Losing photos from your phone or camera can be devastating. Those precious memories and moments gone in an instant. But before you give up hope, it’s worth trying a photo recovery app. Modern software has gotten incredibly sophisticated at rescuing deleted or lost photos.
Can you recover deleted photos?
The short answer is yes, deleted photos can often be recovered using the right software. When you delete a photo from your device, it isn’t instantly erased from existence. The operating system simply marks the space where the photo is stored as available for new data. The original photo data remains on your device until it gets overwritten by something else.
A photo recovery app scans your device and looks for photo data that is marked as deleted but still exists in full or partial form. It can then rebuild the photo file so you can access it again.
Do photo recovery apps actually work?
Photo recovery apps use advanced techniques to find and restore your lost images. Features like:
- Scanning both internal and external memory for photo data
- Supporting all major image and video file formats
- Recovery from damaged or corrupted storage devices
- Retrieving photos even after a factory reset
The most effective apps invest heavily in research and development to improve their photo recovery algorithms. While no program can recover every single lost image, the best ones have recovery rates of over 95-98% in most cases.
Factors that affect photo recovery effectiveness
There are a few key factors that determine how likely a photo recovery app is able to restore your lost photos:
Cause of photo loss
How you lost the photos in the first place impacts recovery potential. Deleted photos have the highest chance of being rescued. Corrupted photos or those lost due to a damaged storage device are trickier but often still recoverable. Photos you lost long ago or overwrote multiple times are much harder to get back.
Device type and storage medium
Where the photos were stored matters too. For example, photos deleted from a memory card have better recovery odds than those deleted from a phone’s internal storage. And solid state drives are more challenging than traditional hard drives when it comes to data recovery.
Time since photo loss
The longer ago photos were deleted or lost, the more likely the storage space has been overwritten by new data. Recovering recently lost photos yields better success rates.
App capabilities and skills
All photo recovery apps are not created equal. A more advanced app with better scanning and analytical capabilities will outperform a basic, limited program.
Top 5 photo recovery apps
If you need to rescue lost or deleted photos, these five photo recovery apps deliver the best results across different devices and situations:
| App | Key Features |
|---|---|
| Disk Drill |
|
| Stellar Photo Recovery |
|
| Remo Photo Recovery |
|
| EaseUS Data Recovery |
|
| PhotoRec |
|
Disk Drill
Disk Drill tops most lists of best photo recovery software, and for good reason. It packs professional-grade data recovery into an easy-to-use application for Windows and Mac. Disk Drill can rescue over 200 different file types from hard drives, external disks, memory cards, smartphones, cameras, and more. It offers several advanced recovery features, including deleted partition finding and reconstructing lost directories.
We like Disk Drill because of its combination of power and simplicity. Recovering photos is straightforward – just scan and preview recoverable images with one click. Yet the software still enables deep scanning of drives to pull damaged or complex files. Disk Drill has both a free Basic version and Premium and Enterprise upgrades that add extra features. This makes it accessible even if you just need a quick photo recovery job done.
Stellar Photo Recovery
Developed by data recovery veterans Stellar, this software focuses solely on getting back lost or deleted photos, videos, and audio files. Stellar Photo Recovery comprehensively scans all device storage to find multimedia files that are otherwise inaccessible. One of its highlight features is deep scanning, which thoroughly searches entire drives sector-by-sector to recover images that don’t show up during quick scans.
We recommend Stellar Photo Recovery if you have a substantial number of photos to restore, especially from devices with lots of storage space like computers. Its media recovery algorithms are optimized based on years of R&D experience. And the software works just as well for iPhone and Android photo recovery too.
Remo Photo Recovery
Remo makes our list for its specialization in picture recovery. This app is designed exclusively to recover photos, videos, and raw image files from hard drives, memory cards, drones, cameras, smartphones, and other media. Despite its focus on photos, Remo Photo Recovery supports over 1000 different file types with advanced recovery algorithms.
