Lightroom for iOS accidentally deleted user images.
Only image stored within the Lightroom database were impacted.
No way to recover lost images and presets.
Adobe recently rolled out an update for its Lightroom for iOS app and ended up causing major problems for some users. After the update, several users reported having lost all their photos and presets that were stored in Lightroom for iOS. Both the iPhone and iPad version of Lightroom are impacted by this bug. In a statement released by Adobe initially, the company noted that there was no way to recover the images or the presets.
The bug in Lightroom which caused users to lose all photos and presets is a pretty major one. Adobe has released another update since the issue came to light, eliminating the bug. However, the loss of images and presets for those affected is a major one. While it may appear like a major issue, it should be known that only those images are not recoverable which have not been sync’d to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Anyone who had the offending version of Lightroom and found their images gone, can always re-download the lost images from their Creative Cloud storage. However, if there was a recent shoot that was stored on the iPad or iPhone that hadn’t managed to sync with the cloud will be lost for good. This is especially painful for presets since those take a lot of time to create.
Adobe released a statement, acknowledging the issue and confirming that there was no way for them to recover the lost data. Later the company followed up with an addition saying that it might be possible for some users to recover lost images from a backup of the device.
Adobe has quickly been moving its focus to the mobile ecosystem, developing mobile versions of its popular desktop apps. Earlier last year, the company launched Fresco, a drawing app that was created with the concept of mobile-first. Adobe followed that up with the launch of Photoshop on the iPad, a highly anticipated release which was met with Luke-warm response due to the absence of many prominent features in comparison to the desktop version of the app. Adobe announced that they would bring more features to Photoshop. Lastly, Adobe also announced that they would be bringing its vector program; Illustrator to the iPad, but will be reimagining the app from the ground up.
If you’re someone who is left with an empty library due to the unfortunate update, you may want to try restoring to an older backup so that you can at least get some images back. If not, then there really is no recourse.
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Swapnil Mathur
Swapnil was Digit's resident camera nerd, (un)official product photographer and the Reviews Editor. Swapnil has moved-on to newer challenges. For any communication related to his stories, please mail us using the email id given here. View Full Profile
