How to recover a deleted photo or video on your iPhone or iPad

Your iPhone stores deleted photos and videos for up to 30 days. You can also revive a deleted item if you use iCloud for syncing. Here’s how.

You’ve accidentally deleted a photo or video on your iPhone or iPad and now realize that you need it back. That’s not a problem if you act quickly enough. The Photos app for iOS and iPadOS comes with a utility that stores deleted photos and videos for up to 30 days. You can browse and view recently deleted photos and videos and then select any that you wish to recover. If you use iCloud to back up and synchronize your photos and videos, you can restore deleted ones via your iCloud Photo library.

How to restore photos and videos from your device

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Photos app. On your iPhone, tap the icon for Albums in the bottom toolbar. Swipe down the screen to the Utilities section and tap the entry for Recently Deleted.

SEE: iCloud vs. OneDrive: Which is best for Mac, iPad and iPhone users? (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

If you’re running iOS 16 or higher, you may be asked to authenticate the action using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode (Figure A).

Figure A

On your iPad, make sure the left sidebar is visible. In the Utilities section, tap the entry for Recently Deleted (Figure B).

Figure B

On your iPhone or iPad, browse the deleted photos and videos to find the one or ones you want to restore. Tap a photo to view it full screen. Tap a video and you can then play it. Tap Recover to restore the item and then tap Recover Photo or Recover Video to confirm your action (Figure C).

Figure C

To the return to the Recently Deleted section, press the left arrow. To restore an individual photo or video, press down on it and select Recover (Figure D).

Figure D

To restore multiple items, tap Select at the top. Tap the items you wish to restore and then select Recover (Figure E).

Figure E

Restore photos and videos from iCloud

If you use iCloud to back up and sync your device’s photos and videos, your iCloud photo library holds deleted files for up to 30 days. To check this, sign into your Apple account at the iCloud website. Click the icon for Photos and then select the entry for Recently Deleted. Click the photo or video you wish to restore and then click Recover at the top (Figure F).

Figure F

To restore multiple items, select the first one. Then press the Ctrl key to select additional non-contiguous items or the Shift key to select several contiguous items. Then click Recover (Figure G).

Figure G

Beyond restoring photos and videos through iCloud Photos, you can try to restore any that you saved on iCloud Drive. Go back to your main iCloud page and select iCloud Drive. Click the link for Recently Deleted in the lower right corner. Select the photo or video you want to restore and then click Recover at the top (Figure H).

Figure H