How To Get Old Photos From Icloud

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For many people, photos are the most important files stored on their iPhones. Losing them would be catastrophic. The good news is that even if some (or all) of your iCloud photos are deleted, there are a few ways to recover them.

How to Recover Deleted Files From iCloud

To recover deleted files, open Safari and connect to the iCloud website. Log in with your Apple ID and make sure the account is associated with the iCloud Drive that hosts the files to restore.

Once signed in, click the "Settings" button.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen, below the "Advanced" section. Click "Restore Files."
The file restoration window will appear. If there have been many files deleted in iCloud within the last 30 days, the site may need time to load and list them. Once a list of deleted files appears, you'll be able to see their previous location in iCloud Drive. You will also see file sizes and the time remaining until they expire.
To restore a file, click the checkbox next to it and click "Restore." Select multiple files, if needed.
When completed, iCloud will display a message confirming that the file was successfully restored.

Deleted photos can be recovered from the Photos app on an iPhone.

How to Recover Deleted Photos From an iPhone

Thankfully, photos aren't gone forever when they're initially deleted from an iPhone. It is possible to also recover deleted photos right from the iPhone Photos app.

Where do deleted photos go?

"Recently Deleted" folder/album is the "trash can" for the Photos app. When the iPhone trash can is tapped, deleted iPhone photos are first stored in that location. They are saved for 30 days before permanent deletion.

Instructions to recover deleted photos on an iPhone

Photos can be immediately recovered while still located in the Recently Deleted album on an iPhone. Here's how to recover deleted photos from the iPhone camera roll through the Photos app:

Open the Photos app.
Scroll down to the "Recently Deleted" album (listed under "Utilities").
Select "Recently Deleted."
Choose "Select" from the top right of the screen.
Tap on the images you'd like to restore. You can also tap "Recover All" to mark everything in the folder. A pop-up appears to confirm the action.
Tap "Recover" on the bottom right of the screen.
Select "Recover Photo."

Once recovered, the photos return to the Photos library folders where they lived before deletion.

iCloud Backup Recovery

An iCloud backup comes to the rescue if data is permanently lost, deleted, or if an iPhone is damaged or broken. The disadvantage of this is that all deleted files will need to be reinstalled from the recovered backup on iCloud Drive. This includes not only the photos but all apps, data, text messages, etc. It may be worth a try, however. Here's what to do:

Back up the phone to iCloud. If something goes wrong during the backup or you don't like the older backup's content and don't mind giving up the photos, you can return to the current configuration.
After the backup is complete, perform a factory reset. Then restore the phone from a backup that's old enough to include the lost or deleted photos.
When the restore is complete, check the Photos app to see if the deleted photos have been recovered. If not, repeat the process and restore an older backup.
If the older backup has the photos, but you don't like the rest of the older version, email the images to yourself or upload them onto an external cloud service, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Then, return the phone to its later version.

When photos are easy to find, whether on an iPhone or through iCloud, it's easy to access your photos. Secure images mean you don't have to worry about losing birthday party or once-in-a-lifetime family getaway memories – they'll always be on hand to use, however, and whenever you want. For even greater security and accessibility of your most precious photos, create a printed photo book.

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A natural born storyteller based in NYC and the Catskills. Pairing stories with photos for safe keeping and telling.

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