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How to recover permanently deleted photos

How to recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud

iPhone 12, iOS 15

Posted on Mar 19, 2023 10:11 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 19, 2023 10:18 PM

If you've permanently deleted photos from iCloud, there may still be a chance to recover them. Here's what you can do:

  1. Check the "Recently Deleted" folder: If you've deleted your photos within the past 30 days, they may still be in the "Recently Deleted" folder. To access this folder, go to the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad, select "Albums," and then select "Recently Deleted." From there, you can select the photos you want to recover and restore them to your device.
  2. Use iCloud.com: If you don't have access to your iPhone or iPad, you can try to recover your photos using iCloud.com. Log in to your iCloud account, click on "Photos," and then select the "Recently Deleted" folder. You can then select the photos you want to recover and download them to your computer.


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 19, 2023 10:18 PM in response to Danof11

If you've permanently deleted photos from iCloud, there may still be a chance to recover them. Here's what you can do:

  1. Check the "Recently Deleted" folder: If you've deleted your photos within the past 30 days, they may still be in the "Recently Deleted" folder. To access this folder, go to the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad, select "Albums," and then select "Recently Deleted." From there, you can select the photos you want to recover and restore them to your device.
  2. Use iCloud.com: If you don't have access to your iPhone or iPad, you can try to recover your photos using iCloud.com. Log in to your iCloud account, click on "Photos," and then select the "Recently Deleted" folder. You can then select the photos you want to recover and download them to your computer.


Mar 19, 2023 10:19 PM in response to Danof11

  1. If the photos are not in the "Recently Deleted" folder, check if you have a backup of your iCloud data that includes the photos you want to recover. You can do this by going to "Settings" on your iPhone or iPad, clicking on your name, selecting "iCloud," and then "Manage Storage." From there, you can check if a backup of your device was made and whether it includes the photos you want to recover.
  2. If you have a backup of your iCloud data that includes the photos, you can restore your device from the backup to recover the photos. However, keep in mind that restoring your device from a backup will erase all the data on your device and replace it with the data from the backup. Therefore, make sure to backup your current device data before restoring it from an iCloud backup.

Note that if you have permanently deleted the photos from the "Recently Deleted" folder and don't have a backup of your iCloud data, it may not be possible to recover the photos.

Mar 19, 2023 10:19 PM in response to Danof11

I believe you can only recover deleted photos if you have not cleared them from recently deleted. To do this on the iPhone Open Photos. Tap Albums and swipe until you find (and then tap) the Recently Deleted item under Utilities. If you see the photo(s) you want to get back, tap the photo and tap Recover in the lower right corner.


However, if you have cleared them from recently deleted you may be out of luck.


Before you lose hope, open your Photos app on another device (i.e. another iPhone, iPad, or Mac) and see if they exist there.

How to recover permanently deleted photos

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