It’s a common problem for people to lose photos when they no longer have access to their old phone. According to a 2018 survey, 89% of people have lost photos due to theft, loss, or running out of storage space on a phone. Even with the prevalence of cloud backups and photo sharing apps, losing your phone often still means losing your photos.
This is an issue many people face when upgrading to a new device, having a phone lost or stolen, or suffering hardware failure or damage. Our photos contain sentimental moments and memories that cannot be replaced. The loss of these irreplaceable images can be devastating. But there are techniques and recovery options that may help rescue photos from a phone you no longer have.
Backing Up Photos
It is crucial to regularly back up your photos to prevent losing them forever if your phone is damaged, lost or stolen. Some popular options for backing up your photos include:
- Cloud storage services like iCloud or Google Photos – These automatically sync your photos to the cloud so they are accessible from any device.
- External hard drives – You can manually transfer photos from your phone to an external drive periodically to create backups.
Backing up regularly prevents losing photos due to phone issues. Apple recommends backing up iPhones to iCloud or a Mac/PC. Android users can back up to Google Photos or copy to a computer. Backups should be done at least monthly.
Checking the Cloud
If you backed up photos from your phone to a cloud service, you may be able to recover them even without the physical device. Cloud services like iCloud and Google Photos store copies of your photos online, so you can access them again from any device. Log into the cloud accounts you used with the phone and see if your photos are still there in the cloud storage.
For example, if you had iCloud backup enabled, you can go to iCloud.com and sign in to view your photos. Check the Photos app as well as the Recently Deleted folder. If you used Google Photos, check the app and website to see if your photos were synced there. Even if you deleted photos from the phone’s local storage, the cloud services may still retain copies that can be restored.
The key is to log into any cloud photo services you utilized on that device. If you maintained backups of your phone’s photos to a cloud account, you stand a good chance of recovering at least some of the images you thought were lost. Consult the cloud provider’s help documentation for specifics on finding and restoring deleted photos from their servers.
Recovery Software
If you no longer have the phone and didn’t back up your photos, using phone photo recovery software is an option to retrieve deleted photos. There are both free and paid recovery apps that can scan your old iPhone (if you still have it) or extract photos from an iPhone backup stored on your computer.
Some of the top iPhone photo recovery software options include: EaseUS MobiSaver, Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery, AnyRecover, and Tenorshare UltData.
These programs can recover photos, videos, contacts, messages and more from iOS devices and backups. Features may include deep scanning, preview before recovery, selective recovery, and recovery from crashed or damaged devices. Paid versions typically offer more features than free versions.
When researching apps, look for high user ratings and reviews confirming the software was able to successfully recover lost iPhone photos. Also consider ease of use, scanning capabilities, and any limitations on free vs paid features that may impact results.
Contact the Service Provider
If you do not have a backup of your photos, contacting your phone service provider is one option to try recovering them. Phone companies keep records of data associated with your phone number, which may include some photos depending on your device and service plan.
Contact customer support for your carrier (such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) and explain that you lost your phone and are trying to recover photos. Ask if they retain any data backups or archives associated with your phone number that may contain photos.
Keep in mind that most carriers only keep limited data for a certain period of time after a phone is deactivated. So the longer it’s been since you lost your phone, the less likely there will be archived photos still available. But it’s still worth contacting your provider to check, as they may be able to recover at least some of your photos.
Be prepared to provide your account information and phone number to verify your identity. There may also be a fee for accessing archived data, so ask about any costs involved.
While rare, some providers may retain backups further back, especially for smartphones that automatically saved photos to the cloud. Contacting them directly is the only way to know if they can recover photos from your lost device.
Data Recovery Services
If you are unable to recover the photos yourself, there are professional data recovery services that may be able to help. Companies like Secure Data Recovery and Gillware specialize in phone data recovery and have experienced engineers who can work to retrieve photos and files from damaged devices.
