It can be frustrating when albums containing photos or videos suddenly go missing from your iPhone or iPad. The Photos app has a Recently Deleted folder that stores deleted media for 30 days before being permanently erased. However, sometimes this album seems to disappear, making it appear photos are deleted forever. There are several potential reasons an album may no longer show in Recently Deleted. This content examines the common causes and solutions to restore missing deleted albums on iPhone and iPad.
Checking Recently Deleted Folder
The Recently Deleted folder on the iPhone is where deleted photos and videos are temporarily stored for up to 30 days before being permanently erased. To access the Recently Deleted folder:
Launch the Photos app from the Home screen. Tap “Albums” at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down until you find the “Recently Deleted” album.
The Recently Deleted folder contains photos and videos that have been deleted within the last 30 days. Media files deleted from the Camera Roll, individual albums, or your iCloud Photo Library will all appear in this ‘deleted files’ album. So if you accidentally deleted an album, it should be recoverable from the Recently Deleted folder as long as 30 days have not passed (via Where Is “Recently Deleted” Folder on iPhone iOS 15/14/13?).
Albums Deleted from Device
When you delete an album directly from your iPhone or iPad device, the photos are moved to the Recently Deleted folder rather than being permanently erased. The Recently Deleted folder acts as a temporary holding place for photos, keeping them available for 30 days before being permanently deleted.
To find your recently deleted album, open the Photos app and tap on the Albums tab at the bottom. Scroll all the way down and tap on the “Recently Deleted” album under the Utilities section.
This album contains all photos and videos you’ve recently deleted for the past 30 days. You can browse through to find your missing album and restore it.
According to Apple Support: “In the Photos app, tap Albums. Tap the Recently Deleted album under Utilities.” (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207517)
So albums deleted directly from your iPhone or iPad can be recovered from the Recently Deleted folder for up to 30 days, before being permanently erased.
Checking iCloud Recently Deleted
If you enabled iCloud Photos on your device, deleted photos and videos are stored in the iCloud Recently Deleted folder for 40 days before being permanently deleted. To check if your photos are in the iCloud Recently Deleted folder:
- Open the Photos app and navigate to the Albums tab.
- Scroll down and select the Recently Deleted album.
- This will show all photos and videos that have been recently deleted from your devices and synced to iCloud.
When you delete a photo or video from an iOS device or Mac with iCloud Photos enabled, the deletion is synced across all your devices. So even if you delete it from your iPhone, it will be deleted from your iCloud storage as well as any other connected devices like your iPad or Mac. The item stays in the Recently Deleted folder for up to 40 days before being permanently deleted.[1]
Checking this folder will show you if the missing album is still recoverable from iCloud before the 40 day period expires.
Permanent Deletion
Items in your Recently Deleted folder are not there permanently. Photos, videos, and other media you send to this folder remain there for 30 days before being permanently deleted from your device and iCloud backups.
The 30 day period gives you a chance to recover anything you may have accidentally deleted. But once those 30 days have passed, the items are gone for good. There is no way to recover media after it has been permanently deleted from the Recently Deleted folder.
So if you notice something is missing from Recently Deleted, and it has been more than 30 days since you originally deleted it, unfortunately that means it has been permanently removed from your device and iCloud backups. The data is no longer recoverable through any normal means.
To avoid losing anything important, it’s best to regularly check your Recently Deleted folder and recover or download anything you want to keep before the 30 day deletion period is up.
Restore Deleted Album
If you recently deleted an album from your iPhone and want to restore it, you can retrieve it from the Recently Deleted folder before it gets permanently deleted after 30 days. Here are the steps:
1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone and tap on the Albums tab at the bottom.
2. Scroll down and tap on the Recently Deleted album. This contains photos and videos that have been recently deleted from your iPhone.
3. Locate the deleted album you want to restore and tap on it to open it.
4. Tap on the Select button at the top right.
5. Tap on Recover to restore the album. The album will be moved back to its original location.
You can restore deleted albums this way as long as it has not been more than 30 days since they were deleted. After 30 days, the deleted content is permanently erased. So make sure to restore important albums before it’s too late.
Album Not Showing
If you can’t find the missing album in the Recently Deleted folder on your device or iCloud, the album may still be available but not showing for some reason. Here are some troubleshooting tips to try:
Check that the album didn’t get moved to a different folder or location. Open the Photos app and tap through all your folders and albums to see if it shows up elsewhere.
Make sure the Photos app didn’t hide the album from your view. Go to Settings > Photos and check that “Hidden Album” is disabled.
The album may be hidden if you enabled the “Hide Photos” feature. Go to Photo Settings and disable “Hide Photos” to unhide any hidden albums.
Try restarting your device and reopening the Photos app. This can refresh the app and make missing albums reappear.
Check iCloud.com to see if the missing album appears there. If so, it may be a sync issue between iCloud and your device.
Update your device software in case of a bug causing albums to disappear. Keep software updated to the latest version.
As a last resort, contact Apple Support for help recovering or locating the missing album if it’s not appearing anywhere.
Contact Apple Support
If you are still unable to locate the missing album after checking the Recently Deleted folder on your device and iCloud, the next step is to contact Apple Support for further assistance. Apple’s support team has additional tools and access that can help track down missing content.
When contacting Apple Support, be ready to provide details like when you last remember seeing the album, what device(s) you use with iCloud Photos, and any other relevant information. The more details you can provide, the better equipped the support team will be to help resolve the issue.
Apple provides several options to contact support:
- Call 1-800-275-2273
- Start a live chat at https://support.apple.com/contact
- Schedule a callback from support
If the missing album contained important photos or memories, it is worth the time to work with Apple Support and exhaust all options to attempt recovery. With their access and expertise, the support team may be able to locate album contents that you could not find on your own.
Prevent Future Loss of Deleted Albums
To avoid losing albums and photos permanently in the future, there are some precautionary steps you can take:
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Enable iCloud backup for your device – This will automatically backup your photos and albums to iCloud so you have another copy if they are deleted.
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Manually backup your device – You can connect your iPhone/iPad to your computer and use iTunes or the Finder to backup which will save a copy of photos and albums.
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Use iCloud Photos – Turn this on to have all your photos and albums saved in iCloud automatically.
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Download important albums – Consider downloading special albums to your computer to have an extra archived copy.
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Monitor your storage – Keep an eye on how much storage you have available to avoid maxing out space which could cause data loss.
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Update to latest iOS – Install newest iOS updates which often fix bugs that can cause data issues.
Taking preventative measures like these can help ensure your albums are preserved even if accidentally deleted from a device.
Summary
If you recently discovered a deleted album missing from your Photos app, there are a few troubleshooting steps to take. First, check the Recently Deleted folder within the Photos app itself to see if the album was moved there but not permanently erased yet. If not found, check the iCloud Recently Deleted folder.
If the album is nowhere to be found, it’s likely been permanently deleted from both your device and iCloud storage. At that point, you do have some options to try recovering the album. You can use data recovery software to scan your device, or contact Apple Support in case they can help restore from a backup. Going forward, make sure you have iCloud Photos enabled so deleted content is stored for up to 40 days in iCloud.
With a few recovery options and enabling iCloud backups, you should be able to prevent this album loss from happening again. The key is acting quickly when you first notice something missing from your Photos library.