When photos are deleted from a device or online service, many users wonder if the photos are gone forever or if there is still a way to recover them. The answer depends on a few key factors.
Quick summary
Photos deleted from local storage like a phone’s camera roll or computer hard drive can often be recovered using data recovery software, as long as new data hasn’t overwritten the deleted files. For online services like iCloud or Google Photos, deleted photos may go to a trash folder where they can be recovered within 30-60 days. After that time, online services may permanently delete photos to free up storage space.
Are deleted photos gone from your device forever?
When you delete photos from the camera roll on your iPhone, Android phone, or other device, the photos aren’t necessarily gone forever. Devices simply mark the storage space occupied by the photos as available for new data to write over. As long as new data doesn’t overwrite the deleted photos, data recovery software can scan the phone’s storage and rebuild the deleted photo files so you can get them back.
The same concept applies to photos deleted from a computer’s hard drive. As long as the space hasn’t been overwritten, powerful data recovery software for computers can often get back even permanently deleted files, including photos and videos.
Factors that determine recoverability
If you need to recover deleted photos from a device, the odds of success depend on:
- How much new data has been saved since deletion – more new data makes recovery less likely
- Device type – SSDs make recovery harder than traditional hard drives
- Speed of action – The sooner data recovery is attempted, the better
Due to the risk of deleted files getting overwritten by new data, it’s important to act quickly and avoid using the device if you need to recover deleted photos.
Recovering data from smartphones and computers
Here are some options for photo recovery software for different devices:
| Device | Software |
|---|---|
| iPhone or iPad | iMyFone iBypasser, Fonelab, EaseUS MobiSaver |
| Android | DiskDigger Photo Recovery, EaseUS MobiSaver, GT Recovery |
| Windows computer | Recuva, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Stellar Photo Recovery |
| Mac computer | EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Stellar Photo Recovery, Disk Drill |
These programs can scan for deleted image and video files, recover them, and restore them to a safe location so you don’t lose your photos permanently.
Can you recover photos after emptying the recycle bin?
If you move photos to the Windows Recycle Bin or Mac Trash folder and then empty the folder, can you get the photos back? The answer is maybe.
When you empty the recycle bin, Windows or MacOS simply marks the space occupied by the deleted files as available for new data. As with deleting photos directly from a hard drive, data recovery software can potentially restore your photos until that space is reused.
However, the odds of recovering emptied recycle bin files aren’t as high as recovering normally deleted data. This is because sending a file to the recycle bin adds an extra step that makes it a little harder for data recovery tools to reconstruct the deleted data.
That said, as long as you act quickly and avoid overwriting the storage space, you still have a decent chance of getting back photos deleted from the recycle bin using data recovery software like Recuva, Disk Drill, or Stellar Photo Recovery.
Can you recover photos after deleting from iCloud or Google Photos?
Popular online syncing services like iCloud and Google Photos give you the option to access your photos from all your devices. But what happens when you delete photos from these cloud services? Can you get them back?
The good news is that iCloud, Google Photos, and other cloud storage providers use a trash or recycle bin system. When you delete photos, they’re moved to a trash folder instead of being immediately erased.
In iCloud, deleted photos remain recoverable for up to 30 days from the Photos trash folder. In Google Photos, deleted photos go to trash and stay there for 60 days before being permanently deleted.
So as long as you notice within the 30 or 60 day window, you can restore deleted photos from the cloud services’ trash or recycle folders and return them to your synced photo libraries.
Recovering deleted photos from iCloud
To restore deleted photos from iCloud:
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or pc.
- In the sidebar, click the Albums tab.
- Scroll down to Utilities and select Recently Deleted.
- Select the photos you want to recover.
- Click Recover to restore the photos to your library.
Recovering deleted photos from Google Photos
To bring back deleted Google Photos:
- Go to photos.google.com in your web browser.
- In the sidebar, click Trash.
- Choose the photos you want to recover.
- Click Restore to move the photos back to your library.
If you notice within 30 days (iCloud) or 60 days (Google Photos), this process lets you bail out deleted cloud photos from the trash. However, after those windows close, the cloud services start permanently deleting photos to clear up storage space.
Can you recover photos after permanently deleting from the cloud?
What if you miss the window to restore deleted cloud photos from the trash? At that point, is it still possible to recover them?
Unfortunately, once cloud storage services like iCloud or Google Photos permanently erase photos after 30 or 60 days, recovering them becomes extremely difficult to impossible.
The photos aren’t just marked as deleted, they’re completely removed from the cloud storage systems. And because cloud storage is decentralized across many encrypted servers, even data recovery experts have almost no way to get back permanently deleted cloud files.
However, there is one last way your deleted cloud photos could potentially be saved…
Retrieving photos from synced devices
Before cloud services permanently scrub deleted photos, any synced devices like phones, tablets, or computers may still have local copies of the images.
So for example, if you delete a photo from iCloud on your iPhone, an iPad synced to the same iCloud account might still have that photo in its camera roll.
This synced local copy of the photo only gets removed if the device does a backup after the image is deleted from the cloud.
Therefore, as soon as you realize photos are missing from iCloud or Google Photos, check all recently used synced devices. With luck, you may find the deleted images still cached locally, and you can copy them to secure storage.
