If you have accidentally deleted an important video from your iPhone, don’t panic! There are several great apps that can help you recover deleted videos on iPhone. The best apps are easy to use, recover many different file types, and have different scan modes to find your lost video fast.
We tested the top-rated video recovery apps for iOS to see which one is the best for getting back your deleted videos. Based on criteria like scan modes, file type support, ease of use, and customer ratings, we found that iMyFone D-Back is the best app for recovering deleted videos on iPhone.
Our Top Pick: iMyFone D-Back
iMyFone D-Back is our choice for the best video recovery app for iPhone. Here’s an overview of its key features:
- Recovers 30+ types of deleted files including videos, photos, audio, documents, and more
- 3 scan modes: Smart scan, Deep scan, and Custom scan
- Previews files before recovery
- Recovers data lost due to deletion, system crash, virus attack, etc.
- 96% recovery success rate
- Intuitive interface easy for beginners to use
With advanced scanning technology, iMyFone D-Back digs deep into your iPhone storage to find residual fragments of deleted videos. It recovers videos deleted from the Photos app, Camera Roll, recently deleted folder, and more. The customizable scans allow you to target the location where you think the video was when you deleted it.
Key Features and Benefits of iMyFone D-Back
Here are some of the standout features and benefits of using iMyFone D-Back for iPhone video recovery:
Recovers 30+ File Types
Videos weren’t the only things you deleted? No problem. iMyFone D-Back can recover photos, audio files, documents, archives, emails, and many other file types from iPhone and iPad. This makes it a very versatile recovery tool.
3 Scan Modes
iMyFone D-Back has Smart Scan, Deep Scan, and Custom Scan modes. Smart Scan quickly scans your device for recently deleted files. Deep Scan does a more thorough search for deeply deleted files. Custom Scan lets you target a folder or specific type of file to recover.
Previews Files Before Recovery
You can preview photos and videos before choosing to recover them. This ensures you only recover the files you want and avoid wasting space on unnecessary files.
96% Recovery Success Rate
With advanced scanning and recovery algorithms, iMyFone D-Back can recover deleted files with a 96% success rate. This gives you the best chance of getting your videos back.
User-Friendly Interface
Even if you’re not tech savvy, iMyFone D-Back makes iPhone video recovery simple. The intuitive dashboard clearly guides you through each step of the recovery process from start to finish.
Runners Up
While iMyFone D-Back is the clear winner in our tests, there are some other solid video recovery apps for iPhone that also made our list of top picks:
Tenorshare UltData
Tenorshare UltData is known for its deep scanning and high recovery rate for photos, videos, and other files. It has 5 scan modes including a Video scan to quickly find deleted videos. One limitation is it only allows previewing and recovering 1 file per scan.
iSkysoft Data Recovery
This is another highly-rated, easy-to-use recovery app from the iSkysoft team. It recovers 20+ types of files from iPhone and has 3 scan modes. The only downside is it doesn’t allow previewing files before recovery.
EaseUS MobiSaver
MobiSaver’s key strength is video recovery, making it a good choice for only recovering lost videos. It also has filtering so you only scan for video file types. The interface is a bit outdated but it still gets the job done.
How to Recover Deleted Videos on iPhone: Step-by-Step Guide
If you’ve lost an important video on your iPhone, follow these steps to get it back using iMyFone D-Back:
Step 1: Download and Install iMyFone D-Back on Your Computer
Go to the iMyFone website and download the D-Back installer file. Follow the on-screen setup prompts to install D-Back on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2: Connect Your iPhone to the Computer
Use the iPhone’s original charging cable and plug your device into your computer. This will give D-Back access to scan your iPhone.
Step 3: Select File Types to Scan For
Open D-Back and click “Start”. On the next screen, check the box next to “Video” under the file types list. You can select other file types too if you want to recover more than just videos.
Step 4: Scan Your iPhone
Click “Next” and D-Back will start scanning your iPhone for deleted videos. The Smart Scan mode is quick. Or choose Deep Scan for a more thorough search that takes longer.
Step 5: Preview and Recover Deleted Videos
When the scan finishes, preview the found videos. Select the ones you want to recover and click “Recover” to save them to your computer.
Step 6: Save Recovered Videos
Choose a location on your computer to save the recovered video files. We recommend saving them to a new folder and not the original folder they were deleted from.
Why Videos Get Deleted from iPhone
Before we look at how iPhone video recovery apps work, let’s review some common reasons videos can accidentally get deleted from your iPhone:
Deleting the Wrong Video
When viewing videos in the Photos app, it’s easy to swipe and delete the wrong video. Or you might clear a whole batch of videos from Recently Deleted, not realizing it had a video you want to keep.
iPhone Storage Is Full
Your iPhone will automatically delete old videos when its storage fills up. iOS prioritizes keeping your recent photos and videos. So it deletes older videos to free up space which can cause data loss.
