Google Photos is a popular photo storage and sharing service developed by Google. One of the key features of Google Photos is that it provides unlimited free storage for photos up to 16MP and videos up to 1080p resolution. With such a large amount of photos and videos being stored, it’s natural that users will occasionally delete some photos that they no longer need or want. This raises the question – does Google Photos have a folder or archive for deleted photos?
Quick Answer
Unfortunately, Google Photos does not have a dedicated deleted photos folder or archive. Once photos are deleted from Google Photos, they are permanently removed from your library and can not be recovered through any built-in feature or folder in the app. However, there are a few methods users can try to recover recently deleted photos from Google Photos:
– On Android, deleted photos are moved to the trash for up to 60 days. They can be restored from the trash during this time.
– On iOS, deletions sync immediately, so restoring deleted photos is not possible.
– Use the Google Takeout tool to download an archive of your Google Photos library, then search for the deleted photos in the archive. This only works if you requested a takeout recently.
– Try using data recovery software to scan your device and find copies of the deleted photos.
So in summary – no, there is no dedicated deleted folder, but some workarounds exist to help you recover deleted photos if acted on quickly. Prompt deletion and backup are recommended to avoid losing photos.
Understanding Google Photos Storage
To understand why Google Photos does not have a deleted photos folder, it helps to first understand how Google Photos stores your photos and videos.
When you upload photos to Google Photos, they are not stored on your device. Instead, they are uploaded to Google servers in the cloud. Even photos taken directly on your phone with the Google Photos app are immediately backed up to the cloud once captured.
This centralized cloud storage allows Google Photos to provide features like automatic syncing across devices, sharing, searchability and backups. However, it also means photos are not stored locally on your device once uploaded.
When you delete a photo in Google Photos, it removes the photo from their cloud servers permanently. There is no location on your local device to retain a copy or move it to a “deleted” folder, since it was never stored locally.
Reasons for the Lack of a Deleted Folder
There are a few reasons why Google Photos likely does not have a deleted items folder for photos:
– Cloud-focused design – As mentioned, with cloud-based storage, there is no local folder on a device to move deleted items to.
– Encourages permanence of deletion – Having a deleted items folder enables easy photo recovery. Google wants deletions to be permanent to encourage responsible storage use.
– Limited storage quotas – Offering unlimited photo storage means storage space needs to be limited where possible. A deleted photos archive would continue taking up quota space.
– Privacy/security concerns – Retaining and surfacing deleted photos raises privacy issues and security risks if a user’s account was compromised.
– Clutter avoidance – Easy photo recovery results in people keeping many unnecessary deleted photos over time, cluttering up the library.
– Technical complexity – Building and maintaining a separate deleted photos repository adds engineering complexity for questionable benefit.
Alternative Photo Recovery Options
While Google Photos does not have a built-in deleted photos folder, there are some alternative options users have for recovering recently deleted photos:
Android Trash Folder
When photos are deleted from the Google Photos app on Android devices, they are sent to the trash folder on your device for up to 60 days. Users can browse their trash folder and restore photos by selecting “Restore” if they are still within this 60 day window.
However, emptying the trash or clearing cached app data for Google Photos will permanently remove the photos – so don’t count on the trash as a reliable recovery method.
Google Takeout
Google Takeout is a service that allows you to download archives of your Google data, including your Google Photos library. If you recently requested a Google Takeout before deleting photos, check the Google Photos folder in your takeout archive – it may contain the deleted photos still.
This only works if the takeout was requested after the photos were uploaded, but before they were deleted. And Takeout archives are only retained for a limited time, so you need to download and check soon after requesting.
Device and Cloud Backups
If you have other backups of your device or Google Photos library in the cloud, you may be able to find deleted photos in these backups. For example, services like iCloud and iTunes on iPhone, or Samsung Cloud and Smart Switch on Samsung devices, can sometimes retain backups of deleted photos.
Be sure to regularly backup your photos to secondary sources in case you need to recover lost images. Don’t rely solely on Google Photos to avoid permanent loss of photos when deleting.
