Yes, it is possible to recover deleted or trashed photos on an iPhone. When you delete photos on an iPhone, they are not immediately erased from the device. Instead, they go into a “trash” folder where they can remain for up to 40 days before being permanently overwritten. As long as you act quickly, you can often recover recently deleted photos using data recovery software or cloud backups.
Quick Answers
Here are some quick answers to common questions about recovering deleted photos on an iPhone:
- Deleted photos remain in the trash folder for up to 40 days before being permanently erased.
- You can recover recently deleted photos using data recovery software like iMyFone D-Back or Dr.Fone.
- If you backed up your photos to iCloud or iTunes, you may be able to restore deleted photos from the backup.
- The sooner you act after deletion, the higher the chances of recovery success.
- Jailbreaking the iPhone can improve data recovery capabilities.
- If the photos have been permanently overwritten, there is no way to get them back.
Where Do Deleted Photos Go?
When you delete a photo on an iPhone, either by tapping the trash icon or using the “Delete Photo” option, the photo does not disappear right away. Instead, it goes into a special folder called “Recently Deleted.”
This Recently Deleted folder acts as a trash bin, holding deleted photos for a period of time before erasing them permanently. Photos inside the Recently Deleted folder remain there for up to 40 days after deletion.
The idea behind this trash system is to give you a chance to recover photos in case you delete them accidentally. However, many iPhone users are unaware of the Recently Deleted folder and that deleted photos can be retrieved from it.
Finding the Recently Deleted Folder
To access the Recently Deleted folder and view your deleted photos on an iPhone, follow these steps:
- Open the Photos app.
- Tap on the Albums tab at the bottom.
- Scroll down and tap on the Recently Deleted album.
This will display all photos and videos that have been recently deleted. They will remain visible here for up to 40 days from the deletion date.
Permanent Deletion
Although deleted photos remain recoverable from the Recently Deleted folder for up to 40 days, they won’t stay there forever. The iPhone will permanently erase photos in the following situations:
- When 40 days have passed since the photo was deleted.
- If you manually delete the photo from Recently Deleted.
- If you “Erase All Content and Settings” from the reset options.
So while 40 days is the maximum duration deleted photos will persist, they can vanish any time before that if you manually remove them from Recently Deleted or reset the iPhone entirely.
How to Recover Deleted Photos
If you act while photos are still in the Recently Deleted album, you have a good chance of recovering them. Here are the best ways to get back deleted photos on an iPhone:
Restore from Recently Deleted
If you catch the deletion quickly, your first step should be to check the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app. Any photos here can be easily recovered:
- Open the Recently Deleted folder.
- Tap Select.
- Tap the photos you want to recover.
- Tap Recover to move them back to the Camera Roll or other albums.
This restores the deleted photos to their original location as if they were never deleted. It’s the quickest and easiest way to retrieve deleted photos if they are still in the Recently Deleted folder.
Use Data Recovery Software
If more than a few days have passed since deleting photos, they may have disappeared from Recently Deleted already. Your next option is to use data recovery software to scan the iPhone for any recoverable photo data.
Some top data recovery apps for iOS include:
- iMyFone D-Back: Works on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch models. Can extract photos directly from iTunes or iCloud backups as well.
- Dr.Fone – Data Recovery: Recovers photos, messages, contacts and other data for iOS and Android.
- Disk Drill: Relatively affordable data recovery for retrieving photos and other files.
- PhoneRescue: iOS recovery software with various scan modes to find residual photo data.
These data recovery apps scan the iPhone storage for traces of deleted data and rebuild photos from fragments that have not yet been overwritten. The more time that passes since deletion, the less data fragments remain for recovery.
| Software | Price | Ease of Use | Recovery Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| iMyFone D-Back | $$ | Very easy | Excellent |
| Dr.Fone | $$$ | Easy | Very good |
| Disk Drill | $ | Intermediate | Good |
| PhoneRescue | $$ | Slightly difficult | Very good |
As a general rule, it’s best to use data recovery as soon as possible after deleting photos. However, given the right software, recoveries are still possible days or even weeks after deletion while some photo data still remains.
Restore from Backup
If you previously backed up your iPhone’s photos to iCloud or iTunes, you may be able to restore deleted photos from the backup. This requires having an existing backup that contains the deleted photos:
- iCloud Photo Backup: Check your iCloud account online to see if deleted photos exist in previous backups.
- iTunes Backup: Connect iPhone to computer and restore from iTunes backup.
If the backup was created prior to the photos being deleted, then the photos should be restored. Just beware that this also restores all other data from the backup, essentially resetting your iPhone to the state it was in at the backup time.
Improving Chances of Photo Recovery
Some additional tips for maximizing your chances of recovering deleted iPhone photos include:
- Act quickly as soon as photos are deleted.
- Avoid taking new photos or installing apps, as this overwrites storage space where deleted photos may exist.
- Jailbreak the iPhone to enable deeper data recovery capabilities.
- Enable iCloud Photo Library or auto iTunes backups to preserve photos.
- Know that newer iPhone models (iPhone XS and up) make data recovery more difficult due to faster storage erasing.
The bottom line is acting fast gives you the best chance of success. The sooner you can attempt recovery after deletion, the more photos you will be able to restore from Recently Deleted or data recovery software.
What If Photos Have Been Overwritten?
Due to the way iPhone flash memory works, deleted photos can only be recovered if their storage segments have not yet been overwritten with new data. Unfortunately, there is no way to recover photos after they have been permanently overwritten.
Some signs that a photo is no longer recoverable include:
- It does not appear in Recently Deleted.
- Data recovery software cannot find any traces of it.
- It does not exist in any backups.
- It has been more than a month since deletion.
At this point, the photo has likely been completely erased by newer data occupying its storage space on the iPhone flash memory. Once photos have been permanently overwritten, there are no forensic techniques that can reliably recover them.
Avoid Future Photo Loss
While you cannot recover photos that have been fully overwritten, you can take steps to avoid losing photos for good in the future:
- Enable iCloud Photo Library to automatically backup all iPhone photos.
- Manually back up to iCloud or iTunes regularly.
- Use a secondary cloud storage service like Google Photos to back up important photos.
- Enable iCloud’s “My Photo Stream” to store last 30 days of photos.
- Download photos to a computer or external hard drive to create additional backups.
Just remember that no backup solution is foolproof. So always be diligent about avoiding accidental photo deletion as well.
Conclusion
Recovering deleted photos on an iPhone is possible if you act quickly and use data recovery software intelligently. However, iOS does make permanent data destruction inevitable if you don’t retrieve photos swiftly from the Recently Deleted folder.
To maximize your chances of recovery success, restore from iCloud or iTunes backups first, then scan the iPhone storage using data recovery apps if needed. The sooner you start the recovery process after deletion, the better the chances you will get back those lost photos.
Just be aware the longer you wait, the higher the likelihood photos will be unrecoverable due to being overwritten. So act fast, use software designed for iOS recovery, and have backups available to give you the best shot at restoring accidentally deleted iPhone photos.