Photos on your iPhone play a very important role in preserving memories and reminding you of the cherished moments in your life. However, there are times when these photos get deleted accidentally or unintentionally. This can be very upsetting, especially if those were some of your favorite photos that got deleted.
The good news is – even if you have deleted photos from your iPhone’s camera roll, you can recover them by using the right tools and methods. So don’t lose hope even if you emptied the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder on your iPhone. This guide will show you how you can get back your deleted iPhone photos through tested techniques.
Part 1: Can You Retrieve Deleted Photos on iPhone from Recently Deleted Folder?
When you delete any photo on your iPhone, it doesn’t get erased right away. Instead, the deleted photos are moved to the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder that acts as a recycle bin.
This folder keeps the deleted photos for up to 40 days, after which they get permanently deleted. So if you have deleted photos from the camera roll, you should first check the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder.
To access the Recently Deleted folder on your iPhone:
- Launch the Photos app
- Swipe up from the bottom to see different tabs
- Tap on the ‘Albums’ tab at the bottom
- Scroll down and you will see a ‘Recently Deleted’ folder here
- Open it and check all the recently deleted content
This folder maintains all the data that is deleted in the past 30 days. Therefore, if you have just deleted photos from your iPhone, they will be available here.
To recover the deleted photos from Recently Deleted:
- Launch the Photos app and from the Albums, open the Recently Deleted folder.
- Select the photos you wish to retrieve by tapping the ‘Select’ option.
- Tap on the ‘Recover’ button from the bottom menu.
This will restore the selected photos back to the camera roll or any other album from where they were deleted. Since the deleted content stays in this folder for up to 40 days, it provides you with enough time to recover your photos.
Part 2: How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on iPhone?
Even though the Recently Deleted folder keeps your photos for 40 days, a lot of us end up deleting photos from here as well. This automatically deletes the pictures permanently without keeping any trace.
If you can’t find your photos in the Recently Deleted folder, then it might be permanently deleted. In this case, you can take the assistance of a third-party iPhone data recovery application.
A highly recommended solution is iSkysoft Toolbox – iOS Data Recovery. It is a complete data recovery tool that can extract lost or deleted content from your iPhone under different scenarios. You can follow these steps to recover deleted photos using iSkysoft Toolbox:
- Select a data recovery mode: Launch the iSkysoft application on your computer and connect your iPhone to it. From its home, pick the “Recover” module.
- Scan your device: Select the “Camera Roll” or any other photo album to scan. Click on the “Start” button and wait for a while as it would scan your device.
- Preview and recover: In the end, you can just preview your deleted photos, select them, and click on the “Recover” button to save them to your computer.
The best thing about iSkysoft Toolbox is that it can perform an in-depth scan of your device and extract content from its internal storage. Therefore, you can retrieve your photos even if they have been deleted permanently from your iPhone.
Part 3: Tips for Preventing Accidental Photo Deletion on iPhone
Since your iPhone photos can be deleted accidentally in so many ways, it is better to take certain prevention tips to avoid it beforehand.
Here are some smart ways to make sure important photos on your iPhone don’t get deleted by mistake:
1. Backup your Photos
One of the best ways to keep your iPhone photos secure is by maintaining their backup. You can backup photos on your iPhone to iCloud so that if they ever get deleted, you can restore them from their online backup.
Besides that, you can also take the assistance of iTunes to backup photos on your computer. In this way, your photos would stay saved on another source as well.
2. Use iCloud Photo Library
Apple provides us with a seamless service known as iCloud Photo Library to backup photos online. Just go to your photos app > Settings > enable iCloud Photo Library. This will automatically upload your device photos over the cloud.
If your photos get deleted accidentally, you can just disable iCloud Photo Library and enable it again. This will restore the missing photos from iCloud to your device.
3. Lock Important Photos
If you have some photos on your iPhone that you never wish to delete, then consider locking them. Go to your photos app > Select a photo > Tap the share icon at the bottom > Lock Photo. This will make sure that the photo will never be deleted from your iPhone accidentally.