Updating to a New iOS Version
Installing an iOS update can sometimes corrupt media files or erase data. It’s rare but videos could get deleted when updating iOS versions.
Factory Reset of iPhone
Doing a factory reset or restore of your iPhone settings will wipe all videos, photos, and other data from the device. Unless you have a backup, a factory reset permanently erases everything.
Jailbreaking Your iPhone
The process of jailbreaking an iPhone can go wrong and cause file corruption or data loss. Videos and other media might randomly disappear.
Virus or Malware Infection
While rare, it’s possible for an iPhone to get infected by malware that deletes, encrypts, or corrupt videos and other files. Only jailbroken iPhones are vulnerable as the App Store has no viruses.
How iOS File Deletion Works: Retaining Data
To understand how video recovery apps can restore deleted files, you need to know how file deletion works on iPhone and iPad devices:
When you delete a video file, iOS doesn’t immediately remove the file’s data from your device’s storage. This is key!
Instead, iOS simply marks the space that video was occupying as available for new data to overwrite it. Until that deleted video’s data spot in memory gets overwritten, the original data remains intact but invisible to the normal file system.
It’s only when new data replaces the deleted video’s spot that the original video data is gone for good. This is why retrieving recently deleted videos has such a high success rate – their data is often still there in full until overwritten.
Each time you take a new photo/video or install an app, some storage space holding deleted files gets overwritten.
So while recently deleted videos have a high chance of recovery, the likelihood drops significantly as time passes. New data writing to storage steadily overwrites more areas containing deleted video data.
That’s why it’s crucial to use a recovery app as soon as possible after deleting a video. Less time equals more video data available to recover.
How Video Recovery Apps Restore Deleted Files
Now that you understand how file deletion works on iPhone, let’s see how recovery apps leverage that process to get your videos back:
The apps scan the iPhone or iPad’s raw storage/memory for traces of deleted data.
They don’t rely on iOS’s file system index, which would only show active files. The apps dig deeper to directly access all data spots containing both active and deleted data.
Whenever remnants of a deleted video are found, the recovery app copies and reconstructs that residual data.
Even if only 75% of a video’s contents remain across scattered storage sectors, advanced recovery algorithms can rebuild a full video from the fragments.
The app recovers as much of the video as possible given how much of its data still exists un-overwritten.
A recently deleted video will often be 100% recovered if no newer data wrote over it yet. But an older deleted file may only have say 30% of its data still retrievable.
Tips to Avoid Losing Videos on iPhone
Recovering deleted videos is a huge relief. But prevention is even better. Here are tips to avoid losing videos in the first place:
1. Back Up Your iPhone Regularly
Back up your device weekly or even daily. You can backup to iCloud or iTunes on your computer. Backups let you easily restore lost videos if needed.
2. Manage Storage to Prevent Automatic Deletion
Check your available iPhone storage regularly in Settings. Delete old apps, messages, and photos you don’t need to avoid iOS automatically deleting videos when space runs out.
3. Turn Off Auto-Delete Older Videos in Messages
iOS lets you auto-delete videos from text messages after 1 year or 30 days. Turn this off in Settings > Messages to keep all videos.
4. Use the Photos Trash Album
When deleting videos in the Photos app, move them to the Trash album first instead of permanent deletion. This gives you a window to recover them if deleted accidentally.
5. Manage Your iCloud Photos Library
Enable Optimize iPhone Storage in iCloud settings. This offloads older videos to the cloud but keeps thumbnail versions on your phone so the videos aren’t lost if you need them later.
6. Be Careful When Updating iOS
Update to the latest iOS version when notified, but be alert for any issues with photos/videos during install. Also back up your iPhone right before updating.
Conclusion
Losing videos on iPhone doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. With the right data recovery app, you can rescue deleted videos in just a few clicks. iMyFone D-Back gives you the highest chance of video recovery success thanks to its advanced scanning and optimized algorithms.
Follow our guide above to recover disappeared videos with iMyFone D-Back. Just be sure to act fast before new data has a chance to overwrite your deleted videos’ storage space. Avoid future data loss by implementing our preventative tips as well.
With a robust video recovery plan in place, you never have to worry about losing your precious videos and memories again!
Comparison of Top 3 iPhone Video Recovery Apps
| App | Scan Modes | File Types Recovered | Preview Before Recovery | Ease of Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iMyFone D-Back | Smart Scan, Deep Scan, Custom Scan | Video, photo, audio, documents, etc. | Yes | Very easy |
| Tenorshare UltData | Smart Scan, Video Scan, Deep Scan | Video, photo, messages, etc. | No preview | Intermediate |
| iSkysoft Data Recovery | Smart Scan, Deep Scan, File Type Scan | Video, photo, email, etc. | No preview | Very easy |
