How do I retrieve old Photos and Videos on my iPhone ?

Angrily I decided to erase my phone hopin’ at least old photos and videos will come back after signing in back

not knowin’ it wasn’t back up

not a single picture shows

I’m crying rn

Is there anyway I can retrieve them

I still have my SIM card


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jun 22, 2024 8:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 22, 2024 10:02 AM

There are a few places you can check.


One is iCloud photos, which, if turned on, would be under Settings > Account > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photos, which should be turned on.


If not, look at Settings > Account > iCloud > Backup, and see if you can restore from a previous backup.


If not, check your photos library on a Mac or iPad to see if it is there. Though if you have iCloud photos turned off there is a very slim chance you would find them there, unless you have backed up your iPhone to one of these devices.


Your SIM card stores nothing, this only activates your phone for use on cellular networks, and will not be any help in restoring/retrieving your photos.


Hope this helps!

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 22, 2024 10:02 AM in response to Titipounds

There are a few places you can check.


One is iCloud photos, which, if turned on, would be under Settings > Account > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photos, which should be turned on.


If not, look at Settings > Account > iCloud > Backup, and see if you can restore from a previous backup.


If not, check your photos library on a Mac or iPad to see if it is there. Though if you have iCloud photos turned off there is a very slim chance you would find them there, unless you have backed up your iPhone to one of these devices.


Your SIM card stores nothing, this only activates your phone for use on cellular networks, and will not be any help in restoring/retrieving your photos.


Hope this helps!

Jun 22, 2024 8:51 AM in response to Titipounds

There are only 2 places your photos could be stored. Nothing is stored on your SIM card so that will not help at all.

  • If you had iCloud Photos turned on, then the photos are stored in iCloud.
  • If you did not use iCloud Photos, then the photos would be stored in a backup file.


Without using either of those, then there is no way you will be able to retrieve the photos.

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How do I retrieve old Photos and Videos on my iPhone ?

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