Data Recovery Software
There are various data recovery programs and apps that can scan your computer or device storage and sometimes find copies of deleted files, even if they are not in the recycle bin or other folder.
For recently deleted photos, recovery software may be able to restore them by scanning your device’s internal storage and cloud account. However, results vary widely based on the program and circumstances of deletion.
Some free options to try are Disk Drill, Stellar Data Recovery, and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for recovering deleted photos from Google Photos. But paid versions often provide better results.
Best Practices to Avoid Losing Google Photos
Since Google Photos does not retain deleted photos, it’s important to employ some best practices to avoid accidentally losing photos you want to keep:
– Be extremely careful when selecting photos to delete – double check you are deleting only the photos intended.
– Backup your Google Photos library – download periodic Takeouts or use a secondary cloud service to backup photos.
– Delete in small batches – don’t mass delete thousands of photos in one go, in case you change your mind later.
– Double-check trash before emptying – on Android, scan the trash folder before emptying to ensure wanted photos weren’t deleted.
– Turn on the trash feature – in Google Photos settings on desktop, enable the trash feature to send deleted photos there for 60 days first.
– Use caution with bulk deletion tools – don’t rush through prompts when using “Free up space” or other bulk deletion tools.
– Delete from a desktop if possible – it’s easier to recover photos deleted via the desktop web interface than the mobile app.
– Think before clearing app data or signing out – this permanently removes photos not backed up elsewhere.
Will Google Photos Add a Deleted Folder in the Future?
Given the infrastructure of Google Photos, it seems unlikely that they will add a dedicated deleted photos folder or archive feature anytime soon.
The main reasons are:
– Having an archive of deleted files would undermine their goal of deletions being permanent and require more cloud storage.
– People would likely accumulate many useless deleted photos over time, reducing quality of libraries.
– Privacy concerns around retaining photos users attempted to delete.
– Engineering complexity to build and maintain a separate deleted repository.
For those reasons, it’s doubtful this type of feature will be added. Google’s focus is on encouraging responsible deletions and backing up irreplaceable photos.
However, Google may continue expanding recovering options like the Android trash and Takeout backups to provide some safety nets against accidental deletion. But a full-fledged deleted photos archive seems unlikely.
Third Party Apps for Deleted Photo Recovery
While Google Photos itself does not offer deleted photo recovery capabilities, there are a variety of third party apps that aim to help you retrieve deleted photos from Google Photos:
DiskDrill
DiskDrill is a free data recovery app for Windows and Mac that can rescue deleted photos from Google Photos if you have backup copies on your computer. It scans internal and external hard drives and pulls up list of recoverable files.
FoneDog Android Data Recovery
This program claims to recover lost photos, messages, contacts and other data from Android devices including recovering photos deleted from Google Photos. It scans devices and extracts residual data.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Available for Windows and Mac, this data recovery software specializes in restoring lost photos, videos, documents and more. It can recover photos deleted from Google Photos in many cases by searching devices and online storage.
Stellar Photo Recovery
Offered by Stellar Data Recovery, this photo recovery tool finds lost or deleted image files from hard drives, memory cards and other media. It may help restore deleted Google Photos depending on backup availability.
UltData – Android Data Recovery
As the name suggests, this is an Android specific data recovery app that claims to recover deleted photos, messages, call logs and other lost data from Google Photos and other sources. It requires root access.
These apps demonstrate that while Google Photos itself does not offer a deleted folder, third party solutions are available for recovering deleted photos under the right conditions. However, results vary widely.
Conclusion
In closing, no – Google Photos does not currently offer a dedicated folder, archive or capability to restore deleted photos from within the app itself. Once photos are deleted from Google Photos, they are permanently removed from your cloud library with no built-in way to recover them.
However, there are some workaround options through Android’s trash bin, Google Takeout, backups and data recovery apps. To avoid accidental photo loss, be extremely careful when deleting photos and maintain separate backups of your Google Photos library. In the future, it seems unlikely that Google will add a deleted photos feature due to privacy, storage and other concerns. But third party recovery apps provide an alternative solution for retrieving deleted photos in some cases.