4. Disable Gestures
A lot of times photos get deleted by simple gestures. For instance, while viewing photos we can swipe left or right to delete them. Go to your iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Disable gestures like swipe left/right to avoid it.
Part 4: Tips for Using iPhone Storage Optimally
Since our iPhone has limited storage, we often end up deleting photos to make space. If you want to avoid this, then consider following these tips to use iPhone storage smartly:
1. Optimize iPhone Storage
Go to Settings > Photos and enable the “Optimize iPhone Storage” feature. This will automatically manage your storage by uploading full-resolution photos over iCloud and keeping smaller versions on your iPhone.
2. Use iCloud or Google Photos
As stated before, backup your photos over iCloud or Google Photos. This will let you access your data from the cloud whenever needed without occupying your iPhone storage.
3. Turn on HEIC Format
Go to your Camera Settings and enable the option of “High-Efficiency”. This will let you capture photos in the HEIC format instead of JPG. The HEIC format consumes half the usual space without compromising the photo quality.
4. Delete Videos/Large Files
Instead of photos, consider deleting unwanted videos or large files from your iPhone. Just make sure you don’t delete something important by mistake.
5. Transfer Photos to PC
You can also free up space on your iPhone by transferring your photos to a computer every once in a while. Later, you can delete the transferred content to make space.
Part 5: How to Recover Deleted Photos from iCloud Backup?
If you have maintained an iCloud backup of your iPhone data, then you can also restore your lost or deleted photos from it.
To recover deleted photos from iCloud backup, follow these steps:
- Unlock your iPhone and connect it to a trusted WiFi network.
- Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
- Tap on “Restore from iCloud Backup” and pick a recent backup of your data.
- Log in to iCloud and wait for the backup to get restored to your device.
- Go to Photos and you will find your deleted pictures back from iCloud.
Part 6: How to Retrieve Deleted Photos Using iTunes Backup?
Similar to iCloud, iTunes also provides us with a seamless option to take a backup of our iPhone data either automatically or manually. Therefore, if your photos are deleted, you can get them back from iTunes backup.
To recover deleted photos using iTunes backup, follow these steps:
- Connect your iPhone to PC and launch iTunes application in it.
- From the summary page, select your device by clicking on its icon.
- Go to the ‘Backups’ section and choose to ‘Restore Backup’ instead.
- Select a relevant backup file and click on the ‘Restore’ button.
- If needed, enter your passcode to confirm the restore process.
- In the end, iTunes will restore the selected backup to your device, recovering deleted photos.
Part 7: How to Retrieve Deleted Photos from iCloud Online?
Apart from restoring iCloud backup, you can also visit iCloud online to view your deleted photos there. This works if you have already synced your photos to iCloud in the past.
Follow these simple steps to view deleted iPhone photos on iCloud online:
- Go to the official iCloud Photos website by visiting icloud.com/photos.
- Log in to your registered iCloud account from here.
- Go to the ‘Albums’ section on the website.
- From the left panel, click on the ‘Recently Deleted’ album.
- You will see all your recently deleted photos stored on iCloud online.
- Select the photos you wish to recover and click on the ‘Recover’ option.
This will let you get back selective photos from iCloud online that you might have deleted from your iPhone.
Part 8: Other Ways to Recover Lost or Deleted iPhone Photos
Apart from the above-listed methods, there are a few other ways to recover deleted photos from your iPhone as well. Some of these options are:
1. Recover from Google Photos Backup
If you have already backed up your photos on Google Photos, then you can restore your deleted pictures from here as well.
2. Retrieve from iTunes Backup of Other Devices
If you have synced your iPhone data to other devices via iTunes in the past, then their backup can also help you restore deleted photos.
3. Use Time Machine or iCloud for Mac
Mac users can recover their deleted iPhone photos from Time Machine or iCloud for Mac backup as well.
