When you delete a photo from your phone, it doesn’t necessarily disappear completely. Deleted photos can still exist in a few different storage locations on your device. Understanding where deleted photos may be hiding can help you permanently remove sensitive images or recover photos you wish you hadn’t deleted.
Why do deleted photos still exist on my phone?
When you delete a photo, the link between the photo file and the phone’s directory is removed. This means your phone acts like the photo doesn’t exist anymore. However, the actual photo file itself is often left untouched. The storage space it occupies is simply marked as available to be overwritten by new data.
There are a few reasons deleted photos may continue to be stored on your device:
- The area of storage the photo file exists on has not been overwritten yet. Until new data replaces deleted photos, they remain in storage.
- The photo may exist in multiple locations, like the phone’s internal storage as well as the SD card. Deleting it from the gallery does not remove all instances of that file.
- Some system processes automatically create backups of photos in cache folders or storage pools, even when deleted from the main gallery.
Essentially, unless you intentionally overwrite the storage space a deleted photo occupies, or wipe that section of the phone’s memory completely, remnants of deleted photos tend to persist.
Where are deleted photos stored on Android phones?
There are several locations where copies of deleted photos may still exist on an Android device:
Device Storage/Internal Memory
When you delete a photo through the gallery on an Android phone, it is removed from the main internal storage or device memory. However, the actual photo file may remain in the same root folder (such as DCIM) until overwritten.
SD Card
If photos were saved to an SD card, deleting them from the gallery will not remove them from the external SD card. The photo files will remain stored there until replaced by new data or if the card is formatted.
Cache Folders
Many apps create local cache folders to temporarily store copies of photos you access through them. For example, the WhatsApp cache, Instagram cache, etc. will retain deleted photos in these folders even when deleted from the main gallery.
App Backups
Some apps automatically back up photos to cloud storage or other areas of local phone storage. For example, Google Photos backups can retain deleted photos for up to 60 days. App backups to the Android device internal storage may also keep copies.
Trash/Recycle Bin
Android does not have a main trash or recycle bin for deleted files. However, some photo gallery and file manager apps implement their own trash that can retain deleted photos until emptied.
System Recovery Partitions
Android system processes automatically create cached backups of photos in certain system recovery partitions and storage pools. These are not accessible through the regular file directory but still contain deleted photo files.
Where are deleted photos stored on iPhones?
Here are some of the locations deleted photos may continue to exist on iPhones and other iOS devices:
Recently Deleted Album
The Photos app on iPhones includes a Recently Deleted album that retains any photos deleted through the app for up to 40 days. This serves as the main recycle bin for deleted images.
iCloud Backups
If you have iCloud backups enabled, your deleted photos may continue to exist in your iCloud storage for various periods:
- iCloud Photos – Keeps deleted photos for 40 days
- iCloud Backup – Keeps deleted photos for 120 days
ITunes & Finder Backups
When you connect an iPhone to a computer and do a local backup via iTunes or Finder, deleted photos can remain in the backup archives stored on the computer.
Local Storage
If you manually transferred photos from the iPhone storage to a computer, the photo files will remain in the DCIM folder on the iPhone until overwritten even when deleted from the Photos app.
Trash Bin
Some third party file manager apps for iOS provide their own Trash feature that can retain deleted photos until the Trash is emptied.
How long are deleted photos stored for?
In general, deleted photos will remain in storage locations like cache folders and backups anywhere from 30-60 days. However, in some cases they can exist much longer if the storage space is not reused by new data:
- Device internal storage – Can persist indefinitely until storage is overwritten
- SD card – Store indefinitely until SD card is formatted
- iCloud backup – Up to 120 days
- iTunes/Finder backup – Indefinitely until backup is deleted
- App cache – Varies, but usually 30-90 days
So while most deleted photos are removed from view instantly when you hit delete, they can continue occupying storage space for months if you don’t intentionally overwrite the data.
When are deleted photos permanently deleted?
For all deleted photos and files to be permanently gone from a phone, the relevant storage areas need to be intentionally overwritten by new data or purposefully wiped. Here are some cases where deleted photos are permanently removed:
- When new apps, photos, videos and files save to the same location on device storage, overwriting the deleted photo’s data clusters.
- Formatting the internal device storage or external SD card erases all previous data.
- Performing a factory reset erases all locally saved apps, photos, files on internal device storage.
- Reaching the maximum duration photos are kept in iCloud or app backup systems leads to permanent deletion.
- Manually clearing out app caches and trash bins holding on to deleted photos.
Unless the above steps are taken, there’s always a chance deleted photos continue to exist in some storage location on a phone. Taking proactive measures can ensure sensitive deleted photos are permanently removed.
How can I recover deleted photos?
If you accidentally deleted an important photo, you may be able to retrieve it from one of the storage locations it still exists in:
Android File Recovery
- Use free software like DiskDigger to scan internal memory and recover deleted photos from main storage.
- Try a file recovery app to rescue deleted photos from SD cards.
- Check if gallery apps like Google Photos retained the image in cloud backups and restore from there.
iPhone Photo Recovery
- View the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app and restore photos from there.
- Use a Mac or PC to access iCloud or iTunes backups that may contain the deleted photo.
- Try iPhone data recovery software that scans all storage locations for recoverable photo files.
If you act quickly while deleted photos still reside in temporary storage areas, recovery is often possible. However, the sooner you attempt to recover them, the higher the chances of success.
How do I permanently delete photos from my phone?
To ensure complete removal of sensitive or embarrassing photos on your phone so they cannot be forensically recovered, you need to overwrite storage the photo files exist in. Some options to accomplish this include:
Android Photo Shredding
- Use recovery software like DiskDigger to locate and delete sensitive photos from device folders like DCIM.
- Format the phone’s internal storage to overwrite all existing data.
- Do a factory reset to wipe all locally stored apps, system data, photos, files.
- Delete the photo, then fill up remaining storage with new files to overwrite old clusters.
iPhone Photo Shredding
- Disable iCloud backups, delete the photo everywhere, then re-enable backups to exclude it.
- Delete photo, do an iCloud backup, then delete backup from iCloud.
- Use a “secure delete” app that overwrites system storage slots occupied by the photo.
Be aware that forensic data recovery methods can still potentially extract deleted files from phone memory in some cases. But the above steps make it much harder to salvage deleted photos.
Conclusion
While deleting photos removes them from view in phone galleries, the actual photo files frequently continue occupying storage space until overwritten. Photos may reside in app caches, backups, device folders and more even after deletion. To recover deleted photos, storage locations like cloud backups should be checked quickly before they get permanently removed. For privacy, permanent deletion requires intentionally overwriting storage spaces where photo data resides.