Remo wins points for its extremely intuitive and user-friendly interface. Recovering photos takes just a few clicks – perfect if you’re not very tech-savvy. Extra tools like memory card data recovery, express photo recovery, and video repair sweeten the deal. Remo Photo Recovery supports both Windows and Mac operating systems.
EaseUS Data Recovery
The aptly named EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard contains everything you need to rescue lost files from Windows PCs and Macs in one centralized interface. It can recover over 1000 file types – not just photos but also documents, audio, video, compressed files, emails, and more. This makes EaseUS a versatile data recovery solution.
We appreciate that EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard keeps things simple even as it recovers data from complex cases like formatted drives, RAW drives, lost partitions, virus attacks, and incomplete backups. It allows you to preview files before recovering them. An optional free trial lets you test out the software at no cost before purchasing.
PhotoRec
For a free, open source photo recovery option, PhotoRec is hard to beat. It’s designed by the same developers behind the renowned data recovery app TestDisk. PhotoRec bypasses the operating system file structure and extracts media files directly from devices byte by byte. This allows it to restore photos and videos even if partitions are formatted or corrupted.
Consider PhotoRec if you want a free photo recovery solution without ads or upgrade nags. Keep in mind that as open source software, the interface is less intuitive than paid commercial apps. But for the price, PhotoRec is incredibly effective at data recovery under Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Choosing the best photo recovery app
The most effective photo recovery app depends on your specific needs:
- Ease of use – If you want a streamlined interface, choose Disk Drill or Remo Photo Recovery.
- Advanced recovery – For greater scanning power, try Stellar Photo Recovery or Disk Drill.
- Affordability – PhotoRec is free. Disk Drill and EaseUS offer free trial versions.
- Smartphone recovery – Remo and Disk Drill excel at mobile photo recovery.
- Versatility – EaseUS recovers many file types beyond just photos.
Evaluate your situation carefully to select recovery software that aligns with your requirements and technical capabilities.
Tips for successful photo recovery
Follow these tips to maximize your chances of completely restoring lost photos with a recovery app:
- Act quickly after photo loss and avoid using the device to prevent overwriting.
- Scan the source storage completely – don’t just preview what photos are recoverable.
- Save recovered photos onto another device or external storage, not the original.
- Use data recovery software only from well-known, reputable vendors.
- Don’t recover files onto the freshly formatted device they came from.
Can you recover old deleted photos?
If photos were deleted a long time ago, recovery becomes much harder but is sometimes still possible in fragments. Photo recovery software has better chances retrieving old deleted pictures if:
- The device hasn’t been actively used since deletion, minimizing overwrites.
- You used a digital camera or removable storage rather than internal phone/PC memory.
- The device file system or operating system hasn’t changed since deletion.
Advanced recovery apps that do deep scanning offer the best hope for pulling old deleted photos from the far corners of storage that might still contain traces.
Is photo recovery worth trying?
Photo recovery software provides the best chance of getting back lost images that would otherwise be gone forever. The right app can bring back your precious memories even if you deleted them or suffered drive corruption, damage, or errors. Photo recovery is always worth at least attempting as long as you use reputable software and don’t overwrite the device.
Conclusion
Recovering deleted or lost photos often seems hopeless. However, advanced photo recovery apps use clever techniques to rescue images even if you can’t access them through normal methods. When combined with prompt action after photo loss and proper usage, photo recovery success rates can be as high as 95-98%.
We recommend starting with a scan using a top-rated recovery app like Disk Drill, Stellar Photo Recovery, or Remo Photo Recovery. Even retrieving some fragmented photos is better than none. Just be sure to use read-only recovery to avoid overwriting the lost pictures further before restoration.
While no technology yet exists to recover every single lost photo in original quality, photo recovery apps are the closest thing we have. Give one a try the next time you lose precious memories and be pleasantly surprised at how many images you can get back.
