Accidentally deleting precious photos from your iPhone can be a stressful experience. Fortunately, Apple provides a built-in safety net to help you recover photos and videos you’ve recently deleted. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to get back your deleted photos on your iPhone, ensuring you don’t lose those important memories forever.
Understanding the “Recently Deleted” Album on Your iPhone
When you delete a photo or video from your iPhone, it isn’t immediately gone for good. Instead, it’s moved to a “Recently Deleted” album, acting like a recycle bin for your photos. This feature gives you a 30-day window to recover anything you might have deleted by mistake. After 30 days, the items in the “Recently Deleted” album are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered from your device.
This “Recently Deleted” album is accessible on your iPhone, iPad, and even through iCloud.com, providing multiple avenues for photo recovery. Whether you use iCloud Photos or not, this feature is a standard part of the Photos app on your Apple devices.
Steps to Recover Deleted Photos on Your iPhone
Recovering photos directly on your iPhone is a straightforward process. Here’s how you can do it:
- Open the Photos App: Locate and tap the Photos app icon on your iPhone’s home screen.
- Navigate to the Albums Tab: At the bottom of the Photos app, tap on the “Albums” tab.
- Find the “Recently Deleted” Album: Scroll down to the “Utilities” section within the Albums tab. Here, you will find the “Recently Deleted” album. Tap on it.
- Unlock if Necessary: If you are using iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later, the “Recently Deleted” album might be locked for security. Use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock and access the album.
- Select Photos for Recovery: Once inside the “Recently Deleted” album, tap “Select” in the top right corner. Then, tap on each photo or video you wish to recover. You can also tap “Recover All” at the bottom to restore all items in the album.
- Recover Your Photos: After selecting the photos, tap “Recover” at the bottom right. Confirm your action by tapping “Recover Photo” (or “Recover Photos” if you selected multiple items).
Once recovered, your photos and videos will be restored to their original locations within your Photos Library, appearing back in your albums and chronological order.
Recovering Deleted Photos from iCloud.com
If you use iCloud Photos, your photos are synced across all your Apple devices and stored in iCloud. This means you can also recover deleted photos through iCloud.com if you prefer using a computer, or if you want to recover photos from a different device. Here are the steps:
- Go to iCloud.com and Sign In: Open a web browser and go to iCloud.com. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
- Open the Photos App in iCloud: Once logged in, click on the “Photos” icon.
- Access the “Recently Deleted” Album: In the Photos app on iCloud.com, look for the sidebar. If you don’t see it, click the sidebar icon (usually located in the top corner). In the sidebar, click on the “Recently Deleted” album.
- Select and Recover Photos: Select the photos or videos you want to recover by clicking on them. You can select multiple items. Once selected, click “Recover”.
Recover deleted photos from iCloud.com by accessing the Recently Deleted album in the sidebar
After recovery, the photos will be returned to your iCloud Photos library and will sync back to your iPhone and other devices connected to iCloud Photos.
Conclusion
Recovering deleted photos on your iPhone is usually a simple process thanks to the “Recently Deleted” album. Remember that you have a 30-day window to restore your photos before they are permanently erased. Whether you choose to recover directly from your iPhone or through iCloud.com, Apple provides user-friendly tools to ensure your memories are safe and retrievable. Make sure to regularly check your “Recently Deleted” album if you realize you are missing any photos, and act promptly to get them back before the 30-day period expires.
