How to find and recover deleted photos on iPhone

Deleted something you need? Don’t delete anything else for now. On iPhone, a deleted photo is rarely gone at once: it waits in Recently Deleted for 30 days. And a photo that seems deleted is often only hidden, or showing in another view of your library. Here is how to find it, tested on iOS 27 in the Simulator and checked against Apple’s own guide.

Where to find deleted photos on iPhone

Where you look depends on what happened to the photo. Find your case:

What happened	Where the photo is	What to do
You swiped it away in a cleaner app but never confirmed a deletion	Still in your library	Put it back in the app, or simply keep it
You deleted it in the last 30 days	Recently Deleted	Recover it, see below
You hid it	Hidden	Unhide it
It was in a Shared Library, or the library is filtered	Another library view	Switch the view or clear the filter
More than 30 days ago, removed from Recently Deleted, or iCloud was full	No longer on your iPhone or in iCloud	Look for a copy kept somewhere else

Recover photos from Recently Deleted

Videos and photos go to the same place, so these steps work for both.

1. Open Photos and tap Collections.
2. Scroll to Utilities and tap Recently Deleted.
3. Tap View Album and unlock with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
4. Tap Select, then tap each photo or video you want back.
5. Tap the More button at the top, tap Recover, then confirm with Recover 2 Photos (the button counts your selection).

The photos go straight back into your library. Their date does not change, so a photo taken last summer returns to last summer, not to today. If you cannot spot it, sort your library by date and jump to the month it was taken.

To bring everything back, tap Select without choosing any photo, tap the More button and tap Recover All. Apple’s menu puts Delete All right above it, so read before you tap: Delete All removes every item for good. If an empty library is what you want, how to delete all photos from iPhone is the guide for that.

To check one photo first, tap its thumbnail. It opens full screen with its date, and Delete and Recover buttons at the bottom. Tap Recover, then Recover Photo.

With iCloud Photos on, Recently Deleted is the same on all your devices, so a photo you recover on your iPhone comes back on your iPad and Mac too.

How long you have: 30 days, with one exception

Deleted photos and videos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Tap the info button next to the item count and Photos explains the number on each thumbnail: it is the days left before deletion. After that, Apple’s guide says the items are removed for good: from your iPhone and, with iCloud Photos, from iCloud and every other device on your Apple Account.

Two things make a deletion final sooner:

• You delete the item from Recently Deleted, one by one or with Delete All. There is no undo.
• Your iCloud storage is over its limit. Apple warns that in that case photos and videos you delete are removed immediately and are not available in Recently Deleted. The guide to a full iCloud storage explains how to get back under the limit.

While you search, leave Recently Deleted alone. Items there do not count toward your iCloud storage, so there is no rush to empty it. They do still use space on the iPhone, which only matters if it is full: iPhone storage full covers that.

Recently Deleted is empty or the photo is missing

A photo that is not in Recently Deleted may never have been deleted. Go through these before you give up on it. Apple’s article on missing photos lists most of the same checks.

Is it hidden?

Apple’s guide is clear: hidden photos move to the Hidden collection and you can’t view them anywhere else, so they are missing from your library and albums. iOS tells you where they go when you hide one.

1. In Collections, scroll to Utilities and tap Hidden.
2. Tap View Album and unlock.
3. Touch and hold the photo, or open it and tap the More button, then tap Unhide.

No Hidden in Utilities? It can be turned off: go to Settings › Apps › Photos and turn on Show Hidden Album.

Is it in Recovered?

If a photo or video was not saved properly and could not be added to your library, Apple’s guide says a copy may be in Recovered, in Utilities. If your Utilities list shows it, open it and restore the photo to your library. Do not delete anything there unless you are sure: Apple says items deleted from Recovered cannot be recovered.

Are you looking at the right library?

• Shared Library. If you share a library with family, some photos only appear in some views. In Collections, tap your account picture at the top right and, under Library View Options, choose Both Libraries.
• Filters. The sort button in Library can filter the grid to Favorites, one media type or a keyword. Set it back to All Items. If screenshots are missing, check View Options › Show › Screenshots: when it is unchecked, screenshots stay out of the grid but are still in Media Types › Screenshots.
• Years and Months. These views show a selection of your best shots, so a photo can be missing there and still be in All.

