Missing Photos from iCloud despite having backed up my iPod on numerous occassions. Any one know if I can recover and how?!

On checking my iCloud account I discover that I am missing all my photos (both from stream and from backups) from iCloud despite having backed up my iPod on numerous occassions. Any one know if I can recover and how?!

iPod touch

Posted on Mar 7, 2017 5:58 AM

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12 replies

Mar 11, 2017 4:03 PM in response to GJC2017

I did not turn on iCloud photos previously on my iPod. I did however back up the iPod many times to iCloud but somehow it does not appear to have backed up my photos.


You will not see photos that are "backed up" on iCloud.com. You can only see photos that are synced using iCloud Photo Library, which you say you do not have enabled.


Your only chance to see your photos is to erase your iPod and choose the iCloud backup from the Apps & Data page of the iOS setup assistant.


This will restore whatever photos are in that backup, BUT will overwrite anything on your iPd created since that backup was created.


So, on Friday you restore a backup created on Monday, you will lose Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's data.

Mar 8, 2017 4:45 AM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric Root,

Thank you for your reply and your suggestions. I checked on iCloud.com but all that appears when I click on the iCloud Photos App is just a standard 'Welcome to iCloud Photos' message, there is no area to look for recently deleted album. I did not turn on iCloud photos previously on my iPod. I did however back up the iPod many times to iCloud but somehow it does not appear to have backed up my photos. I wonder if Apple might have pervious backups done from my device that might contain the photos and thus be able to download them from these?!

Mar 8, 2017 6:37 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks again Eric Root, I checked but unfortunately there are no backups available from the iPhoto App section on iCloud for my account. I guess I will contact Apple support and see if they can work it out for me. I did take a look under the Settings section on my iCloud account and I can see that very little of my available storage was used and of that used it only mentions documents and contacts...so it is not looking promising. I think during the switch to iCloud photo library back in 2015 my photos uploaded but then somewhere along the line when trying to download them back from iCloud photos they have got misplaced...somewhere.

Mar 9, 2017 5:00 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks again Eric Root, I will double check the iCloud Storage on my device before I call Apple Support who can check in more detail from their side...but my iPod is in need of repair so I will wait till it is working properly. As it is currently not functioning so I was trying to check the storage from the online iCloud account from my computer. Thank you for your help. 🙂

Mar 14, 2017 6:43 AM in response to LACAllen

Thank you for your suggestions LACAllen,

I did note there were three available backups and restored from each in turn but still no photos were available. I think the reason may have been when I first turned on iCloud Photo Library and it uploaded my photos and removed them automatically from my device. Subsequently, when I turned off iCloud Photo Library on my device, and when the photos were meant to download back onto my device this is where the issue has occurred and the photos were lost. I may still contact Apple support and have them check on their iCloud Support Tool. to see if they can find a log of all pervious backups and perhaps even locate the missing images. Thank you once again for all your advice....very much appreciated. 🙂

Mar 14, 2017 8:09 AM in response to GJC2017

I think the reason may have been when I first turned on iCloud Photo Library and it uploaded my photos and removed them automatically from my device.


That just does not happen. There is no setting anywhere for automatic deletion from your device after uploading to iCloud.


When you turn the library off on your iPod, you will be advised the photos on your iPod will be removed. This does not affect your photos on iCloud.com itself. They stay until you remove them manually.


So after turning off the library on your iPod, all photos are still safely in iCloud and accessible on iCloud.com.


The only way photos on both your iPod and iCloud would be removed at the same time is if you removed them from either location, while the library was being synced.


That does not include when you turn off the library on the iPod. That does not trigger the syncing.


If the photos you are missing were from your Photo Stream, note they are not ever visible on iCloud.com, and are stored by Apple for 30 days or 1000 photos. It is temporary storage.

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Missing Photos from iCloud despite having backed up my iPod on numerous occassions. Any one know if I can recover and how?!

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