7 Ways to Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone with/without Backup

I had an iPhone 13 Pro Max and I accidentally deleted some of my previous photos last weekend. These photos are important to me so I really want to recover my deleted photos. Please tell me how to retrieve deleted photos?

Like the user mentioned above, the unexpected deletion of our photos on an iPhone could be a disaster. Except for mistaken deletion, some other operations can also result in iPhone photos being deleted or lost: a failed jailbreak, iOS update issues, iTunes sync errors, or iPhone viruses, etc.

Then, where are deleted photos on iPhone? How to retrieve deleted photos on iPhone? Here we will introduce everything about iPhone photo recovery, and all the proven ways to find deleted photos, including recently deleted or permanently deleted. No matter whether we have an iPhone backup or not, there is a chance to restore deleted photos, including recovering deleted photos from text messages on iPhone. Now, keep reading and get deleted photos back on your iPhone!

Where are Recently Deleted Photos on iPhone?

Are permanently deleted photos gone forever iPhone? The answer is No. If you accidentally deleted photos on iPhone, you can first find recently deleted photos easily.

Apple has added a feature to iOS devices to help us recover recently deleted photos since iOS 8. If you are running with iOS 8 or later iOS version, where you can find deleted photos from the Recently Deleted album in the Photos. And, the album will store your deleted photos for 30 days, so that you can get enough time to restore them back to iPhone’s Camera Roll or other albums.

Note: For photos deleted beyond this period or lost due to restores or syncs, they may still exist in your iPhone’s internal storage until overwritten. To recover these, you need a professional tool like PhoneRescue for iOS, which offers a one-click, secure solution with a high success rate.

Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone from Recently Deleted Feature

Before retrieving deleted photos from iPhone via the “Recently Deleted” feature, there are several things you need to know firstly:

• You can find and recover recently deleted photos and videos from the Recently Deleted album.
• Recently Deleted album keeps deleted photos for 30 days. Once it gets to the deadline, you need to recover the permanently deleted photos on iPhone.
• Recently Deleted Feature applies when you delete a single or a small number of photos from your iPhone. You are unable to recover pictures if you get the entire Camera Roll lost or disappeared when restoring iDevice, syncing your iCloud, or updating iOS.

To recover deleted photos or pictures from iPhone via the “Recently Deleted” feature, you need to perform the following steps on your iPhone:

1. Go to Photos App > Tap on Albums > Scroll down to find the Recently Deleted album.
2. Open Recently Deleted album > Preview the recently deleted photos and check if there are photos you want to recover.
3. Click Select > Select the photos you want to recover > Tap on Recover in the bottom right corner.

This method works well for recently deleted items, but only within the 30-day window. Once the album clears, your photos are gone from there. That’s when you’ll need a stronger solution – a tool that can recover permanently deleted photos directly from your iPhone, even without backup.

Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone without Backup

If your photos are not in the Recently Deleted album and you don’t have a backup, don’t give up. With PhoneRescue for iOS, you still have a great chance to recover them. Unlike iTunes or iCloud, which only restore from backups,  iPhone Data Recovery- PhoneRescue for iOS, scans your iPhone directly and retrieves deleted photos that haven’t been overwritten. That means you can recover lost pictures in just a few clicks – safely and without erasing your current data.

• Fitted with the advanced smart scan technique, it will scan your iPhone thoroughly to list all deleted and hidden files and data only if they are not overwritten.
• It allows you to download software free, and scan your iPhone for deleted files for free. Before helping you find deleted iPhone photos, you needn’t pay for them.
• Except for recovering deleted iPhone photos, 20+ types of iPhone files are also supported, like deleted messages, contacts, notes, calendar events, call history, etc.
• Works well with all the iPhone models, including the latest iPhone 13, iPhone 12/11/11 Pro(Max), or older models.

Follow the steps below to recover permanently deleted photos after deleting from recently deleted:

Step 1. Get PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer, install and launch it > Connect your iPhone to the computer with its USB cable, and select Recover from iOS Device.

Step 2. By default, all categories will be selected. Please uncheck the Select All option and then choose Photos only. PhoneRescue for iOS will scan your iPhone to list all the deleted but not overwritten photos.

Step 3. When the scanning is finished, you will find all the photos listed on the right, including your recently deleted items. Preview and select the photos you want to recover and then click the To Device or To Computer button to recover the photos to iPhone’s Photos App directly or download them to the computer.

How Do I Retrieve Photos from iCloud to My iPhone?

