If you’ve recently upgraded your phone or switched to a new device, you may be wondering what happened to your old photos that were stored in the gallery. With modern smartphones having built-in cameras and plentiful storage, it’s easy to build up a large collection of photos over time. But when you get a new phone, what happens to all those old memories? Here are some tips for locating your gallery photos from an old device.
Check your old phone
The most obvious place to look for your old gallery photos is on your previous phone. If you still have your old device, turn it on and open up the gallery app. This is where photos used to be stored by default on most phones. Scroll through the albums and folders to see if your photos are still available on the device’s internal storage.
One exception is if you regularly backed up your photos to the cloud using a service like Google Photos. In that case, you may have to reinstall the app on your old phone and sign into your account to access the cloud backups. We’ll cover recovering cloud backups in more detail later.
Transfer from SIM card or SD card
Many phones let you store photos on an external SIM card or SD card. If you had this set up on your old device, remove the card and insert it into your new phone. The gallery photos stored on that external card should then be accessible from the new device.
You can use a SIM card adapter to insert a smaller SIM into a larger phone slot if needed. For SD cards, you may need an adapter to transfer photos from older SD formats like mini or micro SD. Once connected, the photos should appear in your new phone’s local storage or gallery.
Import from cloud backup
If you previously backed up your phone’s photos and data to the cloud, you can download your gallery pictures to the new device. Here are some popular cloud services and how to restore from them:
Google Photos
- Install the Google Photos app on your new Android phone or iPhone.
- Sign into your Google account that was linked to your old device.
- Your backed-up gallery photos should appear in the app and be downloadable to the new phone.
iCloud Photos
- Make sure you’re signed into your Apple ID on the new iPhone.
- Open the Photos app and turn on iCloud Photos.
- Your iCloud-backed up photos will sync from the cloud to the device.
OneDrive
- Get the OneDrive app on your new phone and sign in.
- Navigate to the photo folder linked to your old device.
- You can download the photos individually or in bulk to the new phone.
For other cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, you can use the same process of installing the app, signing in, and locating the synced gallery photos from your old device.
Recover from backup
If your photos weren’t saved anywhere else, you may need to restore a full system backup from your old phone to access the gallery again. This process varies by device:
iPhone
- Connect the old iPhone to a computer with iTunes installed.
- On iTunes, select the device, then choose to restore from an iCloud or computer backup.
- After restoration, the phone should have your old gallery photos again.
Android
- On the old device, find the system backup in Settings > System > Backup.
- Select Restore to bring back your data, apps and photos.
- Alternatively, use phone manufacturer tools like Samsung Smart Switch to restore a backup.
This will overwrite all the data on your old phone, but allows you to retrieve archived gallery contents that may be inaccessible otherwise.
Extract from device storage
If you can’t power on your old phone or access its storage directly, you may need to remove the storage drive and connect it to a computer. Here’s how for common phone types:
iPhone
- Remove the SIM card tray from an older iPhone.
- Carefully pry up the screen and disconnect the battery cable.
- Unscrew and disconnect the storage chip to insert into a USB drive reader.
- Plug into a computer to browse the contents and copy your photo folders.
Android
- Open the phone case and locate the microSD card slot if one exists.
- Carefully remove the card and insert it into your computer’s SD card reader.
- For internal storage, you may need to disconnect the memory chip and link it via a USB adapter.
- Explorer the storage drives and copy over any photo folders you find.
While tricky, this method can directly access photo archives from an old damaged or deactivated phone. Just take care when handling delicate internal components.
Recover deleted photos
If your photos were accidentally deleted from your old phone, there are a few last resort methods to try recovering them:
- Use data recovery software like Recuva or Stellar Photo to scan your old phone’s storage drive and find recoverable image files.
- Some Android photo apps like Google Photos retain deleted items in a trash folder that can be restored.
- On an iPhone, a hard reset immediately after deletion may recover deleted photos by stopping file overwrite.
- There are professional data recovery services that can dig deep to extract deleted photos, but they can be expensive.
While recovering deleted photos is hit-or-miss, it’s worth a shot if you have irreplaceable images you fear are gone for good.
Migrate using a transfer cable
For easy gallery transfers when upgrading phones, use the manufacturer’s connector cable and migration app. Examples:
- iPhone to iPhone – Use included Lightning cable and Quick Start app.
- Samsung to Samsung – Connect with USB-C cable and Smart Switch app.
