How to Recover Deleted iPhone Photos With or Without Backup

Penny Warren Published on December 04, 2024Recover Data3-min reading

"Recently, I accidentally deleted some precious photos on my iPhone, and they were permanently deleted, how can I recover deleted photos from my iPhone?" Photo deletion by mistake is a common problem. Plus, your photos may disappear due to other factors, like software errors, app conflict, and more. The good news is there are multiple ways of photo recovery in various situations. This guide demonstrates these methods with steps.

Part 1: Understand Photo Deletion on iPhone

Before finding deleted photos on your iPhone, let’s discuss where your photos go when you delete them. As long as you delete a photo in your Camera Roll, it will go to the built-in Recently Deleted album in the Photos app. 30 days later, the deleted photo will be permanently removed from your memory. Even if your photos are permanently deleted, you can find them in your iTunes/Finder or iCloud backup.

In fact, only the index of the photo file is removed but not the photo itself. The space is marked as empty and wait for new data. Before the photo file is overwritten, you can recover it with a powerful tool.

Part 2: How to Recover Recently Deleted Photos

As mentioned previously, the iPhone moves the deleted photos to the Recently Deleted album in your Photos app. Before the expiration date, you can get back deleted photos directly without backup. That is the easiest way of photo recovery on an iPhone.

Part 3: How to Restore iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos is a free service that automatically syncs all of your photos across all of your Apple devices including your iPhone. If you have turned on iCloud Photos on your device, it is possible to recuperate deleted pictures on your iPhone or desktop through an internet connection.

On iPhone

On Web

On Desktop

Part 4: How to Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone Backup

If you have backed up photos before deleting them, you can recover them from your backup. iTunes/Finder and iCloud are the common methods to back up iPhones. However, the downside is current data on your device will be erased or overwritten.

How to Restore Deleted Photos from iTunes/Finder Backup

To recover erased photos on iPhone from iTunes/Finder backup, you need a computer and a compatible cable. Plus, you must remember the password if the backup is encrypted. Before restoring the backup, you cannot open or view the data.

How to Retrieve Permanently Deleted Photos from iCloud Backup

If you prefer to back up your iPhone with iCloud, restoring iCloud backup allows you to recover completely deleted photos on your iPhone without a computer. This way requires a stable Wi-Fi network. Make sure that you have an iCloud backup. Plus, the photos that are synced to iCloud won’t be included in iCloud backup. Don't worry if you forget your iCloud password, for iCloud is the same as your Apple account.

Part 5: Ultimate Way to Recover Deleted Photos on iPhone Without Backup

Can you recover permanently deleted photos iPhone without backup? The answer is yes. Although your photos are deleted, they are still in your memory before overwritten. You just need a powerful tool to undo deleted pictures. From this point, we recommend imyPass iPhone Data Recovery.

Main Features of the Best iPhone Photo Recovery Software

1. Retrieve deleted photos from iPhone without backup.

2. Extract deleted photos from iTunes/iCloud backup without resetting the iPhone.

3. Preview deleted photos and recover specific items.

4. Support a wide range of image formats including HEIC.

5. Compatible with the latest versions of iPhones and iOS.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos Without Backup

Launch the best iPhone data recovery software after you install it on your PC. There is another version for Mac. Choose the Recover from iOS Device tab on the left side, and connect your iPhone to your PC with a Lightning cable. Tap the Trust button on your iPhone screen if prompted. Then click the Start Scan button to begin looking for deleted data on your device.

After data scanning, you will be presented with the main interface. Go to the Camera Roll tab under the Media heading, and choose Show Deleted Only from the top drop-down list. Now, you can view deleted iPhone photos.

At last, select the photos that you want to retrieve. Once selected, you will see a checkmark next to the filename. At last, click on the Recover button at the bottom right corner. Then select an output folder in the field, and click the Recover button again.

Part 6: How to Avoid Photo Deletion on iPhone

Photos may disappear or be deleted due to mistakes, software update failures, improper settings, sync errors, and more. To prevent missing photos in the future, you can follow the tricks below:

1. Show Hidden and Recently Deleted album on iPhone. Sometimes, you just move the photos into the Hidden album. If you have turned off Show Hidden Album, you will lose access to your photos. Go to the Settings app, choose Photos, and toggle on Show Hidden Album.

2. Stop doing anything when you find photo loss. Once you find you delete some photos, go to the Recently Deleted album and recover them immediately. 30 days later, your photos will be removed permanently.

3. Back up or sync iPhone photos using iCloud. Compared to iTunes, iCloud is a convenient way to back up your photos on your iPhone. There are two ways to save your photos to iCloud. Once you turn on iCloud Photos, iCloud won’t back up your photos. To sync photos to iCloud, tap on your profile in the Settings app, choose iCloud, tap Photos, and toggle on Sync This iPhone on iOS 16 or above, or toggle on iCloud Photos on iOS 15 or older.

4. Use a third-party photo backup service. Although iCloud Photos is convenient to back up iPhone photos, it only offers 5GB of free storage. You can pick a third-party photo backup service, like Google Photos, which gives 15GB of free storage for each account. Plus, you can enable auto backup to back up your photos to Google Photos regularly. Plus, you can decide whether to back up iPhone photos to Google Photos through Wi-Fi or cellular data.

5. Back up your photos from iPhone to computer. All cloud services have limited storage capacity. If you have lots of high-quality photos on your iPhone, you’d better back up them to a computer or external hard drive. iTunes/Finder allows you to back up iPhone photos to a computer manually. Plus, you can transfer photos from an iPhone to a PC with a compatible cable directly. Hook up your iPhone to your PC with a cable, open the Photos app preinstalled on Windows 11/10, select Import, and pick From a USB device. Follow the instructions to import iPhone photos.

Conclusion

This guide has explained how to recover deleted photos on an iPhone with or without backup. With an iTunes or iCloud backup, you can get back your lost photos after restoring the backup to your device. The Recently Deleted album enables you to retrieve the photos that were deleted within 30 days. iCloud Photos is another feature to recover your pictures on your iPhone without backup. imyPass iPhone Data Recovery is the ultimate solution to recover permanently deleted images. If you have other questions, please write them down below.