Skip to main content

Lightroom update for iPhone and iPad deleted photos and presets

 

An update rolled out earlier this week by Adobe for its iOS Lightroom app contained a bug that wiped user photos and presets from the device.

Recommended Videos

If that wasn’t bad enough, Adobe has since confirmed that the lost photos and presets are not recoverable.

The alarming blunder gained wider attention when users started hitting forums to voice their anguish over the effects of the version 5.4 update.

First reported by PetaPixel, the error means that anyone without a backup who downloaded the update will have lost their Lightroom images for good.

Adobe offers a free version of Lightroom with a cap on cloud storage, but looking at the forum comments, a number of paying customers were affected, too, with some apparently losing thousands of images.

“All of my photos and presets are gone,” one wrote. “When will this be fixed? Even purchased presets are gone! How do I get my photos and presets back?” Another said they’d lost more than 8,000 photos.

Adobe responds

Adobe representative Rik Flohr confirmed the software error in a forum post, saying the company wanted to “sincerely apologize” to anyone affected by the issue.

Florhr added that Adobe had resolved the issue with the release of version 5.4.1, though he added that the update would “not restore missing photos or presets.”

Here’s his response in full:

“We are aware that some customers who updated to Lightroom 5.4.0 on iPhone and iPad may be missing photos and presets that were not synced to the Lightroom cloud. 

A new version of Lightroom mobile (5.4.1) for iOS and iPadOS has now been released that prevents this issue from affecting additional customers. 

Installing version 5.4.1 will not restore missing photos or presets for customers affected by the problem introduced in 5.4.0. 

We know that some customers have photos and presets that are not recoverable. We sincerely apologize to any customers who have been affected by this issue.”

Oddly, this is the second time this month that a massive tech company has messed things up for photographers. Canon just recently launched — and soon took down — its new “camera cloud platform” after it discovered that some photo and video files had been lost.

Digital Trends has reached out to Adobe for more information on the issue and we will update this piece when we hear back. In the meantime, whether or not you use Lightroom, do make sure you back up your photos regularly.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple seeds critical update to guard iPhones from USB hacking tools
Installing iOS 18.3 update on an iPhone 16 Pro.

Apple has released a fresh software update for iPhones and iPads to plug a critical flaw that could allow bad actors to extract data even from a locked device. The company says if granted physical access, an attacker could break past the safety of USB Restricted Mode on the target iPhone or iPad.

The aforementioned guardrail prevents USB accessories from pulling data from an iPhone that has been sitting in a locked state for over an hour. It seems there was an authorization flaw within Apple’s Accessibility framework that could allow an attacker to disable the USB Restricted Mode safety net.

Read more
iOS 18.3: What to expect in the next iPhone update
ios 18 3 what to expect in the next update genmoji

Apple has released the iOS 18.3 Release Candidate (RC) to developers and its public beta community members. This indicates that the final update will likely be available to users with the best iPhones on Monday, January 27.

While this update doesn't introduce as many new features as iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 did, some elements will still interest everyone. Here's what's coming.
The biggest new feature
Once you install iOS 18.3 on your iPhone, you will quickly notice one of its most significant updates: improved Notification Summaries. Initially launched with iOS 18, this feature aims to simplify reviewing incoming messages, news headlines, and other notifications using Apple's technology. However, the summaries have faced considerable criticism for their shortcomings.

Read more
Have an old iPhone or iPad? You can no longer use this iCloud feature
An iPhone 6S in gold held against a red pipe.

If you own an older iPhone or iPad, it may be time to consider upgrading. As of December 18, the minimum requirement for using iCloud backups is iOS 9 or later, as support for iOS 8 and earlier versions has ended. This information was initially communicated to Apple users in November.

As noted by MacRumors, while iCloud support for devices running iOS 8 or earlier has ceased, you can still create manual backups on a Mac or Windows PC. If your device is currently on iOS 8, but can upgrade to a newer version, your iCloud backup capabilities will be restored.

Read more