Audio By Carbonatix
Recently, Apple rolled out the new iOS to the iPhone.
The operating system, iOS 26, has been met with a mixed response. Much of this response is due to the introduction of a new design language, Liquid Glass. Users complain that the new iOS makes things difficult to read, that prolonged use can make them dizzy, or simply that it looks too similar across platforms.
However, some of the negative response to the new iOS has to do with unwanted new features. For example, one woman says the new operating system dug up things from her past she tried to delete.
Is Apple Saving Your Deleted Photos And Messages?
In her video, TikTok user @lintegridyy says she upgraded to iOS 26. Soon after, something strange happened.
“I noticed that in my text threads—old messages that I’ve deleted months ago, maybe even literally years ago—are reappearing,” she explains. “I’m like, ‘OK, that’s weird.’ Like, maybe there’s a glitch, right? I go to delete them—they come back…and then more come back.”
Scrolling through her phone, she noticed messages from 2021 were back on her phone, despite being deleted previously.
“Obviously, these are messages that I don’t need, nor did I want to keep my phone anymore,” she states.
Quickly, she realized the same thing was happening with her photos.
“Old pictures and videos are also reappearing that I know for a fact I’ve deleted months and years ago,” she says.
“Apple, what the f— is going on?” the TikToker asks in conclusion. “Who are you working for? Who are you working for?!”
Why Is The New iOS Bringing Back Deleted Photos And Messages?
This TikToker isn’t alone in this complaint. Numerous users across the internet are complaining that the new iOS update brought back countless pictures and texts that users believed to be deleted.
For example, Reddit’s r/iOS and r/iOSBeta subreddits are filled with posts about this exact topic.
No one is sure why this is happening. However, there are some theories.
First, as noted in an article in The Mac Observer, many believe this is an issue related to iCloud syncing. In short, users back up their messages and photos on iCloud. Then, when a photo or message gets deleted, they don’t realize it’s only being deleted on their device, not iCloud.
Therefore, when Apple resets their phone, it downloads all of the information off of iCloud, including deleted photos and messages.
The Mac Observer article also notes other potential, accidental explanations. The article says that this issue could be due to hidden caches that weren’t cleared, sync errors with iCloud, or old server-side data being re-indexed after the upgrade.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any way to prevent this from happening after updating. BroBible reached out to Apple for clarification and comment.
@lintegridyy hey, we need to talk @apple
Commenters Are Scared
In the comments section, users stated that they were fearful of the fact that Apple seemed to be holding onto their information. That said, many had figured out ways to circumvent the issue.
“It’s your phone restoring old messages that are in iCloud,” wrote a user. “Set your auto delete to never/keep forever, and the next day set it back to whatever time frame you usually do and they should delete for good.”
“This happened to me before, I called support and tell you step by step how to delete. It has to do with the cloud, it’s saved to the cloud and it’s dragging it back into the phone,” recalled another. “It was so annoying but the reps help.”
“I’m going back to a house phone,” declared a third.
BroBible reached out to @lintegridyy via TikTok and Instagram direct message.