Bug 'resurrects' deleted image thumbnails in iOS 7 Photos app, dates back to iOS 5
Despite being discovered in iOS 5 last year, a possible caching bug in Apple's iOS 7 Photos app still allows thumbnails of deleted pictures to be "resurrected" by saving a transparent PNG file to the album.
Example of thumbnail restoration.
The thumbnail restoration issue as applicable to the latest iOS 7.0.4 was spotted by AppleInsider reader Mike, while a quick check confirms that the small previews associated with deleted pictures do indeed reappear when a transparent image is saved to the Camera Roll. Full size pictures are not restored.
One of the first mentions of the Photos app bug appeared in Apple's Support Communities forum in early 2012, with the thread creator stating they were able to "resurrect" photos deleted some months prior by saving an image with a transparent background to their photo album.
A closer inspection of the issue revealed that only image previews, or small thumbnails, were being restored, suggesting the problem was related to an iOS local caching mechanism.
By viewing iOS system files via third-party software, thumbnail files appear in the Photo Data folder even after their associated pictures are deleted. Erasing these files will clear the problem, though the solution is temporary as the system will start saving thumbnails in the same problematic manner once a new photo is taken.
For many, the apparent bug is likely a non-issue, though some users may be concerned about potential security and privacy implications. For example, if a nefarious party were to gain access to an unlocked iOS device, they could potentially restore old deleted thumbnails by saving a transparent PNG file readily available on the Internet.
It is not clear why Apple has left the the possible security hole unpatched, though the company told Mike that iOS engineers would be informed of the issue.
Example of thumbnail restoration.
The thumbnail restoration issue as applicable to the latest iOS 7.0.4 was spotted by AppleInsider reader Mike, while a quick check confirms that the small previews associated with deleted pictures do indeed reappear when a transparent image is saved to the Camera Roll. Full size pictures are not restored.
One of the first mentions of the Photos app bug appeared in Apple's Support Communities forum in early 2012, with the thread creator stating they were able to "resurrect" photos deleted some months prior by saving an image with a transparent background to their photo album.
A closer inspection of the issue revealed that only image previews, or small thumbnails, were being restored, suggesting the problem was related to an iOS local caching mechanism.
By viewing iOS system files via third-party software, thumbnail files appear in the Photo Data folder even after their associated pictures are deleted. Erasing these files will clear the problem, though the solution is temporary as the system will start saving thumbnails in the same problematic manner once a new photo is taken.
For many, the apparent bug is likely a non-issue, though some users may be concerned about potential security and privacy implications. For example, if a nefarious party were to gain access to an unlocked iOS device, they could potentially restore old deleted thumbnails by saving a transparent PNG file readily available on the Internet.
It is not clear why Apple has left the the possible security hole unpatched, though the company told Mike that iOS engineers would be informed of the issue.
Comments
"It's okay honey... You're beautiful... I'll delete the photos right in front of your eyes, promise!"
Watch out ladies...
/
/
Talk about potentially. Lol
Not something that should have been allowed to go on for such a long time. Hopefully easy to fix once Apple decides to actually pay attention to it!
'Oh damn it! When are we gonna get to that bloody thing!'
(iOS7, double devices for each level, new OSX and iOS integration...)
I deleted about 6,000 photos, but I've had an iPhone since day 1 in 2007, so who knows when the bug appeared and how many thumbnails from deleted pictures were in there... I don't really care if you can resurrect old photos on my phone (if you have my phone it's game over anyway), but wasting 1GB of space is not cool.
With iExplorer you can get to it even if the phone is locked.
How to recover deleted photos from iphone? There are two ways to recover deleted photos from iPhone:
1. Directly scan and recover photo from iPhone
a) Connect your iPhone to the computer
b) Enter DFU mode and scan iPhone
c) Preview and recover iPhone photos
2. Scan and extract iTunes backup
a) Scan your iTunes backup for iPhone 5/4S
b) Preview and perform iPhone photo recovery
c) Do backup well