When you delete a photo from your device, you may wonder where exactly it goes and if it’s really gone forever. The answer depends on where the photo was stored and how you deleted it.
Deleted Photos on Your Smartphone
If you delete a photo that was stored locally on your iPhone or Android smartphone, it isn’t immediately removed from your device. Instead, it’s simply marked as deleted in your phone’s file system. The actual photo file remains on your phone’s storage until that space is needed for new data. At that point, the deleted photo may be overwritten with new data.
So in essence, when you delete a photo on your smartphone, it remains recoverable from the phone’s storage as long as it hasn’t been overwritten. This means third-party data recovery software could potentially recover recently deleted photos, as long as you act before they are overwritten.
Recovering Deleted Photos from a Smartphone
If you need to recover deleted photos from your iPhone or Android phone, you have a few options:
- Use the device’s built-in recovery tools – Some smartphones have built-in utilities to recover recently deleted files. For example, iPhone has a “Recently Deleted” album where deleted photos are stored for 30 days before being permanently deleted.
- Use third-party data recovery software – Apps like iMyFone D-Back for iOS or DiskDigger for Android can scan your phone’s storage and recover deleted photos if they have not yet been overwritten.
- Restore from a backup – If you routinely back up your phone, you may be able to restore deleted photos from a recent backup.
The sooner you act to recover the deleted photos, the better chance you have of getting them back.
Deleted Photos in the Cloud
If your photos were synced to or originally stored in the cloud, such as on Google Photos, iCloud, or Dropbox, the situation is different when you delete them.
Google Photos
With Google Photos, there is a trash folder where deleted photos are stored for 60 days. During this time, you can recover photos from the trash if needed. After 60 days, photos in the trash are permanently deleted.
If you have Google Takeout enabled, your trashed photos remain stored there for the duration specified in your Takeout settings (minimum 3 months). So you may be able to recover deleted cloud-based photos from your Google Takeout archive.
iCloud Photos
When you delete photos that are stored in iCloud, they are moved to the Recently Deleted folder which keeps them for 40 days. You can recover photos from here during that time. After 40 days, the photos are permanently deleted.
An additional safety net for iCloud photos is the ability to restore your entire iCloud photo library from a backup. This lets you “roll back” your photo stream to recover deleted photos within the last 30 days.
Dropbox
Dropbox sends deleted files to its trash folder where they remain for 30 days before being permanently deleted. You can restore photos from the trash during this time. Dropbox also keeps file version history for 30 days or more depending on your account plan. So you may be able to restore previous versions of photos from the version history.
Deleted Photos from Storage Devices
When you delete photos from a storage device like an external hard drive or USB flash drive, the outcome depends on how you deleted them.
Deleting Files Normally
If you simply deleted the photo files normally in your operating system (e.g. Windows Recycle Bin or Mac Trash), then the photos are recoverable using data recovery software until they are overwritten by new data.
Formatting the Storage Device
If you formatted the storage device, this makes future photo recovery much less likely. Formatting wipes out the existing file system and markers used to locate files. However, data recovery software can still potentially recover formatted photos by scanning the raw storage, as long as the deleted photos have not yet been overwritten.
Can Deleted Photos be Recovered Forever?
Deleted photos are only recoverable until they have been overwritten by new data. Once deleted photos have been overwritten even once, they are generally unrecoverable even by professional data recovery services.
So while there are ways to recover recently deleted photos in many cases, the window of opportunity is limited. The sooner you act to recover your deleted photos using the methods described in this article, the more likely you will be able to get them back.
Tips for Minimizing Risk of Losing Photos
To minimize the risk of losing your precious photos forever due to accidental deletion:
- Back up your photos regularly to cloud storage and external drives.
- Enable deleted file recovery options like trash folders where available.
- Use version history/backup features to restore previous versions of your photos.
- Act quickly if you need to recover deleted photos – your window of opportunity is limited.
Can Deleted Photos be Recovered from Social Media?
If you delete photos from a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, can you recover them?
