How to Recover Deleted Photos on iPhone? 4 Effective Methods

Accidentally deleting a photo, or losing it due to any app or iPhone issue, and wondering if it’s gone forever? Don’t worry, those photos aren’t gone; they are just archived in your iPhone’s secret memory. 

Before your iPhone finalizes the garbage collection, the 30-day “Recently Deleted” limit, or the iCloud sync, you need a smart recovery solution.

Stop taking pictures immediately to prevent data overwriting. Instead, use a dedicated iPhone data recovery tool such as Notchox and recover deleted photos on iPhone.

Here you’ll see how to retrieve your photos, from using Apple’s built-in tools to using professional software for deep-scan recovery.

Quick Answer: The best ways to recover deleted photos on iPhone:

1. Recently deleted album
2. iCloud backup
3. Finder/iTunes backup
4. Photo recovery software

Method 1: How to Recover Deleted Photos on iPhone using Recently Deleted Albums?

In case of accidental deletion, the first and foremost thing you should try is looking in the “Recently Deleted” album. It stores your deleted photos and videos for up to 30 days before permanently deleting them, meaning you have 30 days to recover your photos from the recently deleted folder.

Follow these steps to recover deleted photos using the Recently Deleted album on iPhone:

Step 1: Open the Photos app.

Step 2: Scroll down and tap Recently Deleted under the Utilities section.

Step 3: Unlock to view the folder using Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.

Step 4: Tap Select and choose the photos you want to recover.

Step 5: Click on Options (• • •) on the top right corner.

Step 6: Tap Recover to restore the photos to the original folder.

Method 2: How to Recover Deleted Photos on iphone from icloud? 

If your “Recently Deleted” folder is empty, it means your photos have been permanently deleted. However, “permanently deleted” doesn’t mean they are gone forever.

When you delete a photo, your phone doesn’t actually erase the data. It marks the space as “available” and removes the photo from the gallery index. The old data remains in the storage cell until new data is written over it. 

As long as you stop taking photos or downloading images immediately, you can use tools to recover the photos. That’s why, in case of accidental deletion, device failure, or any app malfunction, it is advised to stop using the device immediately.

How to recover deleted photos after deleting from Recently deleted?

Restore from iCloud Backup

iCloud is Apple’s cloud service that securely stores and syncs data across all Apple devices. If you have your iCloud backup sync on, you are in a good position because photos are automatically and continuously backed up. You can easily access and recover deleted photos on iPhone.

So if you are wondering how to recover deleted photos on iPhone after 30 days from iCloud, here are the steps.

Tip: We recommend turning off the network immediately and recovering photos from iCloud from a different device (laptop, iPhone, or iPad).

Restore from an iCloud Backup

iCloud automatically backs up your iPhone or iPad once every 24 hours. This daily backup happens automatically to ensure data security without manual intervention. Now this method tells you how to recover deleted photos on iPhone from an iCloud backup, but this involves resetting your iPhone to the backup that had that deleted photo. 

Step 1: Verify an older backup exists.

1. Go to Settings.

   

2. Tap on Your Name.

   

3. Scroll down and tap iCloud.

   

4. Tap iCloud Backup.

   

5. Under All Device Backups, select your iPhone. Check if the backup is on.

   

If that backup existed before you deleted that photo, you can restore that backup.

Step 1: Go back to Settings.

Step 2: Tap General.

Step 3: Scroll down to Transfer or Reset iPhone.

Step 4: Tap Erase All Content and Settings. This will delete all of your information on your iPhone, bringing it back to factory default.

Step 5: Tap Continue to confirm.

Now you can bring it all back using the backup that had that deleted photo. 

Download Photos from iCloud.com

The deleted photo from the iPhone can be downloaded from iCloud.com provided that data sync with iCloud is on.

Follow these steps to recover deleted photo(s) from iCloud.com.

Step 1: Go to iCloud.com and sign in using your Apple account.

Step 2: Tap Photos.

Step 3: Tap Select and choose the desired photos to recover. You can select up to 1,000 photos/videos at a time.

Step 4: Tap the More (…) button at the bottom-right corner.

Step 5: Choose Download [number] Items. 

Step 6: Tap Download to confirm.

Method 3: Recover Deleted Photos on iPhone Using Finder or iTunes Backup

There’s also an alternate way to recover deleted photos on iPhone using Finder or iTunes backup. These backups, created on your computer, create a snapshot of your data at a specific time. 

