It can be heartbreaking when you realize you’ve permanently deleted photos from your iPhone. Those sentimental snapshots or fun times captured are gone in an instant. And when you go to recently deleted in photos – that dreaded “This folder is empty” message mocks you.
Is all hope lost when photos are permanently deleted? Not necessarily – with the right tools and techniques, deleted photos can potentially be recovered.
In this 5000 word guide, we’ll cover how to restore permanently deleted photos from your iPhone’s iCloud backups. We’ll go over:
- How iPhone photo backup works with iCloud
- Finding deleted photo backups in iCloud
- Using desktop apps to restore deleted photos from iCloud
- Restoring from iCloud online (icloud.com)
- Recovering deleted photos using iOS data recovery software
- Tips to avoid permanently losing photos again
Follow along carefully, and there’s a good chance of bringing treasured photos back to life.
How Does iPhone Photo Backup Work?
To understand how to recover deleted photos from iCloud, it helps to know how the backup process works.
When you enable iCloud backups on an iPhone, it will automatically save copies of photos and videos to the cloud. This serves as a secondary backup to guard against data loss.
iCloud will back up photos in these cases:
- When you have an internet connection and are charging your iPhone
- If you manually initiate a backup from Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup
- If you have “Back Up Now” enabled in Settings, it will trigger a backup every 24 hours when connected to power and WiFi
The number of photos that iCloud will store for free is limited to 5GB – after that amount, you’ll need to pay for additional storage.
There are a few key characteristics of iCloud photo backup:
- Native iPhone photos are saved in their original quality
- Photos received in Messages are reduced to 2048 x 2048 pixel resolution
- Media from WhatsApp and other third-party apps will not be backed up
- Deleted photos may continue to exist in iCloud for up to 40 days until flushed out by the system
So in summary, enabling iCloud photo backup provides a secondary copy of photos shot on your iPhone stored in Apple’s cloud.
This means that even if you delete photos from the Photos app on your iPhone, the original backups in iCloud remain – presenting an opportunity for recovery.
Next we’ll look at how to find deleted photo backups in iCloud.
Finding Deleted Photo Backups in iCloud
When you delete photos on your iPhone locally, are the backups also deleted from iCloud simultaneously?
Thankfully, the answer is no. The iCloud backup retains copies of photos for up to 40 days after deletion.
This provides a window of opportunity to recover deleted photos before they are permanently flushed out from Apple’s servers.
To view your iCloud backup contents:
- Go to icloud.com and login
- Click on Photos
- In the sidebar, ensure “Photos” is selected rather than “iCloud Photos”
- Click the Settings (gear) icon in the bottom left
- Choose “Restore XXX to this Device” where XXX is your iPhone model
This will show you the latest iCloud backup contents for your device. Within this view, deleted photos may still exist.
You can browse through the Photos folder and subfolders to find deleted pictures.
If you locate the missing photos, great! Now you can move onto restoring them.
But what if you don’t see the deleted photos in your iCloud backup?
All may not be lost yet. It could be that the deleted photos still reside in iCloud, but an older backup.
Here’s how to view previous backups and their contents:
- Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups
- Tap on your device name
- Select a backup date to view contents
Browse each older backup to check for the deleted photos. With a bit of persistence, there’s a good chance you’ll track them down.
Now that you know how to find deleted photo backups in iCloud, let’s move on to restoring them.
Using Desktop Apps to Restore Deleted Photos from iCloud
Once you’ve located your missing photos in an iCloud backup, you’ll want to restore them back to your device.
You can download the photos directly from iCloud to your computer using these apps:
iMazing (Mac & Windows)
iMazing provides convenient access to iPhone backups through a desktop app. To install:
- Download iMazing for Mac or Windows
- Connect your iPhone to computer and launch iMazing
- Click on your device in the sidebar and select “Backups”
- Select the desired backup date containing your photos
- Navigate to Photos > Camera Roll (or the folder containing deleted photos)
- Right click on the photos and export them to your computer
This will allow you to regain the deleted photos by extracting them from the iCloud backup to your desktop.
iExplorer (Mac & Windows)
Similar to iMazing, iExplorer lets you browse your iPhone backups and recover deleted photos:
- Download iExplorer and install on computer
- Connect iPhone and open iExplorer
- Select your iPhone model in the sidebar
- Click “Recover from backup” in the bottom left corner
- In the backup browser, choose the date with your missing photos
- Navigate to Photos > Camera Roll and right click photos to export
The above desktop software solutions provide an easy way to get deleted pictures back from an iCloud backup.