Is iCloud Photos on, with the right Apple Account?

If the photo was taken on another device, or before a change in your settings, it may simply not be on this iPhone yet. Go to Settings, tap your name, then iCloud › Photos and check that Sync this iPhone is on. Your Apple Account is the email address under your name: it must be the same one on the device the photo came from. After turning sync on, connect to Wi-Fi and give it a few minutes.

Search for it

Type what you remember in Search: a place, a person, a word that appears in the photo. Recently Viewed and Recently Saved in Utilities are worth a look too, for a photo you just opened or saved from another app.

Can you find deleted photos on iCloud.com?

With iCloud Photos on, Photos on iCloud.com gives you another way to reach the same library when your iPhone is not available. Apple’s photo-recovery instructions explain how to use Recently Deleted on the website. Use the Apple Account that held the photos.

This is the same recovery window, not a second backup. A synced deletion reaches iCloud too. A photo removed permanently or already past its recovery window does not get another 30 days on the website. If iCloud Photos was never enabled for that photo, the website may not have a copy at all; check the other copies below.

When a photo is gone for good

If a photo left Recently Deleted, your iPhone and iCloud no longer have it. No setting brings it back, and PrunePic cannot either. What you can still find is a copy that was made before you deleted it:

• A computer you imported or synced photos to, such as the Photos library on a Mac.
• Another cloud service that backed up your camera roll, such as Google Photos, Dropbox or OneDrive. Look in its own trash too.
• Messages and chats. A photo you sent someone still exists in that conversation. It may be a smaller copy, but it is better than nothing.
• Shared Albums may still contain a copy you shared. Apple’s Shared Albums guidance explains how to save it. Older shared items may be reduced-resolution copies; new or upgraded albums on iOS 27 support full-resolution sharing, so check the actual copy available.
• An iPhone backup made before the deletion, on a computer, or in iCloud if iCloud Photos was off. Restoring a backup replaces everything on your iPhone with its contents, so anything newer would be lost. Treat it as a last resort and ask Apple Support first.

Prevent the next scare

• iCloud Photos is sync, not backup. A deletion on one device reaches all of them. The guide to deleting photos from iPhone but not iCloud explains how that works, and why a second copy elsewhere is the only real safety net.
• Don’t empty Recently Deleted right after a cleanup. Wait a few days unless you need the space. That is your window to notice a mistake.
• Review before anything is deleted. A cleanup that asks you to confirm in batches gives you a moment to look at what is going.

Where PrunePic fits: before you delete

PrunePic is not a recovery tool. What it gives you is an extra step before a photo is deleted. When you swipe a photo away, nothing leaves your library: it waits in the PrunePic Trash, where you can tap Put Back or check it full screen. Only when you empty the trash and confirm in iOS do the photos move to Recently Deleted, and from there everything above applies.

1. 1You swipe leftThe photo is queued. It is still in your library.
2. 2PrunePic TrashPut it back any time. Undo reverses your last swipe.
3. 3You empty the trashiOS asks you to confirm the deletion.
4. 4Recently DeletedKept in the Photos app for up to 30 days. You can still recover it.
5. 5Gone for goodAfter 30 days, or when you delete it from Recently Deleted.

So if you just cleaned up with PrunePic and miss a photo, check the PrunePic Trash first. If you already emptied it, open Recently Deleted.

Common mistakes

• Emptying Recently Deleted while you are still looking. Delete All there is final.
• Assuming iCloud keeps a copy. With iCloud Photos on, iCloud deletes it too.
• Restoring an old backup first. It replaces everything on the iPhone. Check Recently Deleted, Hidden and your library view before anything drastic.
• Searching only the library grid. Hidden photos never appear there, and filters or a Shared Library view can leave photos out.

The bottom line

Most deleted photos are a few taps away: Collections › Recently Deleted, Select, More, Recover. You have 30 days, unless iCloud was full. If the photo is not there, check Hidden, your library view and your Apple Account. Once a photo leaves Recently Deleted, only a copy you kept elsewhere can bring it back.