Hi, I had to update my icloud billing preferences a couple of weeks ago. Since then not only my Playlists in iTunes are gone, but today I discovered that all photos until February 2021 are gone. They neither show up on my iPone, nor my MacBook Air. Did shut down the devices and restarted them, also looked for any hidden albums in Photo (there aren´t any) Any advice? How to access them / download them / get them back? Thank you!
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
UPDATE: I have spoken with the Apple Support in Germany and they were actually able to help me! They have restored all photos. I have contacted them before the goodwill period of 30 days did run out though, not sure if that made a difference or not. But if you have a similar problem, try to contact your local Apple Support, they might be able to help!
UPDATE: I have spoken with the Apple Support in Germany and they were actually able to help me! They have restored all photos. I have contacted them before the goodwill period of 30 days did run out though, not sure if that made a difference or not. But if you have a similar problem, try to contact your local Apple Support, they might be able to help!
Did your payment expire by any chance? Meaning you missed a month? That would cause your iCloud storage to go back to the free level and your data may have been erased. Otherwise, simply changing your payment information would have no bearing on pictures, so the two are unlikely tied together.
If you have a Time Machine backup of your Mac, you can restore your photos. Otherwise, the images are likely lost. Have you checked at iCloud.com/photos to see what is there? Although if both devices are in sync it's unlikely there is a sync issue with your device.
Did you do anything else that may have affected photos? My mom once accidentally deleted the entire family photo history; fortunately we have many backups but could that be possible?
Are you using the same AppleID as before for iCloud? The iCloud Photos Library is tied to your iCloud Apple ID. You may have been be using a different AppleID for iTunes purchases.
See the articles Download previous iTunes Store purchases in Music on Mac - Apple Support
If there's an issue when you redownload apps, movies, or other content from Apple - Apple Support
If you're missing photos or videos in the Photos app - Apple Support
Find photos by text, content or date in Photos on Mac - Apple Support
Make sure you have set up photo library and its preferences and designated .
Yes, the payment expired ... Had to set up a new payment method. But did it straight away after I received the notification ... No backup for 2019 and 2020 ... Can´t believe they are lost forever ... :-(
Hi and thank you for your reply! No, I am using the same AppleID for the last decade at least, so no changes here ...
Hi, thanks for the links! Did double check all of that already, but none of the mentioned solutions fixed my problem. Thanks anyway for pointing them out!
Did you backup anything on your Mac?
You can replace your devices, but you can’t replace your data.
I sincerely hope you consider investing in a backup drive for your valuable and irreplaceable data.
All photos up to 2021 gone
