Accidentally deleting a precious photo from your iPhone is a common mishap. Fortunately, Apple provides a safety net with the “Recently Deleted” album, giving you a window of opportunity to recover those cherished memories. If you use iCloud Photos, understanding how to access and utilize this feature across your devices is even more crucial. This guide will walk you through the steps to get to recently deleted photos on your iPhone and recover them, ensuring you don’t permanently lose your valuable images.
Accessing the Recently Deleted Album on Your iPhone
The first step to recovering your deleted photos is to find the “Recently Deleted” album within the Photos app. Here’s how to get there:
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Open the Photos App: Locate and tap the Photos app icon on your iPhone’s home screen.
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Navigate to the Albums Tab: At the bottom of the Photos app screen, you’ll see several tabs: Library, For You, and Albums. Tap on “Albums”.
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Scroll Down to Utilities: On the Albums screen, scroll down until you find the “Utilities” section.
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Find the Recently Deleted Album: Within the Utilities section, you will see the “Recently Deleted” album. Tap on it.
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Unlock if Necessary: If you are using iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later, the Recently Deleted album might be locked for security. You will need to use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock and access the album. This added security measure protects your recently deleted photos from unauthorized access.
Recovering Deleted Photos on Your iPhone
Once you are inside the “Recently Deleted” album, you will see thumbnails of photos and videos you’ve deleted in the last 30 days. Here’s how to recover them:
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Tap “Select”: In the top right corner of the Recently Deleted album, tap the “Select” button.
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Choose Photos to Recover: Tap on each photo or video you want to recover. A checkmark will appear on the selected items.
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Tap “Recover”: Once you have selected all the photos you wish to retrieve, tap the “Recover” button at the bottom right corner of the screen.
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Confirm Recovery: A prompt will appear asking you to confirm your action. Tap “Recover Photo” or “Recover Video” to recover the selected items. If you want to recover everything in the album, you can tap “Recover All” instead of selecting individual items.
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Photos Restored: The recovered photos and videos will be restored to their original albums within your Photos library.
Recovering Photos from iCloud.com
If you use iCloud Photos, you can also access the Recently Deleted album and recover photos through iCloud.com on any web browser. This is useful if you want to recover photos from a computer or another device.
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Go to iCloud.com: Open a web browser and go to iCloud.com.
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Sign in to iCloud: Log in with your Apple ID and password associated with your iCloud Photos account.
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Open Photos: Once logged in, click on the “Photos” icon.
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Access Recently Deleted: In the Photos app on iCloud.com, look for “Recently Deleted” in the sidebar. If you don’t see the sidebar, click the sidebar icon, which is typically located in the top corner.
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Select and Recover: Click on the photos or videos you want to recover. Then, click the “Recover” button that appears. The recovered items will be restored to your iCloud Photos library and will sync back to your iPhone and other devices connected to iCloud Photos.
Recovering Photos on Mac
If you also use a Mac and have iCloud Photos enabled, you can recover recently deleted photos from the Photos app on your Mac as well.
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Open the Photos App on Mac: Open the Photos application on your Mac.
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Find Recently Deleted in Sidebar: In the Photos app, you’ll find the “Recently Deleted” album in the sidebar. It’s usually located under “Albums.”
The Photos window showing Recently Deleted selected in the sidebar and recently deleted items on the right. -
Unlock if Necessary: Similar to iPhone, the Recently Deleted album on Mac might be locked. Use Touch ID or your password to unlock it if prompted.
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Select and Recover: Select the photos you want to recover and click the “Recover” button in the top right corner.
Important Considerations for Recently Deleted Photos
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30-Day Limit: Remember that photos and videos in the Recently Deleted album are only kept for 30 days. After this period, they are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered from the Recently Deleted album.
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iCloud Photos Sync: If you use iCloud Photos, deleting a photo on one device will delete it across all your devices connected to the same iCloud account. The Recently Deleted feature works across all these devices as well, providing a consistent recovery experience.
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Backup is Crucial: While the Recently Deleted album is a helpful feature, it’s not a substitute for regular backups. For long-term protection of your photos, consider using iCloud Backup, Time Machine (for Mac), or other backup solutions.
Conclusion
The “Recently Deleted” album on your iPhone is a valuable tool for quickly recovering photos and videos you might have accidentally deleted. By following these simple steps, you can easily access this album and restore your precious memories. Make sure to act within the 30-day window to avoid permanent loss. Regularly backing up your iPhone is always recommended for comprehensive data protection, ensuring your photos and videos are safe and recoverable beyond the recently deleted timeframe.
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