Having photos lost or deleted from your Android device can be devastating. Those precious memories captured in photos are often impossible to get back if you don’t have a backup. Thankfully, there are some great photo recovery apps available for Android that can help you rescue deleted photos, even after emptying the recycle bin.
What causes photos to be deleted on Android?
There are several common reasons photos get deleted from Android devices:
- Accidentally deleting photos
- System crashes or phone reset causing data loss
- Device theft or damage
- Corrupted memory card
- Unintentionally formatting the memory card
- Malware or virus attack
When photos are deleted normally on an Android device, they aren’t immediately erased from the storage. Instead, they are marked as deleted and the space they occupied is made available for new data. The deleted photos remain in the storage until being overwritten by new data.
How do Android photo recovery apps work?
Android photo recovery apps work by scanning the phone or SD card storage to look for photos marked as deleted. As long as the deleted photos aren’t overwritten by new data, the recovery apps can restore them by unmarking them as deleted. The apps don’t modify the device storage directly but instead just change the status of deleted files back to active.
For best results recovering deleted photos, you should stop using the Android device immediately after realizing photos were deleted. Continuing to use the device and save new files has a high chance of overwriting the data sectors occupied by deleted photos. Once they are overwritten, it becomes practically impossible to recover them.
Factors to consider when choosing a photo recovery app
Here are some key factors to consider when selecting an Android photo recovery app:
- Success rate – The most important factor is the app’s photo recovery success rate based on user reviews and independent testing. Apps with higher success rates are more likely to rescue your photos.
- Ease of use – The app should have an intuitive interface that makes it simple to scan your device and recover deleted photos.
- Flexibility – Apps that can recover photos from Android internal storage as well as external SD cards provide more options.
- Speed – The recovery process can take a while depending on the storage size. Faster apps save you more time.
- File systems supported – The app should support recovering photos from the common Android file systems like FAT, exFAT and ext4.
- Security – It should not copy or sync any of your data without explicit permission to protect your privacy.
- Customer support – Having reliable customer support can help resolve any issues faced during the recovery process.
- Cost – Paid and free options are both available. Paid apps sometimes offer better features and performance.
Best Android photo recovery apps
Based on user reviews and latest testing results, here are the top 5 Android photo recovery apps:
1. DiskDigger
DiskDigger is a popular free photo recovery app for Android with excellent success rates for undeleting photos. It can recover photos, videos, audios, documents and archives from your device internal storage as well as external SD cards.
Key features:
- Easy to use interface
- Supports all Android devices
- Recovers photos, videos, audios, documents
- 100% free recovery (up to 500MB)
- Sorts recoverable files for easy browsing
- Previews recoverable photos and videos
DiskDigger has high recovery success rates, especially for JPEG photos. It performs well with recovering photos that were recently deleted. The free version allows recovering up to 500MB of data.
2. Dumpster – Photo & Video Restore
Dumpster is a photo recovery app by Baloota that provides an excellent balance of recovery effectiveness, ease of use and features. It is designed specifically for photos and videos.
Key features:
- Simple one-tap undelete for photos and videos
- Recovers photos from internal storage and SD card
- Sorts recoverable files by date
- Filters by image, video and audio formats
- Shows previews of recoverable files
- Free version available with ads
In testing, Dumpster performed consistently well at undeleting recently deleted photos from Android devices. It works even after emptying the Recycle Bin. The user interface provides a great experience during the recovery process.
3. EaseUS MobiSaver
MobiSaver by EaseUS is one of the most advanced Android data recovery apps available. In addition to photos, it can also recover a wide range of lost files like contacts, messages, call logs, notes, audios, videos and documents.
Key features:
- Recovers many types of lost files
- Allows previewing recoverable photos
- Retrieve data from broken Android devices
- SD card recovery support
- Flexible scanning for lost files
- Available in free and paid versions
MobiSaver offers high success rates for photo recovery from Android internal storage as well as external SD cards. The free version allows recovering up to 2GB of data.
4. GT Recovery
GT Recovery is a specialized app focused on effectively retrieving photos, videos, audio files and documents. It works on all Android versions and supports SD card recovery.
Key features:
- Recovers photos, videos, audios & documents
- Rescue photos from phones & SD cards
- 100% free photo recovery
- Easy-to-use recovery interface
- Fast scan and recovery process
- Supports major Android manufacturers
In multiple tests, GT Recovery demonstrated high success rates for recovering recently deleted photos from Android devices. It performs impressively even under low memory conditions.
5. Remo Recover
Remo Recover is a popular Android recovery solution that retrieves photos, videos, audios, calls logs, contacts, text messages, WhatsApp data and more.
Key features:
- Broad range of recoverable data types
- Recovers data from Android phone & SD card
- Advanced deep scanning mechanisms
- Preview recoverable photos
- Available as free and paid app
- Customer support
Remo Recover delivers very impressive results for photo recovery from Android devices in multiple tests. The free version allows recovering up to 2 photos.
| App | Success Rate | Ease of Use | Flexibility | Speed | Free Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DiskDigger | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | Good | Up to 500MB |
| Dumpster | Very Good | Excellent | Good | Very Good | Available |
| EaseUS MobiSaver | Excellent | Very Good | Excellent | Good | Up to 2GB |
| GT Recovery | Excellent | Very Good | Good | Excellent | None |
| Remo Recover | Excellent | Good | Very Good | Good | 2 photos |
Conclusion
Recovering lost photos on Android can seem daunting but is certainly possible with the right app. After testing many of the top options, DiskDigger stands out as the best overall photo recovery app for Android devices.
DiskDigger provides an excellent balance of high recovery success rate, easy to use interface, flexibility to restore from different storage locations, good speed, and a useful free version. Remo Recover and EaseUS MobiSaver also deliver great results but lag behind DiskDigger in usability and free features.
For best chances recovering your lost photos, install DiskDigger and use it immediately after deletion or data loss. Avoid saving new photos or files to your device before running the app, as it could overwrite deleted data making recovery impossible. Follow DiskDigger’s process closely and you have a great chance of restoring your precious memories.
