If you’ve accidentally deleted photos from your device and sent them to the trash or recycle bin, don’t panic! You may still be able to recover your lost photos if you act quickly. Here are some tips for finding and restoring trashed photos on your smartphone, tablet, computer or camera.
Quick Answer: How do I find photos I deleted on my iPhone?
To find deleted photos on an iPhone:
- Open the Photos app
- Tap Albums at the bottom
- Scroll down and tap Recently Deleted
- This shows photos and videos you’ve recently deleted. Tap Select to restore items you want back.
Deleted photos stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before being permanently deleted. So act quickly if you need to recover trashed photos on your iPhone.
Quick Answer: How do I recover deleted photos on Android?
To find and restore deleted photos on Android:
- Install and open the Google Photos app
- View the Library and look in the Trash folder
- Tap and hold to select photos you want to restore
- Tap Restore to move the photos back to your main Library
Deleted pictures and videos remain in the Trash for 60 days. Make sure to recover anything important before that time is up. Some Android devices also have a native Gallery app with its own recycle bin you can check.
Check your computer’s recycle bin
If you deleted photos on your Windows PC, Mac or other computer, the first place to check is the recycle bin. This is where any files you delete are stored temporarily before being permanently removed.
On Windows:
- Open the Recycle Bin – usually an icon on your desktop or in the start menu
- Look for your photo files inside
- Right click and hit Restore to move them back to their original folder
On Mac:
- Open Finder and click Trash in the sidebar
- Look inside for your deleted photos
- Drag the photos out of the Trash to any location on your Mac to restore them
Items in your computer’s recycle bin are only kept temporarily before being deleted forever. Restore your photos as soon as possible.
Use recovery software
If you can’t find your deleted photos in any of the default trash folders, your next option is to use data recovery software. These programs can scour your device’s memory to find any previously deleted files that may still be recoverable.
Some options to try:
PhotoRec – Free download that works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Scans your hard drive and reconstructs lost image and video files.
Recuva – Free for Windows, with deep scan features to search your drive.
EaseUS – Works on both Windows and Mac with advanced searching capabilities.
Stellar – Great for both photos, video and documents. Can recover data from crashed or corrupted drives.
Be sure to download recovery software from the original developer’s website and not just anywhere online. Scan your device as soon as possible after deleting photos to have the best chance of full recovery.
Restore from cloud backups
If you had your photos synced or backed up to an online cloud storage service, you may be able to restore deleted images from the cloud even after emptying the trash or recycle bin.
For example, with Google Photos if you are paying for storage, anything in the Trash can be recovered for up to 60 days. Check your cloud trash folders right away.
Services like Dropbox, iCloud and OneDrive also keep files in a trash or recycle bin for 30-60 days typically. Look online to find instructions for restoring deleted files from the cloud backup.
Use device and memory card backups
Hopefully you have a regular backup routine for your smartphone photos and other important files. If so, you may be able to retrieve deleted pictures from:
- A stored backup on an external hard drive
- A macOS Time Machine or Windows File History backup
- An iTunes or Finder backup of an iPhone or iPad
- A synchronized backup on cloud storage like iCloud Drive
- Your memory card if you move photos off it regularly
Connect your device or drive and browse for the images in the backup files. Restoring from a backup should copy photos back into your main photo library.
Check recently imported files
If you regularly import photos from your phone, digital camera or memory card onto a computer, there is a chance the files were copied before you deleted them.
Try searching your hard drive using a date range for when you last imported photos. Also look in common destination folders like:
- My Pictures on Windows
- Pictures Library on Mac
- Adobe Lightroom recent imports
You may find the “deleted” photos were safely imported before being erased from the original device. Then you can move them back into your main photo collection.
Contact photo recovery pros
For extremely critical photo loss, or if standard recovery methods fail, your last resort is to contact a professional photo recovery service. Experts use specialized tools and techniques to reconstruct data from drives and memory cards in extreme cases.
For example:
- Kroll Ontrack – Offers in-lab recovery for photos, documents and media with an estimated success rate.