If you often use iCloud to backup your photos, congratulations, you can easily recover your lost photos from iCloud:

1. Go to the iCloud web page and sign in to your iCloud account and password.
2. Tap on Photos.
3. Click Recently Deleted from the left panel. Here you can find the deleted iPhone photos, which will be permanently deleted after the remaining days.
4. Select them and click Recover.

Further Reading:

• How to Recover Snapchat Photos on iPhone >
• How to Recover WhatsApp Images Deleted by Sender on iPhone >

Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone via iTunes

Besides saving media files such as music, iTunes can also help you recover the data you want when you lose it, but only if you have used iTunes to back up your iPhone before losing your photos. Again, this recovery process is simple and easy to follow:

Step 1. Open iTunes/Finder on your PC/Mac.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to your computer with the USB cable.

Step 3. After your iPhone is recognized, click on the phone-like logo in the top left corner of iTunes.

Step 4. Once you get to the iPhone data screen, click Summary and under Backups you will see Restore Backup.

Step 5. If you have previously backed up multiple backups, you can select the latest backup to restore. Minutes later, your photos will be recovered successfully.

Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone without iTunes or iCloud

Restoring with iTunes or iCloud often means replacing everything on your iPhone, and you can’t preview what’s inside the backup. That’s risky if you only need specific photos.

With PhoneRescue for iOS, you can preview your backups first, then selectively restore only the photos you want – without wiping your current data.

You can check how can PhoneRescue for iOS help you find deleted photos here:

Steps to Recover Deleted iPhone Photos from iTunes Backup:

Step 1. Get PhoneRescue for iOS installed on your computer > Run it and connect iPhone to the computer > Select Recover from Backup > Click Right Arrow on the bottom right corner.

Step 2. Select the right iTunes backup from the list of iTunes backups, and click Right Arrow to proceed. You can choose to scan all data on backup or get only the differences between iPhone and backup.

Step 3. By default, all categories will be selected. Please uncheck the Select All option and then choose Photos.

Step 4. After analysis and scan, preview if they are the photos you want to recover > Select them and then click the To Device button to get them back to your iPhone’s Photos app or click the To Computer button to recover them to the computer. And you can back to scan other iTunes backup lists to restore more photos.

If you backed up your iPhone to iCloud before deleting your photos, you can back to the homepage of PhoneRescue for iOS and choose Recover from iCloud to view photos in the iCloud backup and recover deleted iPhone photos from iCloud backup.

How to Recover Deleted Pictures from iPhone with Messaging Apps

If you have used WhatsApp, Viber and other iMessage apps to share your photos with anyone, then you have a chance to find your lost photos from these apps. Because even if you have deleted a photo, as long as you have sent this photo, it will still exist on the app’s servers. However, it is worth noting that the quality of the recovered photos in this method may be lower than the original photos.

Some applications, such as Messenger and Viber, allow you to view all your shared media in one place. This makes it easy to browse all the pictures you have shared with a contact and extract the ones you want to recover. In other cases, you may need to use filters to bring out the information you want.

How to Find Hidden Photos on Your iPhone

Sometimes, if you can’t find some photos, it is possible that they are not lost, but hidden.

Here’s how to unhide photos:

1. Open Photos app and go to Albums tab.
2. Tap Unhide Album.
3. Select missing photos, click on  icon and then tap Unhide.

How to Avoid iPhone Photos Deleted or Disappeared Again

To avoid iPhone photos or other data lost again, back up your iPhone regularly. And you can transfer photos to a computer quickly and easily with AnyTrans. Besides, you can view and manage iCloud backup files with it.

You can consider making a full backup of your iPhone with iTunes, or just transfer your iPhone photos to your computer for backup by AnyTrans just like the following screenshot shows:

Step 1. Install and launch AnyTrans on your computer and connect your iPhone. Click Photos.

Step 2. View all iPhone photos on the computer, including My Photos, Photo Stream, Recently Deleted, etc. Click To PC/Mac to backup iPhone photos.

If you need to manage iCloud photos, back to the homepage and choose iCloud Manager. Log into your Apple ID. Then you can view all iCloud photos on your computer.

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to iPhone Directly >

The Bottom Line

After reading this guide about how to recover deleted photos from your iPhone, you may retrieve deleted iPhone photos successfully, or have learned lessons – once you get your iPhone photos deleted or lost, you have a chance to get them back, but no one can guarantee you “100% success rate of recovery”. Therefore, back up your iPhone photos and other content regularly to avoid such problems in the future. Don’t forget to download PhoneRescue for iOS to have a try.