Say goodbye to photo panic! iOS 18 brings a safety net for deleted pics.

New Delhi: iOS 18, the next operating system update for the iPhone, was showcased at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 on June 10. While Apple highlighted several key features of the update, the rollout of the iOS 18 Developer Beta and the recent public beta has led to the discovery of additional features that may be included in the update. One such feature is a ‘Recovered’ album in Photos. As the name suggests, this feature may allow users to retrieve photos that were accidentally deleted and thought to be lost forever. This addition could prove to be a significant enhancement for users seeking to recover important images.

Recovered Album in iOS 18

According to a 9to5Mac report, the Recovered album appears in the Utilities section of the Photos app on iPhone following the iOS 18 update. This new album is visible next to the Recently Deleted tab. The feature is designed to identify and catalogue photos and videos on the user’s device that do not show up in the Photos app, allowing users to retrieve images and videos that may have been accidentally deleted and thought to be lost forever. This addition provides an extra layer of security for users seeking to recover important media.

This may include media that has a damaged database or those which don’t get saved in the photo library upon capture. However, it is suspected to be different from the Recently Deleted option which simply retains the deleted media in a folder up to 30 days after its deletion. It is unclear if the photos and videos in the Recovered tab will follow the same auto-delete schedule or stay in the iPhone library forever.

The report speculates that this feature may be in response to a bug reported in the iOS 17.5 update which resulted in the surfacing of media which users thought they had deleted permanently. As per the company, it occurred with “photos that experienced database corruption”. The issue was reported to have been fixed with iOS 17.5.1 update which arrived a few weeks ago. Alongside the iPhone, the Recovered option in the Photos app is also reported to arrive with iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia updates for the iPad and Mac, respectively. This development coincides with the rollout of the iOS 18 Public Beta, weeks after it was introduced to the developers.