iOS 17.5.1 went out Monday to patch a nasty bug that could make images completely deleted from an iPhone reappear later. Multiple times. It’s was a problem with a lot of potential for embarrassment.
Tablet users got iPadOS 17.5.1 to fix the same bug. And Tuesday brought tvOS 17.5.1 to fix the problem on Apple TV.
iOS 17.5.1 removes a bad bug
Since the debut of iOS 17.5 last week, some iPhone users have complained that images that they had deleted from the Photos application were reappearing. These had been removed from the Recently Deleted folder, too. And deleting them a second or third time didn’t mean they wouldn’t come back yet again. Reportedly, some of these were NSFW images so the people involved were understandably mad.
The problem clearly came to Apple’s attention, and iOS 17.5.1 is the swift result. The official release note 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.”
As noted, iPadOS 17.5.1 makes the same change, as does tvOS 17.5.1.
All three updates are “bug fix” patches with no new features. ANd there’s no similar update for macOS 14.5, watchOS 10.5, tvOS 17.5, etc.
How to install these patches
iPhone and iPad users can install the new iOS and iPadOS versions directly by opening the Settings app and going to General > Software Update. Alternatively, you can update your devices by connecting them to a Mac (or to a PC running iTunes).
This article was originally published on May 20. It was updated May 21 with the release of tvOS 17.5.1.
