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[Complete Guide] Photos Disappeared from iPhone? Here Are 9 Solutions

Brandon Wood
Aug 30, 2023
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"I can't find photos I took with my iPhone and all my photos disappeared from iPhone suddenly. How can I get my nearly 2,000 photos back on my iPhone?"

- Raging Bush

Many people report that photos disappeared from iPhone after update. In fact, this is a very common phenomenon on iPhone. So, when you find photos hidden or even disappeared from the iPhone Photos app, do not worry too much, there are possible ways to find them back. Simply read this article, you will find 9 effective ways to get photos back to iPhone.

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Part 1. FAQs about the Issue "Photos Disappeared from iPhone"
Part 2. Basic Ways to Find Back Lost Pictures on iPhone
Part 3. The Advanced Way to Recover Lost Photos on iPhone without Backup
Bonus Tips: How to Avoid Losing Photos from iPhone Again

Part 1. FAQs about the Issue "Photos Disappeared from iPhone"

Some people may want to get to the root of the matter "photos disappeared from iPhone". