Photos disappeared from albums across all devices

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Level 1

4 points

Photos disappeared from albums across all devices

iCloud (I assume) has removed all of the photos from three albums, one of which I’m using for a project. The photos were in a specific order (by date as well as in a before-and-after sequence) so they were easier to locate when uploading them to other apps. Thankfully the originals are still in the library, but now I have to start from scratch moving hundreds of photos into this album and putting them back into the correct order.

I had just moved three photos to the album and reviewed which I would upload to work on in another app. Moments later, when I tried to upload them to this app, there were no photos in the album. They’re gone on all devices: a T7 external SSD (there’s not enough storage on my Mac mini M4; plus iCloud, if I understand correctly, isn’t supposed remove downloaded photos from external drives), late 2012 iMac, iPad Pro and iPhone 13.

I have a back up of the library on a G Drive, but haven’t backed it up in a couple of weeks. I assume if I do, it will remove the photos in the album there as well. The project photos are also individually backed up in a folder on a G Drive and a flash drive. Am I paranoid? Yes I am. I appreciate any help you can provide.

Posted on Nov 30, 2025 2:52 PM

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Answer 1

TheLittles

Level 10

202,805 points

Nov 30, 2025 5:43 PM in response to JackieWood81

"Photos disappeared from albums across all devices"

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Finding Photos in Sorted Order:

A. Browse iCloud Photos on a Computer Screen:

Using a computer, what happens when you visit iCloud Photos: https://www.icloud.com/photos? Being you'd be using a computer, it would be much more user-friendly, as you'd use a Web browser for this on a larger screen. IMPORTANT: Turn Off any VPNs, if any are on.

B. Browsing iCloud Drive:

iCloud Drive (https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive) is a feature of its own, and it not part of iCloud Photos --if they are sorted in that (not in iCloud Photos), then you could try recovering them through download and search. Use the searchbar on the top-right corner of your Finder window. See my User Tip: Getting a Quick and Direct "iCloud Drive-to-External Hard Drive" Download - User Tip

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Answer 2

JackieWood81 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 6, 2025 1:38 PM in response to TheLittles

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately they're not in either location. I've just started to recreate the main album, trying not to grit my teeth or grumble the entire time. I'm making headway and am also backing up this album to another one. I have no idea what was in the other two smaller albums that are missing, considering I hadn't added anything to them in a while. iCloud is great until something like this happens!

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