Can you recover photos after factory resetting a device?
Performing a factory reset or master reset restores a smartphone, tablet, computer, or other device to a like-new state. All user data and photos get erased during the reset process.
Or do they? Is it still possible to retrieve photos after a factory reset?
The answer is maybe, with the right tools and techniques. During a reset, most devices simply mark data as deleted instead of overwriting it. So data recovery software has a chance of saving photos before they get overwritten.
However, factory reset procedures vary between device manufacturers. Some resets may try harder to scrub data for security reasons. The longer a reset device is used before recovery is attempted, the lower your chances as well.
Assuming photos aren’t immediately overwritten, some options to recover factory reset photos include:
- Phone data recovery software like Fonelab, iMyFone, or EaseUS MobiSaver
- Disk Drill or Stellar for Mac computers
- Recuva, TestDisk, or EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Windows PCs
Using read-only recovery tools as soon as possible after a reset gives you the best chance of getting back lost photos before they’re permanently overwritten. Just don’t save new data to the reset device in the meantime.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos?
With the right techniques, tools, and timing, you stand a good chance of recovering recently deleted photos before they’re lost forever. But what if you permanently deleted photos months or years ago?
Can you still get them back? Is it possible to recover permanently deleted photos even long after deletion?
Once enough new data writes over your deleted photos’ disk space, there’s almost no bringing them back. Most data recovery programs can only reliably restore recently deleted files.
That said, if conditions are just right, there is an extremely slim chance of resurrecting old deleted photos under the right circumstances:
- You know exactly which storage device held the deleted photos
- The photos were stored on a hard disk drive rather than SSD
- The deleted photo storage space has rarely or never been overwritten
- The deletion happened recently enough that fragments of data likely still exist
In this highly unlikely scenario, a data recovery expert using advanced forensics tools may be able to partially reconstruct old deleted fragments. This would involve a professional manually scanning drive sectors for patterns associated with certain photo file formats.
Still, you would likely only get back partial corrupted images rather than full intact photos. And even this is only possible if conditions are just right to have old deleted data fragments still present on the drive.
So while extraordinary methods could potentially recover a few scrambled permanently deleted photos, for all practical purposes, if your photos got overwritten long ago, they are almost certainly gone forever.
Key takeaways on recovering deleted photos
To summarize the options for recovering deleted photos:
- Recently deleted photos on local devices can often be recovered using data recovery software as long as storage hasn’t been overwritten
- Cloud services like iCloud and Google Photos hold deleted photos in trash for 30-60 days before permanent deletion
- After the cloud trash retention period, deleted photos typically can’t be recovered
- Factory reset devices may allow data recovery of deleted photos if attempted quickly before new data overwrites files
- Permanently deleted photos from long ago are likely unrecoverable unless conditions are ideal
Acting quickly with data recovery tools gives you the best chance of rescuing deleted photos before they are lost for good. But if overwritten or permanently deleted long ago, photos may be beyond recovery.
Can you recover photos without software?
Data recovery software provides the most efficient way to recover deleted photos. But if you can’t install a data recovery program for some reason, there are a couple manual methods that may work in some cases.
Recover previous device backups
If you regularly backup your device to external storage, you may be able to find deleted photos in a previous backup. For example, apps like iCloud and Google Photos periodically create backups containing your photo library.
Connect the external storage and navigate to the backup folder. Sort by date modified and look for the most recent backup taken before the photos were deleted. With luck, the backups will still have the photos present.
Scan storage manually
Data recovery software automates the process of scanning a drive and extracting recoverable files. But it’s possible to do this manually using just your operating system tools.
On Windows, you can right-click the drive, select Properties, Tools, then Check. In the scan results, click View and search for typical image file formats like JPG, PNG, RAW, etc. Any found likely represent recoverable deleted photos.
On Mac, you can run a terminal command like “grep -a -b -B100 -C100 -E ‘JPG|PNG|CR2’ /dev/disk2s2” to scan a drive for deleted photo file headers. Any results may reveal recoverable deleted images you can extract.
Manual scanning like this is tedious and less efficient than specialized software. But in a pinch, it can potentially find deleted files like photos on local storage without any additional programs.
Recap
To quickly recap your options for recovering deleted photos:
| Recovery Type | Timeframe | Likelihood of Success |
| Device with recovery software | First hours/days after deletion | Good if storage isn’t overwritten |
| Cloud trash (iCloud, Google Photos, etc) | Up to 30-60 days after deletion | Excellent if still in trash folder |
| Device backups | Until overwritten by newer backup | Good if photos were backed up |
| Factory reset device | Immediately after reset before new data written | Fair, depends on reset procedure |
| Permanently deleted long ago | Anytime after storage space reused | Nearly impossible unless very lucky |
The sooner you attempt recovery and the less new data written, the better your chances. But ultimately photos deleted long enough ago and overwritten may be lost for good barring very fortunate circumstances.
Conclusion
While digital photos can feel fleeting, there are often good chances to recover deleted photos with the right tools and techniques. But time is of the essence – the sooner you act, the better your odds. Data recovery software, cloud trash folders, and device backups provide the best options to rescue deleted images before they are permanently overwritten and gone forever.