Is It Possible to Recover Photos After You Permanently Delete Them from iCloud?

My iCloud Photos Are Permanently Gone, Can a Backup Still Save Them?

Yes, it is sometimes possible to recover photos after they have been permanently deleted from iCloud. Your success depends on your iCloud settings and how much time has passed since the photos were deleted.

It is a terrible feeling. You are cleaning up your iPhone to make space, and you get a little too fast with your fingers. A precious photo disappears. You check your “Recently Deleted” album, but it is not there. You have permanently deleted it. That word, permanent, feels so final. But in the digital world, sometimes permanent is not forever. There are a few special ways you might be able to get that photo back. This guide will walk you through your options, from the simplest checks to the more complex recovery methods. Think of this as your map to finding lost digital treasures. We will go step-by-step, using simple language to make everything clear.

Are Your Photos Really Gone?

Before we try any recovery methods, we need to understand how iCloud handles your photos. This is the most important part. Your recovery options depend entirely on one setting: iCloud Photos.

Your iPhone can store photos in two main ways with iCloud:

iCloud Photos is ON

When this setting is on, iCloud acts like a mirror. Every photo you take on your iPhone is copied to iCloud and all your other Apple devices, like your iPad or Mac. If you delete a photo from your iPhone, the mirror reflects that change, and the photo is deleted from iCloud and all your other devices too. It goes into a “Recently Deleted” folder everywhere for 30 days. After that, it is gone.

iCloud Photos is OFF

When this setting is off, iCloud does not mirror your photo library. Instead, your photos are saved as part of a general device backup, called an iCloud Backup. This backup is like a snapshot of your whole phone taken at a specific time. It includes your photos, contacts, app data, and settings. These backups happen automatically when your phone is charging, connected to Wi-Fi, and locked.

Knowing which setting you used is the key that unlocks the right recovery method. If you are not sure, you can check right now. Go to Settings, tap your name at the top, then tap iCloud, and finally tap Photos. The switch next to “Sync this iPhone” will tell you if it is on or off.

First Stop: The Recently Deleted Album

This is the first place you should always look, even if you think a photo is permanently gone. Sometimes we make mistakes. The “Recently Deleted” album is Apple’s safety net. It holds onto your deleted photos and videos for 30 days before they are truly erased.

How to Check on Your iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Photos app. It has a colorful flower icon.
2. Tap on the Albums tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Scroll all the way down. Under the “Other Albums” section, you will see Recently Deleted. Tap on it.
4. If you see your missing photo here, you are in luck. Tap on the photo.
5. Tap the Recover button at the bottom right. The photo will instantly go back to your main library.
6. If you need to recover many photos, tap the Select button at the top right. Tap on all the photos you want to save, then tap Recover.

How to Check on Your Mac

1. Open the Photos application on your Mac computer.
2. On the left side panel, look for Recently Deleted. Click on it.
3. Find the photo or photos you want to bring back. Click to select them.
4. Click the Recover button in the top right corner of the window. Your photos will return to your library.

If your photo was in the “Recently Deleted” album, your search is over. But if it was not there, it means the 30-day window has passed, or you manually emptied this folder. Now we move on to the methods for recovering truly “permanent” deletions.

Method 1: Restore from an iCloud Backup

This method can feel like a miracle, but it only works if you had iCloud Photos turned OFF. If you had iCloud Photos turned on, your photos were not included in your iCloud Backups, so you can skip this section.

When iCloud Photos is off, your photos are part of your phone’s big backup file. If you deleted a photo on June 10th, but your phone made a backup on June 8th, that photo should still be inside the June 8th backup. To get it, you have to erase your phone and restore it from that older backup. This is a big step, so we must be careful.

Restoring an old backup is like time travel for your phone. You will get your old photo back, but you will lose everything you have added to your phone since that backup was made. This includes new photos, text messages, and app updates.

Create a Safety Net Backup First

Before you travel back in time, it is smart to save your current reality. We will make a new backup of your phone exactly as it is right now. This is your safety net. If the old backup does not contain your photo, you can use this new backup to return your phone to its present state without losing any more data.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Scroll down and tap iCloud Backup.
5. Make sure the switch for “iCloud Backup” is on.
6. Tap Back Up Now. Wait for the backup to complete.

Erase and Restore Your iPhone

Once your new safety net backup is complete, you are ready to erase your phone. This part can be scary, but as long as you have your backups, your data is safe.

