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Now how do deleted photos “appear” again after deleting them? This is because almost every case of this incident investigated by Apple was caused by deleting the photo(s) from the Photos app but not from the Files app. They are two separate applications with two versions of images.

When you download, share/receive or take a screenshot (basically Safari screenshots) on your iPhone, they are sometimes saved (depending on various factors) in both the Files and Photos apps.

Now when you go to delete said photos from the Photos app, an exact copy of them still exists inside the Files app, making them appear as deleted from the Photos app.

But due to a rare bug in iOS 17.5, the system tries to re-save all photos/media/files from the Files app to the Photos app, and this happens during the re-indexing process that happens when you update your iPhone. Since the Photos app cannot display files but it can display media/photos, it appears that the “deleted” photos have reappeared even though they were on your iPhone all along in the Files app.

As for the images that appear again after factory resetting the device, Apple has not investigated any such cases. It’s a myth that your Apple devices are safe.