Let’s say you have been backing up your iPhone with iTunes or Finder, and you can restore from a backup to recover photos that were permanently deleted on your iPhone.

Warning: This method is going to replace all your current data with the backup content.

So, if a backup was made before the photos were deleted, you can restore that backup. Here’s how to do it.

On Windows:

Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your laptop using a USB cable.

Step 2: Open iTunes on Windows.

Step 3: Click the Phone icon in the top-left.

Step 4: Choose the Summary tab, then click Restore Backup.

Step 5: Select the backup file that likely contains your deleted photos.

Step 6: Click Restore and keep the device connected until it restarts and syncs.

On Mac:

Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your laptop using a USB cable and tap Restore from Mac or PC.

Step 2: Open Finder on macOS.

Step 3: Select the iPhone from Locations on the left pane.

Step 4: Tap Trust on your Mac and iPhone.

Step 5: Select Restore from this backup and select the backup you want to restore and hit Continue. 

You will get a “Restore in Progress” message on iPhone. It will take some time, depending on how much content you have on that backup.

This method overwrites all your data on your iPhone. However, if you don’t want to lose anything on your iPhone, use the next method – iOS data recovery software, which offers more selective and precise recovery without overwriting.

Method 4: Use Photo Recovery Software to Restore Deleted Photos on iPhone

When you’ve accidentally deleted photos from your iPhone and if they weren’t backed up to iCloud, using dedicated iOS data recovery software is the best, most effective method because it goes beyond Apple’s 30-day “Recently Deleted” limit. Scans deep unallocated sectors of your iPhone’s storage to reconstruct and restore images that haven’t been overwritten yet.

For a more targeted approach, let’s see how to recover deleted photos on iPhone without iCloud, i.e., using specialised data recovery tools to recover deleted photos on iPhone.

Step 1: Download and install Notchox iOS data recovery software on your device in a separate drive.

Step 2: Connect your iPhone to the PC.

Step 3: Select the drive you want to scan and recover the data from. In this case, select your iPhone.

Step 4: Click Start Scan for software to begin scanning the storage for deleted photos.

Step 5: Once the scan is complete, browse the photos. Use the Preview feature to find the exact images you want to restore.

Step 6: Select the photos and select Save to Vault to save them to your device.

Why is It the Best Method?

• Deep Scanning: Scans unallocated storage sectors to find photo fragments, leaving behind Apple’s 30-day “Recently Deleted” limit
• Direct-to-device recovery: Allows recovering deleted photos directly from iPhone memory without needing an iTunes or iCloud backup
• Preview Feature: viewing lost photos before recovery, ensuring you only restore the specific images you need
• High Success rate: Specialized algorithms have a high probability of recovering photos that haven’t been overwritten yet
• Selective recovery: Allows restoring individual photos or videos, rather than performing a full, inconvenient device backup restore

Proactive Tips: How to Avoid Losing Photos Again?

99% photo loss is preventable. You think your photos are safe in storage until the drive crashes, the phone drops, or accidental deletion. Let’s talk about moving from panic to proactive, ensuring photos are on your phones, not in some recovery lab/ software.

Here are tips so that you don’t need to search “how to recover deleted photos on iPhone from iCloud ” or “how to recover permanently deleted photos?”

• iCloud: Keeps your library up to date across all Apple devices automatically. Any changes are reflected everywhere. If your phone is lost or broken, all photos taken up to the last sync remain safe in the cloud.
• Optimize storage: It replaces full-resolution photos on your phone with smaller versions, keeping high-quality originals in the cloud. This storage optimization thus prevents app crashes or data loss.
• Use secondary backup: iCloud is not a “true” backup; it is a sync service. Use computer transfer, external drive, or other clouds like Amazon Photos, Google Photos, or Dropbox.
• Avoid shared album issues: Relying on shared albums for long-term storage is not a good idea. Shared albums also decrease the resolution of the image, so avoid considering shared albums as backup.
• Organize and protect digital files: Preventing loss also means keeping your files organized so you know if something is missing. Categorise photos and store them in separate folders using the Files App.

By following these steps, you are ensuring your photos are synchronized and have a fallback if the cloud fails. If all else fails, use data recovery software to retrieve lost files.

In Summary

Recovering deleted photos on an iPhone is entirely possible if acted upon quickly. As covered in this blog, your first stop should always be the “Recently Deleted” album, which holds files for 30 days. Next, try recovering from iCloud backup or Finder/iTunes backup. For the best chance of permanently recovering photos, using Notchox photo recovery software offers a high success rate when standard methods fail.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)