How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on iPhone

By Rachel Needell Wed, 12/13/2023

What to Know

You can recover deleted photos on iPhone by going to the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app.
If the photos were deleted more than 30 days ago, your best option to retrieve deleted photos is to restore your iPhone to a previous iCloud backup where you still had those photos in the Photos app.

If you've accidentally deleted photos from the Photos app on your iPhone, you may be panicking, wondering, "Can I recover permanently deleted photos from my iPhone?" You can recover deleted photos by going to the Recently Deleted folder. However, if the photos were deleted from your Photo library more than 30 days ago, you will need to restore your iPhone to a previous back up in order to recover the deleted photos.

How to Recover Photos from Recently Deleted

If you deleted the photos within the last 30 days, then you can still easily recover them from the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app. Here's how to recover recently deleted photos:

Open the Photos app.
Tap Albums.

Scroll down to Recently Deleted.
You will be prompted to use FaceID or a password to access the deleted photos.

You will be able to see how many days each photo has left in the folder before being deleted.
To restore a photo, tap it.

Then, tap Recover.
To restore multiple photos, tap Select.

Select the photos you want to restore.
Then, tap the three dots in a circle.

Tap Recover.

This is the quickest and most reliable way to access recently deleted photos. If you like learning tips and tricks about the iPhone, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day!

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How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos on iPhone with Backup

If you deleted the photos longer than 30 days ago or you cleared out your Recently Deleted photos folder, then you can try to get your permanently deleted photos back on your iPhone by restoring to a previous backup. However, it's important to make sure that the backup you're restoring to is one where your iPhone has the photos. Learn how to restore your iPhone to a previous backup.

That's about the only way to recover permanently deleted photos on your iPhone. There are other apps available that you can download, but for the most part, once photos are permanently deleted, they're gone. That's why it's extremely important to back up your iPhone often so you can restore it when needed.

FAQ

How to recover deleted photos after deleting from recently deleted? Once you have deleted photos from recently deleted, you cannot recover them from your iPhone. You will need to restore your iPhone to a previous back up in order to access the permanently deleted photos.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos iPhone without backup? You cannot restore permanently deleted photos to your iPhone without a backup. You can restore photos deleted from the Photos app to your iPhone within 30 days of deleting them.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud? The best way to use iCloud to recover permanently deleted photos is to restore your device to a previous backup. Make sure the date you're restoring your iPhone to corresponds with the photos on your device.

And that's how to recover a deleted photo in the Photos app on iPhone. If you find you're having consistent problems with your photo storage, be sure to reach out to Apple Support for further assistance.

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Author Details

Rachel Needell

Rachel Needell is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and a poet and author. With 10-plus years of experience working with Apple devices, she specializes in all-things iPad and is a Notes App expert, having worked on both the 2023 iPad Guide and the Notes App Guide. You can usually find her writing in the Daily Tip newsletter as one of our senior Tip writers. Rachel received her Master’s degree in English Literature in 2021 and her most recent work appears in the Winter ’21 edition of New Note Poetry. When she’s not obsessing about Apple products, you can find her voraciously reading fantasy books with her cat in Asheville, North Carolina.