4. Restore from Your Computer Backup
Consider taking your iPhone’s backup on the computer using data recovery tools like iMyFone D-Back so that you can restore your data whenever needed.
5. Use Any iPhone Data Recovery Software
There are various other iPhone data recovery applications like Fonelab, Jihosoft, etc. that would let you get back lost or deleted photos.
Part 9: Precautionary Measures to Avoid Losing Photos Again
Once you have recovered deleted photos on your iPhone successfully, you should also take some precautionary measures to avoid this situation again. Some of these smart tips include:
- Install a reliable anti-virus or security app on your phone to keep it safe from malware attacks.
- Don’t save your photos to the phone gallery only as they can easily get corrupted or deleted. Use cloud services or external storage instead.
- Create backups of your data at regular intervals either on iCloud or an external hard drive.
- Transfer your photos to a computer or an external storage device to keep another copy.
- Avoid jailbreaking your iPhone as it makes the device more prone to data loss or breaches.
- Immediately recover your photos from Recently Deleted if you end up deleting them accidentally.
- Turn on Lost Mode via iCloud or Find My iPhone feature so that you can locate your device if it gets lost or stolen.
- Avoid downloading photos from websites that are not secure or trusted enough.
Part 10: Some Potential Risks of iPhone Photo Recovery
While there are several smart ways to recover deleted photos on your iPhone, there can be certain risks involved in the process.
Here are some of the major risks to note:
- Recovering photos via unreliable third-party apps can be risky as they can steal your data instead.
- Some apps can recover your deleted pictures, but not maintain their original quality.
- You might end up recovering unwanted pictures like screenshots or memes rather than your photos.
- Overwriting your existing data while restoring photos from a backup can also result in more data loss.
- If your iPhone is hacked, then your photos could already be compromised, and you should avoid recovering them to maintain privacy.
- Many recovery techniques would only work if you had already maintained a backup of your photos earlier.
- Some iPhone photo recovery options can be complicated and tedious to implement for average users.
Part 11: How to Avoid Photo Recovery Scams or Spams?
Since iPhone photo recovery is such a tedious process, a lot of unreliable services also try to scam people by making false promises. Here are some tips to avoid such photo recovery scams or spam.
- Don’t trust any source that claims to recover deleted photos within minutes for free. Most genuine data recovery takes hours.
- Avoid downloads from unknown sources, pop-ups, or ads related to iPhone photo recovery. They can be spams or infect your device.
- Don’t provide remote access to your device or photos to any third-party as they can misuse your data illegally.
- Beware of fake customer reviews on different iPhone recovery apps or services to understand their authenticity.
- Go with trusted and reputed data recovery apps like iSkysoft Toolbox that are professionally reviewed.
- Understand how data recovery works instead of falling for overly simplistic solutions provided by spammers.
- You should never have to pay an upfront fee for photo recovery – Avoid services asking for that.
- Always read the terms, disclaimers, and policies of any data recovery app before trusting it.
By following these basic preventive measures, you can easily avoid spam or unreliable iPhone photo recovery options.
Part 12: Takeaways and Recommendations
Losing photos on your iPhone due to accidental or intentional deletion is a nightmare. Even if you delete them permanently from the gallery or the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder, there are several ways to recover them.
Firstly, you should restore your iPhone from its iCloud or iTunes backup to get back your deleted pictures. You can also use iCloud online portal to view photos that are synced earlier.
In case your photos are deleted permanently without any backup, then use a data recovery tool like iSkysoft Toolbox. It provides a highly reliable solution to extract deleted content from your iPhone’s storage. Just make sure you don’t save anything new on your iPhone to avoid data overwriting.
Furthermore, I would recommend maintaining regular backup of your iPhone and keeping your data synced. You should also take security measures to avoid losing or deleting your photos accidentally in the future. By following the tips and recommendations in this guide, you can easily recover deleted photos from iPhone even after emptying the ‘Recently Deleted’ album.