These services first do a free evaluation to determine if recovery is possible. If so, they provide a cost estimate. Costs vary depending on the device, damage level, and amount of data to be recovered, but can range from $300 to over $1000 in some cases. The more extensive the damage, the higher the cost is likely to be.
While expensive, for irreplaceable photos, professional recovery may be worth the investment. The engineers use advanced tools and techniques in a controlled lab environment to maximize chances of a successful recovery. This gives them an advantage over DIY software tools.
It’s important to choose a reputable recovery firm with positive reviews and experience recovering data from phones. Check if they can handle your specific device and issue. Comparing a few providers on factors like success rates, costs, and turnaround time can help identify the best option.
Check Photo Sharing Apps
The most likely place to find photos from your lost phone are any photo sharing or social media apps you used in the past. Many popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Google Photos will automatically back up photos you take on your phone to their cloud servers. This means even if you lose your device, those photos are still stored online and can be retrieved.
Log into the accounts of any social media or photo apps you used on your old phone and check if your photos were backed up there. Facebook and Instagram both have options to browse or download your previously uploaded content. Google Photos keeps a synced archive of all photos ever backed up. If you can find your missing photos in the cloud from when you had that phone, you can download or recover them to a new device.
According to the Instagram help center, “To recover deleted photos on Instagram, first log in to instagram.com from a computer. Then go to your profile page, click the settings icon in the upper right, select “Privacy and Security,” and then click “Request Download.” Select photos as the media type you want to download. The download will contain up to the last 2,000 posts you shared on Instagram, including photos.”1
Contact App Developers
One option to try recovering deleted photos is to directly contact the developers of any apps you used to take or store photos. App developers may have access to server-side copies of your photos or other ways to recover them through the app code.
For example, if you took photos using Instagram, WhatsApp, or other apps, reach out to their developer support teams. Explain that you have lost photos stored in their app and want to access them again. Make sure to provide your account details. App developers won’t always be able to recover deleted photos, but it’s worth asking them.
According to posts on Reddit, some users have successfully recovered photos by contacting app developers after accidentally deleting them. While there are no guarantees, app developers are sometimes willing to help recover lost data for their users.[1]
When contacting app developers, be cautious about granting remote access to your device or account for data recovery purposes. Make sure you trust the developer before allowing full access. But requesting help from app developers directly can potentially help recover photos from a lost phone in some cases.
Prevention Tips
To prevent losing photos and videos in the future, there are some proactive steps you can take:
Enable automatic backups to the cloud using services like Google Photos or iCloud. Keeping your backup settings turned on ensures your photos are always saved to the cloud in case your phone is lost, damaged, or upgraded.
Regularly transfer photos from your phone to an external hard drive or computer. This creates a physical backup you can access even if your phone and cloud accounts are unavailable.
Use a photo sharing app like Facebook or Flickr to upload select photos you want to preserve. While not ideal for mass storage, they provide an additional backup of your most important pics.
Enable your camera app’s setting to save photos to your device’s internal storage in addition to the camera roll. That way you have duplicate copies on your phone’s memory if the camera roll is corrupted.
Frequently reformatting your SD card can lead to data loss, so limit this and be sure to transfer photos off the card before doing so. Always properly eject the card before removing it as well.
Conclusion
There are a few key options for recovering photos from a lost phone, as outlined in this article. The most promising options are trying cloud backups, using data recovery software, and contacting your mobile carrier or the app developers. However, there is no guarantee these methods will recover your photos.
The best way to avoid losing your photos when you no longer have your phone is prevention through regular backups. Be sure to routinely back up your phone photos and videos to cloud storage services, external hard drives, or your home computer. Enable automatic photo backups on your phone if available. Also, export your photos occasionally to ensure you have copies saved off your phone.
Losing the photos stored on your phone can be devastating. But implementing solid backup practices for your phone’s photos and videos will ensure you always have copies available if your phone is ever lost, stolen, or stops working.