I didn't realize that iCloud was backing up my photos, so I deleted all of them from my phone's gallery and storage. Now my photos are not accessible on iCloud either. Is there a way to get them back?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Photos recovery
iPhone 17 Pro, iOS 26
I'm sorry, no.
When we selected pictures to remove them from "Recently Deleted," we get this warning before the final step:
It says "This will delete the selected photos from iCloud and all connected devices." We should take this warning seriously.
A great safety feature on the iPhone is that 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 we didn't heed the warning for the first safety.
If you don't use iCloud Photos, but you have Settings>Apple ID>iCloud Backup turned on, then you may be able to recover data. You should look here:
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
“Restore” is what you do when you buy a new phone, so this safety, if you have it set, requires you to erase everything on your phone and replace it with the backup. Pictures that are kept in iCloud Photos are not included in iCloud Backup.
Unfortunately, if you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look. You can backup pictures to a computer or just save them to an external drive. You can see this:
Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC
I'm sorry, no.
When we selected pictures to remove them from "Recently Deleted," we get this warning before the final step:
It says "This will delete the selected photos from iCloud and all connected devices." We should take this warning seriously.
A great safety feature on the iPhone is that 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 we didn't heed the warning for the first safety.
If you don't use iCloud Photos, but you have Settings>Apple ID>iCloud Backup turned on, then you may be able to recover data. You should look here:
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
“Restore” is what you do when you buy a new phone, so this safety, if you have it set, requires you to erase everything on your phone and replace it with the backup. Pictures that are kept in iCloud Photos are not included in iCloud Backup.
Unfortunately, if you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look. You can backup pictures to a computer or just save them to an external drive. You can see this:
Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC
How to recover deleted photos from iCloud backup on iPhone?
