What was an annoying bug in iOS 17.5 is being transformed by Apple into a useful feature in the upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia when it comes to the Photos app. A new album will resurrect your ‘zombie’ photos.
Do you still remember when iOS 17.5 was introduced last May? It came with a bug in the update that caused previously deleted photos to reappear in the photo library. For some affected users, private photos that were deleted years ago suddenly reappeared.
Apple provided a solution to this bug in the iOS 17.5.1 update. The cause behind this fiasco was photos that iPhone did not correctly delete continued to exist in the system. In iOS 18, there will now be a dedicated album that will track down such ‘zombie’ photos and make them visible again.
iOS 18: Recovered photos to get their own album
As reported by MacRumors, Apple has equipped the Photos app in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia with this new feature. It is intended to help you find previously deleted photos and videos that were not part of the library but still exist on the device. In English, the album is referred to as “Recovered.”
In the new Photos app in iOS 18, this album can be found under “Other.” However, this is only if the system found such photos on the device. To do this when upgrading to the new operating systems, Apple will scan the iPhone, iPad, or Mac to locate them. If it does not find any ‘zombie’ photos, the album will not be displayed.
Photos or videos can be lost due to errors in the Photos database. However, it can also happen when performing a save in the Camera app or in third-party apps where data disappears and does not correctly end up in the photo library. The photos or videos can still be stored on the device while the Photos app is unaware of them. The new feature in iOS 18 intends to bring this data back to life, so to speak, in such cases.
iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia have been available for testing by developers since early June. However, since mid-July, there has also been a public beta version aimed at the wider fan base.
Do you think it is ingenious for Apple to turn this bug into a feature? Please let us know what you think in the comments.
