How to Recover Lost Photos on your iPhone

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The Apple iPhone is one of the most popular electronics ever made. Apple released the first iPhone in 2007, revolutionizing the smartphone market; and introducing a new age of touch screen mobile devices. Almost 2 billion iPhones have been sold since then. And unfortunately, at least a few of those iPhones have suffered some sort of photo loss.

Whether you've shattered your screen, accidentally deleted your most recent vacation photos, or factory reset your phone, you might be wondering:

How do I get my photos back?

Options for iPhone Photo Recovery

Recover iPhone Photos from the Recently Deleted Folder

The iPhone Operating System (iOS) has implemented an elegant solution to photo recovery. If a user accidentally deletes photos, they can be easily restored by navigating to the recently deleted folder.

Step 1. Open the photos app and navigate to the albums option.

Step 2. Scroll down and select the ‘recently deleted album’.

Step 3. Select the photos you want to recover and click the ‘recover photos’ option.

Recover iPhone Photos using iTunes

Warning: Recovering iPhone photos using an iTunes backup will delete all data you have created since the last backup. Another option for iPhone photo recovery is using iTunes to restore your iPhone to a previous build. This approach is contingent upon the user having made a backup before photos were deleted.

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the laptop or desktop where you made the backup. Trust the computer.

Step 2. Select your device and click the ‘summary’ option.

Step 3. Choose the ‘restore backup’ option and select the backup you intend to roll back to.

Step 4. Click the ‘restore’ button to begin the restoration process. Wait for the backup to finish.

Recover iPhone Photos Using iCloud

Warning: Restoring your iPhone to an iCloud backup will delete all data you have created since the most recent iCloud backup. To ensure that this is the best recovery strategy, you can review the contents of your most recent iCloud backup by going to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Storage > Backups.

If you have lost photos from your iPhone that exist in an iCloud backup, you are in luck, as you can redownload your data from the iCloud. It is worth noting that when you restore an iPhone from an iCloud backup, you will lose all data created since that backup.

Step 1. Navigate to settings, click the ‘general’ option, followed by the ‘reset’ option.

Step 2. Click ‘Erase All Content and Settings’.

Step 3. Select the ‘Restore from iCloud Backup’ option.

Step 4. Authenticate using your Apple ID and select the backup that you want to restore.

Bring your iPhone to Micro Center for Photo Recovery

Micro Center has stores across the United States and we offer computer and smartphone repair services. If you encounter photo loss on an iPhone, and you bring the device to Micro Center, this is what you can expect.

First, a Micro Center certified technician will conduct a preliminary attempt at retrieving your deleted files. If they successfully recover your photos, your issue will be solved immediately, and you can bring the device home.

If your data recovery case requires complex data recovery methods, Micro Center will work with a specialized data recovery lab to restore your photos. While this scenario involves shipping your phone off site, advanced data recovery often requires specialized techniques and equipment that is not available in every Micro Center location.

If the data recovery operation is successful, Micro Center will transfer your files to a new storage medium and then reach out to you to finalize recovery.

Two Quick Data Recovery FAQs

What if my data is gone after a factory reset of my IOS device?

When you factory reset an iPhone or iPad, the data loss from the perspective of the device is permanent. Data is stored on the device fully encrypted. When you factory reset the phone, the 100% unique and un-hackable encryption key is permanently wiped. The only hope for recovery is from a backup.

What if my iPhone or iPad is physically broken, won’t turn on, or won’t complete the boot process?

Micro Center can help. We need to send it to the data recovery lab for diagnosis and recovery. We will require your authentication codes to access the information.

If you're looking to get your data backed up or photos recovered, stop in at any of our 25 stores nationwide. Or, check out our online Data Backup and Recovery Services page for more information!