Recover lost iCloud photos after changing iPhone
I lost some photos from iCloud while changing my phone . How can I recover those photos? All others where there but some were not ? What to do about it ?
iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 26
Question marked as
I'm not sure what you mean by "lost iCloud Photos." Have you looked at iCloud.com to see if they are there? There is a "Recently Deleted" album there but, like the rest of iCloud, it should be an exact copy of what's on your phone.
The Recently Deleted album is a great safety feature on the iPhone and, as Zurarczurx said, deleted pictures remain in the "Recently Deleted" view for 30 days before they are removed permanently. This safety feature can be defeated, though, by choosing to prematurely delete pictures from the "Recently Deleted" view. If you use iCloud Photos, then that "synchronizes" its Photos Library with the phone, so what you see on the phone is what is at iCloud. iCloud Photos doesn't keep pictures in "Recently Deleted" any longer than the phone does. So it's really important to look carefully at the Recently Deleted pictures before deleting them permanently. Unfortunately, there is no 2nd safety feature in case you didn't heed the warning for the first.
You may have accidentally Hidden the pictures-- if so, then you should look in the Hidden Album in Utilities in the Collections section:
Be sure to check your Library thoroughly-- the pictures may not be where you expect, as dates may have changed. You can use the search field with the date or location. And remember, you can sort the Library by date captured or by date added. Also, your Library view now has filters, and you may not have your filter set to "All Items.”
Unfortunately, if you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look. With your iPhone 15, you can just plug in an external drive, select pictures, and choose "Share>Save to Files" to make safe copies of your pictures.
