Recovering recently deleted photos

I thought I’d moved some photos to an album (I didn’t check) then deleted the originals & id like to retrieve them

iPhone 13, iOS 18

Posted on Mar 4, 2025 3:06 AM

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Mar 4, 2025 9:39 PM in response to livymul

By the way, even if you HAD put the photos into an Album, deleting the original would mean they would be gone. Albums only point to the originals; they don't contain separate copies.


(If you meant a Shared Album, my comment does not apply.)

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Mar 5, 2025 2:09 AM in response to livymul

If you have not been using iCloud Photos, but are backing up your iPhone to a computer or to iCloud, and you still have a backup you made while the photos have been on your iPhone, you can recover the photos by restoring the iPhone from your backup.

See: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

This will take your iPhone back in time - all documents and data will be like they have been when you made the backup. So you need to save all new documents and data somewhere else without overwriting your old backup.


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Mar 5, 2025 8:13 AM in response to markwmsn

I just want to emphasize (with bold and italics) what markwmsn has said, since it may be the important point in keeping this from happening again:


If a picture is not in the Library, then it can't be in an Album!


Again, as markwmsn said, an album doesn't contain pictures; it just lists pictures particular pictures from the Library. That way, a picture can appear in several albums without taking up any extra space.

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Recovering recently deleted photos

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