Photos disappeared randomly
I was on my phone , then randomly about 200+ of my pictures just disappeared. They’re not on my iCloud, they aren’t in hidden or in my recently deleted . What do I do ?
iPhone 15, iOS 26
Question marked as
We can't possibly know what you might have done, but it sounds like you will need to rely on any backups that you've made. You can see this:
If you're missing photos or videos in the Photos app
Basically the above says to look in Recently Deleted and in Hidden. 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.”
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. You would have to get to the backup quickly before it's replaced by a newer one.
Unfortunately, if you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look. To back up your pictures you can just plug in an external drive, select the pictures, and use Share>Save to Files. Alternatively, you can backup to a computer:
Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC
If you haven't done one of those backups, then your remaining pictures continue to be in peril.