a person claimed in a later post that “around 300” of their old pictures, some of which were “revealing,” appeared on an iPad they’d wiped per Apple’s guidelines and sold to a friend.

This could be more innocent than it sounds. Computer data is never actually “deleted” until it’s overwritten with new 1s and 0s — operating systems simply cut off references to it. One user also said they saw a photo return even though they don’t sync their phone or use iCloud, implying the photos could be originating from on-device storage.

There’s a chance it’s not specific to photos, either, as one person posted on X that they saw old voicemails come back after the update. Several beta testers said the same thing about earlier iOS 17 betas. Whether the issue implies Apple is secretly holding onto old deleted data or it’s just a quirk of how iOS 17.5 handles that data, it’s not an ideal situation. Nobody wants to see their deleted nudes come back.

The Verge

iPhone owners say the latest iOS update is resurfacing deleted nudes

It’s probably nothing sinister, though.