technology1234 wrote: I had an iCloud Note containing photos/videos. I accidentally deleted the note, emptied Notes' Recently Deleted folder, then deleted the photos I had saved to Photos and emptied Photos' Recently Deleted.
Before you push that final delete button from Recently Deleted, you get this warning:
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. As the warning implies, 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 items before deleting them permanently.
Unfortunately, there is no extra safety feature in case we don't heed the warning for the first safety.
It's very useful to have Settings>Apple ID>iCloud Backup turned on. However, when you use iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Notes, etc, the backup doesn't double up by having that stuff in the Mobile Backup, too-- that would be using twice as much of your storage.
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.”
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.