- Google Pixel – Connect with Pixel cable and Migrate tool.
The apps walk you through transferring over accounts, apps, settings, and photos. For iPhones, Quick Start transfers photos if iCloud backup is disabled. For optimal results, update both phones and backup the old one first.
Copy to a computer first
If you don’t have a suitable transfer cable or app, move your photos to a computer before installing them on the new phone. Here’s how:
- Connect your old phone to your computer via USB and allow data access.
- Open the DCIM or Camera Roll folders to find your stored photos.
- Select and copy the folders with your images to save them to the computer.
- Now on the new phone, connect to the same computer and paste the photos over.
This manual approach works as long as you have connection cables for both devices. You can also upload to cloud storage from the computer and download on the new phone.
Check other paired devices
If your old phone used to auto-backup photos to other linked devices, you may find copies of your gallery there:
- Tablets or media players – Check internal storage or memory card.
- Digital cameras – Photos may be saved if camera was linked.
- Smart TVs – Some Samsung TVs automatically back up phones.
- Game consoles – The Nintendo Switch can import device photos.
- GPS devices – Certain Garmin GPS units can sync galleries.
Your photo archive may still reside untouched on one of these overlooked connected devices all this time.
Search social media & cloud sites
If you frequently shared phone photos online, you may be able to recover them from the services you uploaded to:
- Facebook – Visit your profile and view your past uploaded photos.
- Instagram – Check your media archive and downloads.
- Twitter – Navigate to your media tweets and download images.
- Flickr, SmugMug – Photos here are stored in your account.
- Dropbox, OneDrive – Photo folder may contain uploads.
- Google Photos – All uploads are saved unless deleted.
Many other sites like Imgur and Photobucket also allow you to browse your image uploads. Just be aware of download limits if retrieving numerous photos.
Ask friends & family
If you previously shared your phone photos with others, reach out and ask them to check if they still have copies saved:
- Texted photos – Friends may still have pictures you sent in text conversations.
- Email attachments – Recipients could have kept photos you emailed.
- WhatsApp, Messenger – Images shared via messaging apps may be available.
- Shared photo streams – Albums shared over iCloud or Google Photos.
- Airdropped files – Photos shared locally by iPhone users nearby.
Provided you’ve stayed in touch with relevant people, they may be able to share back some of your nostalgic gallery contents that got saved or backed up on their end.
Check photo storage & backup devices
If you used physical media to store photos from your old phone, revisit those original sources:
- External drives – Connect old USB drives or hard disks.
- Burned discs – Try DVDs or even CDs if used long ago.
- Memory cards – Check SD cards used with your phone.
- Photo printers – Photos printed directly from your phone.
- Photo books – Custom books created from your gallery.
Depending on how long ago your old phone was used, the photos may exist on relatively modern or quasi-archaic storage media. But it’s worth digging through your tech graveyard for that SD card or disc stack on the off chance your photos are hiding there.
Hire professional photo recovery
If you’ve exhausted all self-help options without success, consider enlisting professional photo recovery services. Experts have access to advanced data recovery tools and techniques that may be able to retrieve your photos when all else fails.
Photo recovery pros can help with scenarios like:
- Fixing phones that won’t turn on or have failed storage.
- Extracting data from seriously corrupted devices.
- Bypassing password locks and encryption.
- Accessing proprietary app databases and cloud backups.
- Recovering photos after a system reset or OS update.
The downside is the high cost, with pricing often starting around $300 and exceeding $1000. But for truly irreplaceable photos, the expense may be justified if no other DIY option can bring them back.
Let some photos remain memories
After exhausting all potential avenues, you ultimately have to make peace with the fact that some old photos may be lost forever. As frustrating as that is, there can also be an upside when it comes to nostalgia.
Those random silly selfies or blurry pet pics may not have seemed significant at the time. But losing access to them now evokes a sort of nostalgic mystique. The photos take on an elevated significance when they exist only in your memories.
Allow yourself to feel wistful for the old photos that got left behind in the phone upgrade. But also take comfort knowing the images live on in your mind, where they started. The imperfect gallery may be gone, but the perfect reminisces remain.
Conclusion
Recovering your photo collection from an old phone or gallery can take some work. But using backup services, cloud storage, file transfers, and recovery tools, you have a decent chance of tracking down those lost snapshots again. And if some photos can’t be retrieved, they still contribute to your life story through the memories they created.