How-To

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos from iCloud

By Adam Davidson

Published April 1, 2024

Have you deleted photos on your iPhone or Mac and want them back? Learn how to recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud.

It’s the same old story. You’ve opted to buy the iPhone with the largest storage because you always end up filling up your device with photos and videos. And yet somehow,  you’ve managed to hit the storage limit again. It’s time to start deleting some of those photos and videos you’re just never going to need.

The trouble is, it’s all too easy to get a little trigger-happy when deleting things from your phone or computer. You may find that you’ve deleted a photo that you really didn’t want to get rid of. Not only that, but the photo is now permanently deleted.

Well, permanent may not mean permanent all the time. There are some situations where you may be able to recover your photos and bring them back from the dead. Here’s how to recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud.

How to Download Photos From iCloud

When you have iCloud Photos turned on across all your Apple devices, any changes you make on one device will be reflected in the others. If you delete a photo on your iPhone, it will be deleted from the photos on your iPad, Mac, and the iCloud website.

However, if you turn off iCloud photos on your iPhone, for example, any changes you make after this point won’t affect your other devices. This means that if you turned off iCloud photos on one device, and then permanently deleted photos from that device, those photos should still be stored in iCloud. You can then download them from iCloud back to the device that you deleted them from.

1. Open a browser and sign in to the icloud.com website.
2. Select Photos from the list of apps.
   
3. Locate the photos that you want to recover.
4. Select a photo or hold down Shift to select multiple photos.
5. In the top-right corner of the screen, click the Download icon.
   
6. Your selected photos will download.
7. You can now share these photos to the device that they were deleted from using sharing options such as AirDrop.

How to Restore Photos From an iCloud Backup

If you haven’t been using iCloud Photos to back up your device photos to the cloud, then the method above isn’t possible. However, in this case, it may be possible to recover permanently deleted photos by restoring your device from an iCloud backup. That’s because if iCloud Photos isn’t turned on, iCloud backups will back up your photos, too. This isn’t the case if you have iCloud Photos turned on, as your photos are already backed up.

Before you start this method, it’s worthwhile taking a manual iCloud backup before you start. That’s because using an older iCloud backup to restore your photos means that you will lose any data since that older backup was taken. If the photo recovery doesn’t work, you can repeat the process with your current backup and all of your data will be back.

1. Open the Settings app and tap your name at the top of the screen.
   
2. Select iCloud.
   
3. Under Device Backups, tap iCloud Backup.
   
4. Tap Back Up Now.
   
5. Once the backup is completed, return to the main Settings page.
6. Tap General.
   
7. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
   
8. At the bottom of the screen, tap Erase All Content and Settings.
   
9. Tap Continue.
10. Follow the on-screen instructions.
11. Once your iPhone is deleted, follow the setup instructions until you reach the Apps & Data options and select Restore from iCloud Backup.
12. Sign in to your iCloud account and select a backup from a date before you deleted the photos you want to recover.
13. Complete the setup and your deleted photos should now be back on your phone.

Using Third-Party Tools to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos from iCloud

There are several third-party tools available that claim to be able to recover files and photos even when they have been permanently deleted from your iCloud account. You may have some success using one of these tools.

However, we’ve found that these tools will only usually work if the photos you have permanently deleted were only deleted within the last few hours before Apple has had a chance to completely remove them from its servers. If it’s been more than a day, you’re unlikely to be able to recover any permanently deleted photos, and many of these apps will try to charge you for recovering your data.

How to Recover Recently Deleted Photos on iPhone and iPad

By default, your photos are only permanently deleted after 30 days. Even if you delete a photo on your device, it will remain in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before disappearing completely. If it’s still in that folder, it’s quick and easy to restore the photo to your device.

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Albums at the bottom of the screen.
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Recently Deleted.
   
4. To recover a single photo, tap the photo and select Recover at the bottom of the screen.
   
5. To recover multiple photos, tap the Select button at the top of the screen.
   
6. Select all of the photos you want to recover.
7. Tap the Three Dots icon at the bottom of the screen.
   
8. Select Recover.
   
9. The selected photos will be restored to your main camera roll.

How to Recover Recently Deleted Photos on Mac

You can also recover photos and videos from the Recently Deleted folder on Mac.

1. Open Photos on your Mac.
2. Select the Recently Deleted folder from the left-hand menu.
   
3. Select the photos that you want to recover.
4. Click the Recover button in the top right corner of the window.
   
5. Your photos are recovered to your main camera roll.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos on iPhone

If you’re making changes to your photos on your iPhone or iPad, you may be concerned that deleting photos on your device will cause you to lose them from all of your devices. If so, you can turn off iCloud Photos for that device, so that any changes you make won’t impact your other devices.

1. Open the Settings app and tap your name at the top of the screen.
   
2. Select iCloud.
   
3. Under Apps Using iCloud, select Photos.
   
4. Toggle Sync This iPhone off.
   
5. Changes you make to your photos on your device will no longer affect your photos on other devices.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos on Mac

You can also turn off iCloud Photos on your Mac if you want to make changes that you don’t want to happen across all of your devices.

1. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar.
   
2. Select System Settings.
   
3. Click your name in the left-hand menu.
   
4. Select iCloud.
   
5. Under Apps Using iCloud, select Photos.
   
6. Toggle Sync This Mac off.
   

Recovering Permanently Deleted Photos from iCloud

Learning how to recover permanently deleted photos from iCloud can allow you to bring back photos that you’d thought were lost forever. The methods above can help, but only under the right circumstances. If it’s been more than 30 days, there’s a significant chance that your permanently deleted photos are deleted, well, permanently.

The good news is that iCloud isn’t the only cloud photo backup available. For example, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can use Amazon Photos to backup unlimited photos to the cloud. This is a great failsafe in case you do accidentally permanently delete photos from iCloud, as that won’t affect what’s saved in Amazon Photos.