Did you update your iPhone to iOS 17.5 on Monday, May 13? Well, it’s time to do it again, as iOS 17.5.1 has already landed. It’s a smaller update and it has just one function: to fix an issue with the key Photos app.
iOS 17.5.1 has just been released.
Updated May 22, first published on May 20, 2024.
Many users will have been relieved that Apple released this update in record time, especially if they’d deleted photos and sold their device, as happened to some users who found their photos reappearing on what was now somebody else’s iPad. The issue has affected more devices than just the iPhone, with updates released for iPad and Apple TV as well.
As Victoria Song commented in The Verge, “A reasonable person would expect a deleted file to stay that way. That’s why it’s understandable that people freaked out last week when photos deleted years ago had suddenly reappeared in their iPhone photo library.”
That publication’s issue relates to the fact that Apple has not yet made any public comment about the issue, beyond describing it as “rare” in the release notes for the update.
In that comment, Apple describes it as down to database corruption, and it seems that all the zombie images restored to life will have been ones that were on-device, not in the cloud.
As Song puts it, “If anything, Apple ought to comment simply because it markets itself as a company that cares about your privacy.”
Which iPhones Can Run iOS 17.5.1?
If you have an iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max or iPhone XR from 2018, or any more recent iPhone, then yours is compatible. That means the iPhone 11 series, iPhone 12 series, iPhone 13 series, iPhone 14 series and iPhone 15 series. This also includes iPhone SE second- and third-generation models.
How To Get It
You know the routine by now, but just in case: open the Settings app, click on General, then Software Update. Here you can choose to download the new software now, that’ll usually mean it’s on your iPhone sooner. Pick Download and Install, and you’ll be golden soon enough.
What’s In The Release
This release is focused on the bug which surfaced in iOS 17.5, which Apple describes in the release notes as “a rare issue where photos that experienced database corruption could reappear in the Photos library even if they were deleted.”
This has been a controversial issue, even if it has been rare. It has meant that images which had been deleted, years ago in some cases, popped up again when iOS 17.5 was installed, to users’ surprise and dismay. Apple has still not revealed how it has happened, though most likely it is something as straightforward as how images are deleted on an iPhone or iPad. When you click delete, the data that makes up the image isn’t overwritten, merely disconnected.
Those data files would have been overwritten only when that part of the storage was needed, so could have remained hidden until then. Something in iOS 17.5 brought them back to life.
This update, which also “provides important bug fixes,” as Apple puts it, aims to ensure the zombie photos are now a thing of the past.
This has been especially important for anyone who has given their iPhone away or sold it, and wouldn’t want old photos to magically come back.
Alex Mitchell is your go-to expert for all things mobile. With a passion for the latest smartphones, apps, and mobile innovations, Alex provides in-depth reviews, insightful analyses, and breaking news about the ever-evolving world of mobile technology. Stay connected with Alex to navigate the fast-paced realm of mobile devices.