Unfortunately, once you delete photos from social media, they are generally gone for good unless you downloaded copies of them to your device or cloud storage. Social platforms usually provide a limited window where you can “unsend” messages, but this is short – for example, Facebook and Instagram currently give you up to 10 minutes to unsend.
Some social media recovery companies claim they can recover deleted social media photos by accessing cached copies on Instagram or Snapchat’s servers. However, this does not work for content you uploaded – it only can recover things you viewed in the app, which may have been temporarily cached.
So ultimately there is no foolproof way to recover deleted photos from social media. To be safe, make sure to back up photos by downloading them before sharing on social platforms.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos after Factory Reset?
Performing a factory reset or master reset on your smartphone, tablet, computer or other device will completely wipe its storage. This removes all your photos, apps, settings and other personal data.
Is it still possible to recover deleted photos after this type of reset?
Unfortunately, a factory reset makes it nearly impossible for the average user to recover their deleted photos. This process deliberately wipes your device’s data to make it like new. It overwrites the existing files on the storage.
That said, there is a small chance that some data fragments could remain on the storage after a reset. Professional data recovery services use specialized tools to scan the device storage at a low level to search for photo fragments. However, this is expensive, not guaranteed, and only possible if the deleted data has not been overwritten.
So realistically, your photos are almost certainly gone forever after a factory reset. This is why it’s critical to back up your photos regularly before doing any type of reset.
Can You Recover Deleted Photos from a Broken or Dead Phone?
If your phone is broken, damaged or dead entirely, you may think any photos stored on it are lost forever. However, there are still options to recover the photos depending on the specifics of your situation.
Phone with Cracked Screen
If your phone’s screen is cracked or damaged, you may still be able to recover photos from it if the phone still turns on. Try connecting it to a computer and transferring any accessible photos to the computer.
Phone Won’t Turn on
If your phone won’t power on at all, recovery gets trickier. But if you can access the storage, such as by removing it from the phone, you may be able to use data recovery software to scan it and retrieve photos. This works best if the storage is intact.
Water-Damaged Phone
If your phone has water damage and won’t turn on, don’t try charging it as this can cause short circuiting. Dry it thoroughly, then bring it to a phone repair shop to see if they can temporarily power it on to access the photos. If the storage is fried, professional data recovery may be your only hope.
As a last resort, if the phone is dead and you have no backups, check with your phone manufacturer – some keep user data archives that they can recover for you if you have the device’s ID and provide proof of ownership.
The bottom line is don’t give up hope if your phone is damaged. With the right tools and techniques, deleted photos may still be recoverable.
Can Erased Photos be Retrieved?
If your photos were “erased” from a smartphone, computer, external drive or other storage device, this does not necessarily mean they are gone forever. You may still have an opportunity to retrieve them.
When a device erases photos, it simply marks them as deleted and removes access to the files. The actual photo data still remains on the storage media until being overwritten by new data.
Therefore, as long as erased photos have not yet been overwritten, specialized data recovery software can scan the storage and recover the photos by searching for the remnants of deleted data.
However, your chances decrease significantly if:
- The storage has been extensively rewritten with new data since deletion.
- The device was reset to factory settings, which wipes the storage clean.
- The device has physical damage that prevents accessing the storage.
So while erased photos can often be retrieved, try to recover them as soon as possible before they are gone for good.
Conclusion
When you delete or erase photos from your devices, the photos still have a chance of being recovered – but your window of opportunity is limited. Deleted photos remain in temporary holding spots like trash folders at first. But they are permanently deleted over time, usually within 30-60 days. Even more imminent is the risk of deleted photos being overwritten by new data at any time.
To recover deleted photos, quickly attempt to restore them from trash folders, backups and cloud storage. If those options are exhausted, use data recovery software or services to retrieve the photos before they are gone forever.
In the future, you can minimize your risk of losing photos by regularly backing them up to both the cloud and external storage devices. With proper backups, you can comfortably delete photos from your devices while retaining peace of mind.
