just that one person.

Erasing an iphone does not delete the data. Only a deep format can fully erase a device (similar to a hard drive).

Big simple buttons, land-fill trash, shred and incinerator.

I once restored geolocation history of previous owner on my used garmin watch. Full story: Bought used Garmin 645 music. It was wiped in my presence. Then created new account, connected wiped watch to a new account (on another phone, obviously). Aaaaand here they are, my (LOL, NOT MINE) sports activity history. With geolocation. Notified previous owner, deleted history once more of course - but it raises questions.

I find it funny that the other clip from The WAN Show that was released is about people being upset that ASUS is treating it's customers badly, yet Apple customers rarely get upset over the shit that company does to them, and it's usually non-Apple customers that get upset on their behalf.

Polaroids & postage people, polaroids & postage! xD

I wonder if it’s some kind of file system level snapshotting. I had a weird incident with my iPod touch back in my late teens. Probably 2013ish. I know it’s not likely related to these recent stories, but after the battery had died and I did a cold boot it was somehow back in time by quite a few months. My browser tabs and messages were from months earlier. When I rebooted the device again it was back to the present. I have no idea what happened but it was freaky. I tried to replicate it and never could. I had never really thought about it until now.

HAHAHAHA bruhh they fixed this i got worried bc this vid is relatively recent and i got a notification this morning that there’s a software update and they added notes for what they fixed in this patch. This is what it says: “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.”

the worse problem is, they have a "Trash" on phones now, where deleted files go, which many people never think about, because not everyone knows that that is a thing.

They never were gone. It's apple. They are about your privacy...😂 Still the best joke.

My phone was stolen on 04/03/2023, but I got it back with the help of the police on 15/04/2023. Unfortunately, the thief wiped my phone. Since I don't use iCloud Photos, all my photos from 22/09/2022 to 15/04/2023 are gone. The thief couldn't open my phone because I had marked it as lost and it was asking for the password. if my photos reappeared i would be so greatful for that bug.

Wait, so this is why i got random old poeole pics from a garage sale?

For all age groups, no matter where you are in the world. If there is any data (photos, documents, etc) that you want to be completely private... then DO NOT store it on any cloud service. The saying "The Internet Never Forgets" always rings true and somewhere, somehow in the future your data will be found or revealed. It's that simple. Get a proper camera, big or small with removable flash storage. Have your own personal NAS that you can then backup to a cloud service but only sending the cloud provider your encrypted data that they can't open.

And that is why you shouldn't automate upload of your personal photos to the cloud.

I know that Dropbox has a "undelete" option, but it does expire.

That guy who said he sold his phone to a friend was made up in the end. No way a wiped phone with a new account could ever load someone else’s old photos. It’s simply not possible. That being said yes it’s strange old photos could return to a user but seems to be a iCloud corruption on some peoples accounts. Will probably never know the truth though.

Encrypted images take up significantly more storage space. There are logical business reasons they wouldn't encrypt user images.

Everyone is talking about nudes, what about banking details? It might start a mini gold rush to buy second hand iPhones to see if they have any usable data. Even seemingly benign details might be used by scammers for doxing, phishing attacks or even blackmailing. Now everyone who's owned an iPhone has that to worry about (REALLY hope their trade in program does a better job of not making this happen). Ps. I feels sorry for the children that inherited their parents phones now 😂😅

Reminder that Apple Authorized Rapair once extracted Nudes from a customer's iPhone, no icloud needed

Now thats an interesting bug, photos à la nude in your gallery.

clearly a feature to deter 2hand market.

Once you put something online, it's there forever. Sent a DM? It's online. Cloud Storage? Online. This feels like a 'how many times must we teach you this lesson," moment, again. More seriously, don't send nudes, your loved one will get to see everything in person.

and yet microsoft wants to add photographic memory to windows.

when did linux become a apple defender all the time lol

I have never understood how the icloud photo sincronization worked. This happened to me all the time, but I did not have nudes (I'm not a dumbass). That's why photo sinc on all my apple devices is turned off. My Synology does a way better job.

I’m guessing it affects an older device/OS versions which didn’t have whole disc encryption enabled, such that the pointer thing could be possible. Also, you’d be amazed how many people have an iPhone and NEVER login to any Apple services. Maybe secure deletion relies on the account log out/in steps?

you know apple is absolutely *bugging* the user as soon as they fill, let's say, 80% of the storage they've bought. but apparently they don't have as much of a storage problem!

I tried update ios right after watching this video. So far, nothing happened.

iCloud then makes you pay more for "features" as deleting the deleted files? Well, it seems like a business model at this point. And the advertisement is solid here 🙃

Like Linus said just add context menu that has permanently delete and delete from iCloud.

I guess they weren't as "deleted" as apple users thought. Apple's storing your nudes, people. Big brother Apple

Apple just created 17.5.1 for this

Android is not perfect... But at least I know I can dump all my pictures to a micro SD card and physically remove it from my phone.

There’s been a patch for this. iOS 17.5.1 is out already lol

Missed opportunity to use Barry Wood in the thumbnail

Start Movement to Fill all cloud services with garbage or rick roll 8k videos 👍💯

Dayum

I'm seeing the EU cracking their knuckles, preparing to uppercut apple into orbit

Scrapyard wars pls

1:45 blah blah blah. I don't know about anyone else but when I delete something, I want it destroyed from existence. Unfortunately that's not straight forward on windows. They need to implement secure delete by default in windows IMO

more reason NOT to store anything in the cloud except for your expendable files.

Negative.. I accidentally “deleted” my hard drive.. Data recovery is a thing.

I know this sounds weird, but just don’t take nude photos of yourself.

im glad i dont use iCloud :D

i have personal experience with this except it was my girlfriends old nudes lmao, i even showed her the day it happened and we were both extremely confused as i deleted them a long time ago, probably like 2 years ago. (got better new ones dont worry ;)

Apple mobile devices should not only be wiped, but they should also be removed from the user’s AppleID and thus completely disconnect from it. Wiping the device by itself is not enough!

This bug could have been very akward if you handed your iPhone down to your kids 😄

I call BS for the chatter.

wow