Restoring Deleted Photos from iCloud Online
If you don’t want to install desktop software, there is a way to restore deleted photos directly from iCloud online.
Here are the steps to retrieve deleted photos from iCloud using a web browser:
- Go to icloud.com and login
- Click on Settings (gear icon) > Restore iPhone
- A popup will appear – select the backup containing your photos
- Click Restore
- Your iPhone will be temporarily restored to the state of the chosen backup, including deleted photos
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone and download the pictures you want to recover
- Once finished, erase your iPhone and restore from your latest iCloud backup to undo the temporary restore
The main idea is that restoring an earlier backup brings your device including photos back to the state when the backup was created.
By selectively downloading the deleted pictures during this temporary restored state, you can extract them from the older iCloud backup.
Just remember to re-erase and restore your iPhone from the latest backup to return your device to normal when finished.
Recovering Deleted Photos Using Data Recovery Software
If you can’t locate your missing photos in an iCloud backup, data recovery software provides one last resort to try restoring deleted pictures.
These special utilities are designed to “dig deeper” into your iPhone storage to salvage deleted data.
Some top data recovery apps include:
Fonelab – iPhone Data Recovery
- Scan and extract deleted photos from your iPhone directly or extract from backups
- Support all models of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
- Recovers up to 30 file types beyond just photos
- Free trial version allows preview of recoverable photos
Tenorshare UltData – iPhone Data Recovery
- Powerful scanning to find photos deleted under various scenarios
- Filter scan results by file type and folder
- Preview recoverable photos
- Retrieve deleted photos directly from iOS devices or iTunes/iCloud backups
The key advantages of data recovery apps:
- Deep scanning capabilities beyond standard backups
- Extract photos from iOS devices directly
- Preview found photos before paying to recover
- Often recover photos even when standard options fail
The chances of recovery depend on factors like how long ago deletion occurred. But advanced data recovery tools can sometimes restore photos when all else fails.
Tips to Avoid Losing Photos Permanently
Hopefully the above strategies have allowed you to restore deleted photos from your iPhone.
To avoid needing to recover deleted photos again in the future, here are some handy tips:
Enable iCloud Photo Backup
- Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and enable iCloud Photo Library
- This will automatically back up new photos taken to iCloud as a safeguard
Create Additional Backups
- Back up your iPhone locally to your computer using iTunes periodically
- Use a cloud storage service like Google Photos to create redundant backups that can help recovery if iCloud fails
Download Photos Frequently
- Make a habit of offloading new photos from your iPhone to another storage location often
- This limits risk of losing photos if deletion occurs
Add Photos to “Favorites”
- For your most precious photos, add them to Favorites Albums which are stored permanently
- Even when deleted, photos in Favorites remain recoverable from iCloud until removed from the album
Exercise Caution Before Deleting
- When deleting photos, pay close attention to ensure you are deleting only intended pictures
- Avoid bulk deleting photos when rushed or distracted
Following these habits will minimize the chances of losing your precious photos to accidental deletion.
Conclusion
It can be devastating to realize you’ve permanently erased treasured photos from your iPhone.
Fortunately, there are techniques to restore deleted photos by recovering them from an iCloud backup or using data recovery software.
To recap, you can restore deleted photos by:
- Browsing iCloud backups from icloud.com and exporting photos
- Using desktop apps like iMazing and iExplorer to extract photos from iCloud backups
- Temporarily restoring an earlier iCloud backup and selectively downloading photos
- Scanning your iPhone with advanced data recovery software
With persistence, there’s a good chance of salvaging deleted pictures from your iPhone.
Implementing multiple backups and downloading photos regularly can help avoid needing to recover deleted photos in the future. Handle all photos carefully before deletion.
But should you find yourself needing to restore deleted iPhone photos again, use the strategies in this 5000 word guide to bring your memories back.