1. Go back to the main Settings page.
2. Tap General.
3. Scroll to the very bottom and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
5. Your phone will ask you to confirm. Follow the instructions on the screen. It will take a few minutes for your phone to erase itself and restart.

When your iPhone turns back on, it will be like a brand new phone. Follow the setup steps. You will choose your language and connect to Wi-Fi. Then, you will reach a screen called “Apps & Data.” This is the important part.

1. On the “Apps & Data” screen, choose the option that says Restore from iCloud Backup.
2. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
3. You will see a list of your available backups. Each one will have a date.
4. Carefully choose a backup from a date before you deleted the photo. Do not choose the safety net backup you just made.
5. Your phone will now begin restoring from that old backup. This can take some time, depending on how much data is in the backup.
6. Once the process is finished, your phone will restart. Open the Photos app. With luck, your lost photo will be there.

If the photo is not there, it means it was not in that backup either. You can now repeat the erase and restore process, but this time, choose the safety net backup you made earlier to get all your recent data back.

Method 2: Download from iCloud.com

This is another method for a very specific situation. It might work if you turned off iCloud Photos on one of your devices, but left it on for iCloud itself.

Let’s imagine this. You have an iPhone and a Mac. You turned off iCloud Photos sync on your iPhone because you wanted to delete some pictures from your phone without deleting them from your Mac. You then deleted a bunch of photos from your iPhone. Because sync was off, those photos were not deleted from iCloud.com or your Mac. They should still be safe in the cloud.

This method lets you check iCloud’s main server to see if the photos are still there.

1. On a computer, open a web browser like Safari, Chrome, or Firefox.
2. Go to the website icloud.com.
3. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
4. You will see a grid of app icons. Click on the Photos icon.
5. Take your time and look through the photo library here. This is what is stored directly on Apple’s servers.
6. If you find your missing photo or photos, you can download them to your computer.
7. Click on a photo to select it. To select multiple photos, hold down the Command key on a Mac or the Ctrl key on a PC while you click.
8. Look for a cloud icon with a downward arrow in the top right corner of the screen. This is the Download button. Click it.
9. The photos will be saved to your computer’s “Downloads” folder.

Once the photos are on your computer, you can easily get them back to your iPhone. You can email them to yourself, send them through AirDrop, or sync them using a cable.

A Word of Caution on Third-Party Tools

If you search online, you will find many programs and apps that claim they can recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud. These are called third-party recovery tools. They often promise to find files even after they are long gone.

You should be very careful with these tools. While some might work in very rare cases, many do not. They work on the idea that when a file is deleted, it is not immediately wiped from a server. The space is just marked as available. These tools try to scan for those leftover bits of data before they are overwritten.

Small Window of Opportunity

These tools have the best chance of working if you use them within a few hours of deleting the photo. After a day or two, Apple’s servers will likely have cleaned up that space, and the photo will be gone for good.

Security Risks

Many of these programs will ask for your Apple ID and password. Giving your login information to an unknown company is a major security risk.

Costs and Guarantees

Most of these tools are not free. They will scan your device and show you thumbnails of what they found, but to actually recover the files, they will ask you to pay. There is no guarantee that the recovered file will not be corrupted or that it is the right one.

If you have tried everything else and are desperate, this is a last resort. If you decide to try one, please research the company thoroughly and read independent reviews before you download anything or pay any money.

How to Prevent Losing Photos in the Future

The best way to deal with deleted photos is to prevent them from getting lost in the first place. A good backup plan is your best defense against accidents. Remember, iCloud Photos is a syncing service, not a backup service. If you delete a photo, it syncs that deletion everywhere. A true backup is a separate, safe copy that is not affected by your daily changes.

Use a Second Cloud Service

Consider using another service just for photos. Google Photos and Amazon Photos are two popular options. You can set up these apps on your iPhone to automatically upload every picture you take. If you accidentally delete a photo from your iPhone and iCloud, you will still have a safe copy in your other cloud account. Many Amazon Prime members get unlimited full-resolution photo storage with Amazon Photos.

Back Up to a Computer

You can also back up your photos the old-fashioned way: by saving them to a computer.

• On a Mac, you can connect your iPhone with a cable and import your photos directly into the Photos app.
• On a Windows PC, you can connect your iPhone and use the Photos app in Windows to import your pictures and videos.
• It is a good habit to do this once a month. Store these photos on your computer’s hard drive or an external hard drive. This gives you a physical copy that you control completely.

By having a second or even a third copy of your photos, you protect your memories from being lost to a single accidental tap. It takes a little effort to set up, but it gives you priceless peace of mind.