How to Recover Deleted Photos on iPhone

Accidentally deleting photos is something that has happened to all of us. Fortunately, when you delete a photo on the iPhone, you have 30 days to recover it from the Recently Deleted folder.

If you’ve already deleted your photos from the Recently Deleted folder as well, you might still be able to recover them using an old backup using iCloud, and Mac or PC. If you don’t have a backup and the photos are gone from the Recently Deleted folder, your only option is to use third-party software to try to recover the pictures.

Recovering deleted photos from the Recently Deleted folder

When you delete a photo, it goes to a folder called “Recently Deleted” in the Photos app and stays there for 30 days. Here’s how you can recover your deleted photos from it.

1. Tap Photos.

   

2. Scroll down until you see the Utilities section. Tap Recently Deleted.
   

   

3. Tap the photo you want to recover.

   

4. Tap Recover.

   

5. Next, tap Recover Photo. You’ll now be able to see the photo in your gallery.

   

6. If you want to recover multiple photos, you can save time by tapping Select.

   

7. Then select all the photos you want to recover and tap Recover.

   

8. Tap Recover x Photos (x being the number of photos you’ve selected). All the photos will go back to your gallery after recovery.

   

    

Recovering deleted photos from iCloud backup

1. Sign in with your Apple ID on icloud.com.
   

   

2. Click on Photos.
   

   

3. Click on Recently Deleted.
   

   

4. Click on the photo you want to recover and then click Recover. You’ll now be able to view the recovered photo in your gallery.

   

5. You can also open icloud.com on your phone and recover your deleted photos from there. Go to icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID by tapping Continue.

   

6. Tap Photos.

   

7. In the Albums tab, scroll down and tap Recently Deleted.

   

8. Tap Select.

   

9. After choosing the photos you want to recover, tap Recover. The photo will now be available in your gallery.

   

Restoring your iPhone from a backup using a Mac or PC

This method will delete all your existing files and restore your iPhone to settings stored in an older backup. By default, your iPhone automatically creates regular backups, but make sure you check your device first to see when the most recent backup was created. A backup created before you deleted your photos will restore them and everything else will remain unchanged.

If you have a MacBook with macOS Mojave and earlier or a PC, you’ll have to use iTunes which you can download from here. On MacBook with macOS Catalina and above, you have to use Finder.

1. Connect your device to your Mac or PC using the charger cable (USB to lightning cable) and open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock.
   

   

2. Your device will appear in the sidebar under “Locations.” Click on your iPhone’s name.

   

3. Click on Restore iPhone.

   

4. Select the most relevant backup and then click on Restore.

   

Recovering Deleted Photos Using Third-Party Software

You’ll have to be quick to be able to recover deleted photos using a third-party software, because once they’re overwritten by other data, they’re gone forever with little chance of recovery.

Here are three popular third-party tools that you can use to recover your deleted photos. We are not affiliated with any of them, so do take caution before using them.

PhoneRescue

PhoneRescue is a data recovery tool that you can download for both Mac and PC. It scans your device for any deleted data and then gives you the option to preview them. PhoneRescue’s trial version only lets you see the deleted files. To be able to recover them, you have to purchase the full version. It has three plans:

• 3-Month Plan – $45.99.
• Yearly Plan – $49.99.
• Lifetime Plan – $69.99.

Disk Drill 

Disk Drill has an iPhone data recovery mode that can restore deleted photos. Just like PhoneRescue, Disk Drill digs through your device for any deleted data that can be recovered. Disk Drill has two paid versions. One is the “Pro” version which costs $118 and the other one is the “Enterprise” version which costs $598. The software is also planning to introduce iCloud backup restoration.

iMyFone D-Back

iMyFone allows you to recover data from your device, iTunes backup, and iCloud backup. iMyFone also requires a subscription to use it. It has three plans:

• 1-Month Plan – $49.95. Only lets you use the software on one iOS device.
• 1-Year Plan – $59.95. This plan also only allows you to use the software on one iOS device.
• Lifetime Plan – $69.95. This plan allows you to use the software on 5 iOS devices.