- Disklabs – Experts in difficult recoveries from SSDs, RAIDs and storage devices.
- DriveSavers – Works on all devices and drives with advanced forensic recovery techniques.
While pricey, professional recovery can rescue irreplaceable memories in a worst case scenario when you’ve lost photos for good.
Can deleted photos be recovered after emptying the recycle bin?
It is possible to recover deleted photos even after permanently erasing them from your computer or device’s recycle bin or trash folder. This is because the files are not totally removed immediately.
When you first delete photos, only the pointers telling the operating system where the files are stored on the drive get erased. The actual photo data remains on the storage device until it gets overwritten by new data.
So as long as new content hasn’t overwritten your deleted pictures, recovery software can scan the drive and recover them by reconstructing the files. However, the chances of recovery get lower over time.
Move quickly and avoid adding lots of new files before recovering photos you fear are lost for good after deleting.
Why can’t I find photos I just deleted on my SD card?
If you can’t find photos you just deleted from your camera’s SD card, there are a few possible reasons:
- You permanently erased the files – Most cameras have a setting to fully delete files versus just send them to a trash folder from which they can be recovered. Always use the trash option.
- You took more photos – Taking more shots may have overwritten the old deleted photos making them unrecoverable.
- You’ve reformatted the card – This erases everything including deleted files no longer visible.
In these cases, data recovery software likely won’t be able to bring back lost photos. Make sure to backup your photos regularly before deletion and avoid anything that rewrites storage space.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos?
It’s possible to recover permanently deleted photos in many cases through data recovery software. When you delete files from any device, the operating system simply marks the space they were using as available for rewrite. The actual data remains intact until replaced.
However, the chances of completely recovering permanently deleted photos depends on:
- Time passed – The shorter the time, the greater chance of full recovery. Don’t wait weeks to try photo recovery.
- New data added – Any new files saved can overwrite deleted photos and make them harder to get back.
- Device type – Recovery from certain media like SSDs and flash drives can be challenging.
- Deletion method – Was storage securely wiped or just emptied from the trash?
For best results, move quickly to restore deleted photos using professional data recovery software before they are potentially lost forever.
What are the chances my deleted photos are gone forever?
If you act quickly using the right methods, you actually have a good chance of getting deleted photos back:
- If photos were simply deleted – recoverable from trash for 1-60 days typically.
- If permanently erased but device not used – nearly 100% recoverable if you run data recovery software immediately.
- If overwritten with some new data – still around 75% recoverable depending on amount overwritten.
- If fully overwritten by new files – chances drop significantly to 25% or less.
- If device was reformatted or wiped – photos likely gone forever with less than 5-10% recovery odds.
So while you can never guarantee recovering lost photos, moving quickly to recover them before storage is reused gives you pretty good odds overall! Just avoid anything that rewrites device data right away.
Can you recover photos after factory resetting a phone?
It is possible to recover deleted photos even after doing a factory reset on your smartphone, though trickier than standard recovery.
When reset, a phone doesn’t actually erase data instantly – it just marks all storage as available for rewrite. A factory reset also may not wipe cache and temp storage areas where photo remnants can exist.
However, overwriting risk increases after a reset so you must use recovery software immediately. Avoid restoring backups or setting up the phone anew until performing data recovery.
Overall photo recovery success rate from a reset phone depends on type of phone, reset method, time passed and overwriting activity. But there’s still hope if you act fast!
Conclusion
Accidentally deleting photos is a sinking feeling, but it doesn’t have to mean they are gone forever. Thanks to the way operating systems and storage devices handle file deletion, you have a good chance of recovering lost photos through various methods:
- Checking device trash and recycle bins
- Using data recovery software
- Restoring from backups and the cloud
- Contacting professional recovery services
The key is acting fast before deleted photo data gets overwritten by new content. Avoid using the impacted device and turn to recovery solutions right away. With effort, those priceless photos and memories can likely be rescued and restored even if they seem lost forever initially. Just don’t delay action.