To recover deleted photos on your iPhone, open the Photos app, go to the Recently Deleted album, unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID, tap Select, choose your photos, then tap Recover. When you delete a photo, it is not erased immediately; it moves to a holding album for 30 days, which is your window to get it back. Here is exactly where to look and what to do if the 30 days have already passed.

This design exists precisely so an accidental swipe does not cost you a memory. The key is knowing that deletion is a two-step process, and that the safety net has a deadline.

Recover photos from Recently Deleted

This is the method that works for almost everyone:

  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Find the Recently Deleted album. In iOS 18, scroll down to Utilities and tap Recently Deleted; on other versions, open the Albums tab and look under Utilities.
  3. Unlock the album with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode.
  4. Tap Select in the corner.
  5. Tap each photo or video you want back, or tap the More (three dots) button and choose Recover All.
  6. Tap Recover, then confirm with Recover Photo.

Recovered items return to your main library in their original spot, with the correct date, so a photo from last year lands back among last year’s shots rather than at the end of your library.

Can’t find the Recently Deleted album?

In iOS 18, Apple reorganized the Photos app, and some people cannot spot the album at first. To make sure it is visible:

  1. Open Photos and scroll to the very bottom of your library.
  2. Tap Customize & Reorder.
  3. Make sure Utilities is enabled, then tap Done.

The Utilities section is where Recently Deleted lives, alongside albums like Hidden and Duplicates. If the album is empty, it simply means nothing has been deleted in the last 30 days.

Why the album is locked

Starting with iOS 16, both the Recently Deleted and Hidden albums are locked behind authentication by default. That is a privacy feature: it stops anyone who picks up your unlocked phone from scrolling through photos you deleted or chose to hide. Each time you open the album you will confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. There is nothing wrong; it is working as intended.

If it has been more than 30 days

Once a photo has sat in Recently Deleted for 30 days, iPhone erases it permanently, and it cannot be pulled back from that album. Deleting it manually from Recently Deleted removes it right away, too. If either has happened, your remaining options depend entirely on backups:

  1. Check another synced device. If iCloud Photos is on, deletions sync everywhere, so this will not help. But if a photo was on a Mac or iPad that has not synced recently, it may still be there.
  2. Restore from an older backup. If you have an iCloud or computer backup made before you deleted the photo, restoring the iPhone from that backup can bring it back. Be aware this replaces current data with the backup’s contents, so weigh it carefully.
  3. Check Shared Albums and messages. If you ever shared the photo in a Shared Album, a text, or an email, a copy may still exist there.

This is exactly why a routine backup matters so much. If you have not set one up, our guide to backing up your iPhone walks through iCloud and computer backups so your photos are protected next time.

What else lands in Recently Deleted

The Recently Deleted album is not just for photos. Videos, screenshots, Live Photos, and screen recordings all pass through it under the same 30-day rule, and you recover them exactly the same way. If you deleted an entire album rather than individual photos, note that deleting an album does not delete the photos inside it; those images stay in your main library, so there is usually nothing to recover there. Editing is reversible too: if you cropped or filtered a photo and want the original back, you do not need Recently Deleted at all. Open the photo, tap Edit, then tap Revert to restore the untouched version, since iPhone keeps the original alongside your edits.

A note on third-party “recovery” apps

You will see apps and desktop tools that promise to dig up photos deleted long ago. Be skeptical. Once a photo is truly erased and no backup contains it, no app can reliably conjure it back, and many of these tools are expensive or push subscriptions for results they cannot guarantee. The dependable path is Recently Deleted within 30 days, or a genuine backup, not paid recovery software.

Prevent the next scare

Two habits remove most of the risk. First, turn on iCloud Photos or run regular backups so a deleted photo always exists somewhere else. Second, before a big clear-out to free up space on your iPhone, glance through what you are deleting. The safety net is generous, but the surest recovery is never needing one.