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Photos deleted after IOS 17 update

After I updated to IOS 17, I opened my photos app to see that almost all my pictures were gone, with only the most recent pictures being saved + some videos I hearted from months ago, and when I checked recently deleted, they weren’t there, just some old deleted pictures I had permanently deleted long ago for some reason. Before anyone asks, yes I backed up my photos before updating, and my photos app seems to be the only thing affected by the update, my messages, notes, etc. are all fine. What can I do??

iPhone 14 Plus, iOS 17

Posted on Oct 25, 2023 7:04 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 21, 2024 7:26 AM

A few days ago, I noticed an exclamation mark inside a circle appearing in many photos. After searching on Google and here, it says what we all know, that it's because they are in lower resolution, but when opened on Wi-Fi, they would load correctly, blah blah...

I had already received a message that my phone storage was running out, so I deleted apps and even paid for more space on iCloud...

Yesterday, out of the 17,000 photos I had, only 7,000 appeared; 10,000 just "disappeared" out of nowhere!!! They're not in the deleted album or in iCloud.

The albums or faces are all blank because literally everything disappeared.

I already called technical support, and yesterday they had to escalate it to the "senior team" because they have no idea... They told me to wait a few hours to see what appeared in the deleted album, but only the 400 photos that I deleted myself have appeared, which are useless to me because that's why I deleted them!!

Clearly, I'm extremely desperate, angry, and frustrated because when I called again today, they said they don't know what happened, that they're sorry but they can't do absolutely anything, and I really have many doubts:

  1. Why did the exclamation mark appear if supposedly they weren't in iCloud?
  2. How did random dates disappear (both the newest and the oldest)? Maybe if they had been the oldest ones, I'd understand, but no.
  3. How is it possible that they were "deleted" from my phone without appearing in the deleted album?
  4. How were they deleted from my phone due to lack of space? That never happens; it might show a thousand times that it's full and not let you take more pictures, that you should delete apps and everything you can think of, but the photos are still there.
  5. How is it possible that they have no idea what happened?

I find it unacceptable and very disappointing coming from such a huge company and experts.

If anyone has an idea of what else I can do or how I can escalate it further, it would be ideal. All I know is that I did the latest update a few days ago, and then this happened!

11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 21, 2024 7:26 AM in response to dismalserenity

A few days ago, I noticed an exclamation mark inside a circle appearing in many photos. After searching on Google and here, it says what we all know, that it's because they are in lower resolution, but when opened on Wi-Fi, they would load correctly, blah blah...

I had already received a message that my phone storage was running out, so I deleted apps and even paid for more space on iCloud...

Yesterday, out of the 17,000 photos I had, only 7,000 appeared; 10,000 just "disappeared" out of nowhere!!! They're not in the deleted album or in iCloud.

The albums or faces are all blank because literally everything disappeared.

I already called technical support, and yesterday they had to escalate it to the "senior team" because they have no idea... They told me to wait a few hours to see what appeared in the deleted album, but only the 400 photos that I deleted myself have appeared, which are useless to me because that's why I deleted them!!

Clearly, I'm extremely desperate, angry, and frustrated because when I called again today, they said they don't know what happened, that they're sorry but they can't do absolutely anything, and I really have many doubts:

  1. Why did the exclamation mark appear if supposedly they weren't in iCloud?
  2. How did random dates disappear (both the newest and the oldest)? Maybe if they had been the oldest ones, I'd understand, but no.
  3. How is it possible that they were "deleted" from my phone without appearing in the deleted album?
  4. How were they deleted from my phone due to lack of space? That never happens; it might show a thousand times that it's full and not let you take more pictures, that you should delete apps and everything you can think of, but the photos are still there.
  5. How is it possible that they have no idea what happened?

I find it unacceptable and very disappointing coming from such a huge company and experts.

If anyone has an idea of what else I can do or how I can escalate it further, it would be ideal. All I know is that I did the latest update a few days ago, and then this happened!

Mar 5, 2024 9:15 PM in response to dismalserenity

This happened to me today. im struggling to fix my iphone 5 hours now... and cant do a thing as it seems... nothing to do with i cloud. i've updated me iPhone 11pro max to 17,4 and it ruined me everything! it bringed back deleted photos from 2019, and complete messed up with my oldest photos from 2009 (iphone 2)..and bring them up to Recent photos!.. its a completly disaster!

Oct 25, 2023 7:23 PM in response to dismalserenity

dismalserenity Said:

"Photos deleted after IOS 17 update: [...]efore anyone asks, yes I backed up my photos before updating, and my photos app seems to be the only thing affected by the update, my messages, notes, etc. are all fine. What can I do??"

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Troubleshooting Lost Photos After an Update:


Report this to Apple

Do your Part: Provide Apple with feedback on this, letting them know about this issue.  Apple may not get back to you directly, but the more feedback they receive on this, the more they will know what is occurring, and what bug fixes to include in updates to come. Apple will know nothing of your issue, if you don't provide it to them.

  1. Go Here: Feedback - iPhone - Apple
  2. Select: "Bug Report" for the "Feedback Type"
  3. Comment: that this all began after installing an update. Include the URL of this thread.
  4. Proceed from there as necessary

Oct 25, 2023 7:23 PM in response to dismalserenity

dismalserenity Said:

"Photos deleted after IOS 17 update: [...]efore anyone asks, yes I backed up my photos before updating, and my photos app seems to be the only thing affected by the update, my messages, notes, etc. are all fine. What can I do??"

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Troubleshooting Lost Photos After an Update:


For reference...

Troubleshooting Lost Photos and Videos:

Loss of data is something you would have agreed to upon opening an Apple Account. So, if the following does not work, then they are gone. That's just the way it is :(


Four Tactics to Try:

A. Start here: If you're Missing Photos or Videos in the Photos app - Apple Support


B. Check iCloud, Directly:

For Photos: Go here, and see if they reside in iCloudhttps://www.icloud.com/photos


C. Restore your iPhone from a Backup:

Have any backups of this iPhone prior to this occurrence? If so, restore your iPhone from one that has these photos (the most recent backup, ideally). If not, then take this as a learning experience, knowing to always back up your device for recovery purposes. Important: Back up you iPhone prior to performing this restoration, should anything go wrong from here on out.


D. Where Else to Check:

  1. PC
  2. PDA
  3. eMail
  4. Mac Device
  5. Cloud Storage
  6. Android Phone
  7. USB Flash Drive
  8. External Hard drive
  9. Secure Digital Card
  10. Compact Flash Card

Jan 28, 2024 3:18 PM in response to leonard301

leonard301 Said:

"Same with mine. I also added more photos and they were added straight to the deleted photos!! 30days remaining. Apple advised me to back them up. But this would mean backing up my phone every time I take a photo??"

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Backup Photos to iCloud:

Go here: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support:


Then, View the Upload:

Go here, and see if they reside in iCloudhttps://www.icloud.com/photos


Photos deleted after IOS 17 update

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