I recently had my phone stolen and have since tried to retrieve my photos from iCloud. After logging in online I found that my library is empty. following a bit of research I have realized that I didn't turn on the photo stream in the settings, is it possible to access these photos? The photos are of a 4 month trip across Asia so I would really appreciate any help in getting them back.
Many thanks Matt
iPhone 5, iOS 8.1
Welcome to the Apple Community.
You can recover photos from a non-functional mobile device in one of three ways depending on how the phone was set up.
iCloud Photo Library.
If you had iCloud Photo Library enabled on the device, all of the photos on it should be mirrored to your iCloud storage space in the cloud. Simply signing into your iCloud account on your replacement device using the same ID as you used on your old device and enabling iCloud Photo Library (Settings > Photos & Camera) should cause your device to start downloading all your photos.
If you don't have a replacement device, you can always access your photos through a web browser at iCloud.com
My Photo Stream
If you had My Photo Stream enabled on the device, photos taken in the last 30 days should be mirrored to your Photo Stream space in the cloud. Simply signing into your iCloud account on your replacement device using the same ID as you used on your old device and enabling My Photo Stream (Settings > Photos & Camera) should cause your device to start downloading all your photos. Please note though that the 30 days is calculated from the current date, not the last time you took a photo.
Back Up.
If you don't have iCloud Photo Library enabled on your device, your photos should be included in your back up (providing you have your back up enabled)
If you opted to back up through iTunes the photos in your camera roll are automatically backed up for you, if you opted to back up to iCloud you have the option of turning the back up of photos in the camera roll off (Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage > Backups > This Device > Backup Options)
Assuming you do have a back up, your photos can be returned to your mobile device by undertaking a restore.
Thanks for the reply, I got a replacement device today and managed to get back the last 30 days photos. It appears I cannot get any more than that as iCloud says that I have never created a backup before. This seems unlikely as it backs up every time I connect to the computer. Do you have any ideas of how to gets this back up.
Once again, many thanks Matt
Then you need to restore from the iTunes back up you made, not from iCloud.
I Will give that a try when I get access to my computer
iCloud not showing any of my pictures
