How to recover files I lost during an iPhone data transference?

I lost 2,000 pictures when I transferred phones, backed it up and they still disappeared


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Posted on Mar 12, 2022 8:49 AM

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Posted on Mar 12, 2022 8:56 AM

If you synced photos to iCloud on the old phone (Settings/[your name]/iCloud/Photos=ON) then photos will not be included in an iCloud backup. So go to the same place on the new phone and turn the switch ON.


iCloud has 2 independent functions. iCloud backups, and iCloud sync. It’s confusing because they both have the same name prefix. But they have no connection with each other. Go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud. You will see a bunch of switches. When you turn on a switch that data type will sync to iCloud. If you do this on multiple devices that share an Apple ID the selected data will sync to all of those devices. However, any synced data will be excluded from backups, as to include it would double the required iCloud storage.

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Mar 12, 2022 8:56 AM in response to Autum007

If you synced photos to iCloud on the old phone (Settings/[your name]/iCloud/Photos=ON) then photos will not be included in an iCloud backup. So go to the same place on the new phone and turn the switch ON.


iCloud has 2 independent functions. iCloud backups, and iCloud sync. It’s confusing because they both have the same name prefix. But they have no connection with each other. Go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud. You will see a bunch of switches. When you turn on a switch that data type will sync to iCloud. If you do this on multiple devices that share an Apple ID the selected data will sync to all of those devices. However, any synced data will be excluded from backups, as to include it would double the required iCloud storage.

Apr 13, 2022 2:31 PM in response to Hayden7070

Maybe. That depends on how they got onto iCloud. First step is to verify that they were synced to iCloud. Log in to https://icloud.com/photos. Do you see them there? If you do, on the iPad (assuming it is logged in to the same Apple ID that you just used to access iCloud Photos in your browser) go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud. Turn on the switch for Photos and they should sync from iCloud to your iPad.


If they are NOT in https://icloud.com/photos you may have backed them up to iCloud. This is completely independent of syncing to iCloud. On your iPad you need to Erase All Content & Settings, then restore the iCloud backup (or computer backup if you that is where your most recent backup is).


However, if they were previously synced to iCloud (Settings/[your name]/iCloud - Photos ON) and you deleted them from your iPad or any other device synced to iCloud they are gone forever.

Mar 21, 2022 6:49 AM in response to Auchuthan

Are you sure you didn’t do ANY of these ways of preserving photos and videos?


  • emailed, texted or messaged the photos to friends or family
  • iCloud photo sync
  • iCloud backup
  • iTunes backup
  • Transfer your photos to your computer via USB cable
  • Apple Photo Stream
  • Sync to Google Photos
  • Sync to some other photo archiving service such as Shutterfly
  • Sync to Dropbox
  • Sync to box.com
  • Sync to Microsoft OneDrive
  • Sync to Amazon Photos
  • back up to Livedrive
  • Backup to any other backup or archiving service


A final option is if you synced your photos to iCloud, you have a Mac, and you use Time Machine to back up your Mac automatically, you can open Time Machine and restore the photo library to an earlier date. To do this on your Mac open Finder, then click on Pictures in the sidebar and launch Time Machine. Go to a time before the photos were deleted and restore

Photos Library.photoslibrary. (If you had ever changed the name of the photo library restore that file instead).


If the answer is no to all of the above your photos are gone forever.

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How to recover files I lost during an iPhone data transference?

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