How to Recover Deleted Photos from an iPhone

In the computer age, we rely on our phones to capture and store precious memories. But what if you accidentally delete or lose your photos on your phone? It can be really depressing and annoying, isn’t it? Well, you don’t have to worry if you lose your photos on your iPhone as there are numerous ways to recover them.

In this article, we will discuss how to recover deleted photos from an iPhone. Following a few easy steps, you can regain all your photos, and can also permanently recover them. So, let’s begin by learning some of the easy and quick ways to recover your deleted photos from your iPhone.

How to Recover Deleted Photos from an iPhone

Below are the steps on how to recover deleted photos from an iPhone–

1. Recently Deleted Album

This is one of the quickest and easiest methods of recovering your deleted photos on your iPhone. If you have installed iOS8 or the latest version, you will get an option for ‘Recently Deleted’ pictures on your phone. The best part is that you can recover all your deleted photos within 30 days of deleting them using this folder.

It is essential to know that this option is valid only if you have deleted your pictures; it will not work if you have lost data through software or a backup issue.

Here are the steps for using the recently deleted album-

Step 1– Open the Photos app on your iPhone and go to the “Recently deleted” folder

Step 2– In this album, you will be able to see all the pictures that you have deleted within the last 30 days

Step 3– Select the photos you want to retrieve and, click on the three dots in the right corner at the bottom, and click on ‘Recover.’

The recovered pictures will now appear in the Photos app.

2. iCloud Recovery

You can use this method if the photo you wish to recover was deleted 30 days ago. However, you must erase your iPhone’s existing content before restoring from an iCloud backup, and this method is valid only if you have taken an iCloud backup.

You need to follow these steps to recover photos through iCloud-

Step1– Go to iCloud and log in with your username and password

Step 2– When log in, choose the photos option from the web page and select the ‘Recently Deleted‘ option

Step 3– Choose the photos you want to retrieve and click “Recover.” You will be able to see all the restored pictures in the ‘Photos’ album.

3. Using iTunes/Finder

You can quickly recover the lost data through iTunes, but restoring the data might delete or overwrite the existing data. Therefore, it is recommended to take the backup of existing data before restoring the backup.

Thus, erase all the data first, you can do it by going to the settings, select ‘General’, and choose the ‘Reset’ option. Here you will see ‘ Erase all content and settings,’ click on it and all the data will be deleted.

Here are the steps to recover lost photos using iTunes/finder-

Step 1– Connect your iPhone to your PC through a USB cable and launch iTunes

Step 2– Select your device icon and click the ‘Restore Backup’ option

Step 3- Now, select the photos you want to recover and click on the ‘Restore’ option

You will get all the photos, but keep your phone connected until the process finishes.

4 Third-Party Recovery Tools

There are a few third-party tools that can be used to recover your deleted or lost photos. Some reliable tools are Fone, iMobie PhoneRescue, and Tenorshare UltData. All these are reliable platforms; ensure you read their instructions carefully before using them.

5. Google Photos or Dropbox

If you have an account on Google Photos or Dropbox, you can recover your deleted or lost photos through them as well. However, it is important for you to have an existing account. Here are the steps to recover or restore deleted files or folders in Dropbox-

Step 1- Login to your Dropbox or Google Photos account

Step 2– On the left sidebar, you will see an option “Deleted Files’ click on it

Step 3– Select the folder from which you wish to recover the deleted files; you can also select multiple folders as well

Step 4– Once you have selected the data you want to retrieve, click the ‘Restore‘ option.

Note: It might take time to recover if the file size is large.

6. Contacting Apple Support

If you are unable to recover your deleted or lost photos after following the aforementioned practices, the last step is to contact Apple support. Do not contact them at first, as recovering photos from Apple support is a lengthy and time-consuming process. Plus, you will have to go through identity verification and meet the division head to get the images back.

7. Prevention Tips

The best way to avert the trouble of recovering photos is to not lose them in the first place. So, here are a few prevention tips-

• Set up automatic backup on Apple iCloud
• You can also take backup on Google Photos
• Backup your iPhone using iTunes
• Safeguard your iPhone if you have kids. Thus, you should activate either Touch ID or Face ID and keep your iPhone locked.

8. Troubleshooting

There can be various issues that you might encounter while restoring the photos, here are some of the significant ones-

• Battery Low—The first thing to remember while restoring data is to keep your phone charged. If the battery dies, you will have to start the process from the beginning.
• Recently Deleted photos deleted—If you manually delete pictures from the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder, you will not be able to recover any pictures from there.
• iCloud ID not working– If your iCloud ID is not working, you cannot recover data using the iCloud
• Insufficient iCloud Storage Space– If you don’t have enough iCloud storage space, you won’t be able to transfer the photos. In such a case, you will have to buy extra storage.
• Outdated Software– Using outdated software can cause issues restoring data; hence, before restoring, ensure to update your iPhone with the latest version.
• File Corruption—Damaged or corrupted photos may fail to transfer; thus, you will have to open them and see if they can be recovered.

Conclusion

By now, you know how to recover deleted photos from an iPhone. It is an easy and quick process. You can choose any method at your convenience, but all of the methods work well, and you can permanently recover all your lost or deleted photos from any of them. But you should always start by checking your Recently Deleted folder before opting for any other method.

FAQs – Recover Deleted Photos from an iPhones

Is it possible to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone after 30 days?

You can restore the permanently deleted photos by using iTunes on your PC if you have a backup.

Can we recover permanently deleted photos from the iPhone if they are not on iCloud?

It is difficult to restore permanently deleted photos from your iPhone if you do not have an iCloud account. You can contact Apple Support in this case as they might be able to help.

Is it possible to recover photos from a dead iPhone?

If your phone is not working anymore, you can retrieve the photos using iTunes Backup.