If you’ve had some photos deleted from your iPhone on accident or even just without your knowledge, it can be a very worrying experience not to know if you’ll ever see them again. However, there are several tools you can use to restore these photos yourself.
To restore deleted iPhone photos, check the recently deleted folder in your Photos app. If they aren’t there, try restoring your phone to a backup from when you still had the photos. Computer programs can restore internal data if you don’t have a backup.
Knowing that rescuing your photos from the depths of deletion may be possible is all well and good, but what are you supposed to do if you don’t know precisely how to restore them? Let’s get into this topic in more detail to help you view your lost photos again.
Can You Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on an iPhone?
Yes, it is possible to recover permanently deleted photos on your iPhone, but it is not guaranteed. It is also quite possible for your deleted photos to be lost forever.
With a Backup
The easiest way to restore your deleted iPhone photos is through a backup. If there is anything to learn from this scenario, backing up your phone regularly is essential.
If you have a backup of your phone’s data, all you have to do is restore the backup, and your phone will be restored to a point where you still had your photos.
Without a Backup
If you do not have a backup of your phone’s data, this will be harder, but still not impossible. It all depends on whether or not your phone’s internal data has been overwritten. We’ll get into this idea in more detail in the next section.
If you do not have a backup and your phone’s internal data has been overwritten, you may be out of luck. Unfortunately, at this point, it may be impossible for you to restore your phone’s deleted photos.
However, most people reading this have likely only recently accidentally deleted their photos, meaning there’s probably still hope.
Where Do Permanently Deleted Photos Go?
Before we try to restore your phone’s deleted photos, it’s essential to know what happens to them. For example, one of the most critical pieces of information to have in this scenario is how long it has been since your photos were deleted.
When photos are deleted on your iPhone, first they go to a folder called Recently Deleted. The Recently Deleted folder is a folder that holds all of your deleted photos for 30 days after they have been deleted.
Restoring Photos from Recently Deleted Folder
If this news surprises you, and your photos have been deleted sometime in the past couple of days, restoring your deleted photos will be extremely easy. All you have to do to restore photos from the Recently Deleted folder is:
- Open the Photos app, tap Albums at the bottom, and select the Recently Deleted folder.
- Once you’re in the Recently Deleted folder, you should be able to see your recently deleted photos.
- Tap the Select button and select all the photos you want to recover.
- From here, you need to hit the Recover button and select Recover Photos to restore your deleted photos to the folders they came from.
However, if your photos are not in the recently deleted folder, they may still be on your phone. This is because when photos on your phone are deleted, their data remains on your phone until newer data overwrites it.
But some programs can restore photos using only this internal data. We will get into how to use these in more detail later.
How to Recover Deleted Photos Through iCloud
As mentioned previously, a backup is one of the easiest ways to restore your phone’s files. Of course, the easiest way to back up your iPhone is through Apple’s backup service: iCloud.
Using iCloud, restoring your phone to a backup is extremely easy. Let’s go through the steps to get any deleted photos back on your phone.
Clear Your iPhone
Yes, you read that right. The first step to restoring your iPhone to an iCloud backup is to clear the phone entirely. This will mean deleting all data on the phone and restoring it to factory settings, so you may want to double-check that you have a backup ready on your iCloud before you continue.
Once you’re ready to do this:
- First, open the Settings app and then tap General.
- Next, scroll down until you see Transfer or Reset iPhone, and tap on it.
- In the menu that appears, select Erase All Content and Settings.
- After this, your iPhone will give you a couple of warnings. Select Continue and enter your password if prompted. After this, you have successfully deleted all data on your iPhone.
Restore to Backup
- Once your phone has been cleared of all data, you first need to turn it on.
- This will bring up a hello screen where you should follow all of the onscreen startup steps until you get to the Apps & Data screen.
- Once you get to this screen, tap the first option: Restore from iCloud Backup. This will prompt you to sign in to your Apple ID to access your iCloud. Make sure you sign in using the same account you used to back up your phone.
- Once you’ve done this, you will see a list of available backups. Select the one you want to restore your phone to and follow the steps until your phone has been successfully set up with your backup.
How to Recover Deleted Photos Through iTunes
If you don’t use iCloud and prefer having actual files on your computer for your backups, you likely backup your device using iTunes. Restoring your iPhone to an iTunes backup can be done in three simple steps.
Step 1: Set Up iTunes and Your iPhone
First, begin by plugging your iPhone into your computer with iTunes already open on your computer. On the left, you should see your iPhone pop up as soon as iTunes has recognized it.
Next, select your device, and a menu with several options should appear.
Step 2: Use iTunes to Restore Your iPhone
Next, in the menu that appeared, select Restore Backup. This will bring up a list of all possible backups you could use and the date they originate from. Select the one you would like to use and then click Restore.
Note: if you have encrypted backup enabled, you will be asked to enter the password you set at this point.
Step 3: Wait For the Backup to Complete
At this point, all you have to do is wait until your backup is complete. Then, ensure you keep your iPhone connected for the entire backup duration to prevent potential corruption. Once the backup finishes, you can disconnect your phone and shut down iTunes.
How to Recover Deleted Photos Using iPhone Recovery Software
As we mentioned in a previous section, when you delete photos, they usually stay in your phone’s internal data until a newer file you create writes itself over it. This means that even though they have been deleted, it is still possible to restore this data.
There have been several different computer programs created for the sole purpose of recovering this internal data. This guide will cover two of these programs: iOS Data Recovery and iFindit.
How to Use iOS Data Recovery
iOS data recovery (found here) is a simple program to use. Begin by clicking the link and downloading the correct version of the program based on your device.
Once you have the program installed:
- Open it, and you should be greeted with an interface with three different recovery modes on the left side of the screen: Recover from iOS Device, Recover from iTunes Backup File, and Recover from iCloud Backup File.
- Since we don’t have a backup, select Recover from iOS Device.
- Now plug your iPhone into your computer and select Start Scan.
- This should bring up a menu asking what type of data you want to recover. Obviously, we want to recover your photos, but you also have other things you can recover, like deleted Voice Memos and deleted messages.
- Once you’ve selected everything you would like to scan for, pick Scan and wait for it to finish.
- Once the scan has finished, you should see a category that says Photos. Go through this, and you should be able to select photos.
- Then click Recover to restore the photos to your computer.
Unfortunately, if you do not see your deleted photos in iOS data recovery, the internal data for those photos have likely been overwritten by more recent data. Unfortunately, this means restoring those photos using this program will be impossible.
How to Use iFindit
Before using iFindit, you must install the program on your computer. You can do this by downloading iFindit here based on what computer you have.
Once iFindit has been downloaded:
- Open the program, and you should be greeted with five options: Smart Recovery, Recover from iOS Device, Recover from iTunes Backup, Recover from iCloud, and Fix iOS System.
- Because we do not have a backup ready, select Recover from iOS Device with your phone connected to the computer.
- This should include all the things you can back up, including your photos, messages, and more. We’re just trying to restore photos for this guide, but if you need anything else restored, you have to select it on this menu.
- Select Photos and then click the Scan button in the bottom right corner.
- Once the scan is finished, you should be greeted by a list of deleted photos that iFindit was able to find in your phone’s internal data. Select these photos and then click Recover in the bottom right corner, and your photos will be downloaded onto your computer.
Unfortunately, if your photos were not found by iFindit, newer data likely wrote over the internal data of your deleted photos. In this case, it is probably impossible to restore your photos using this program.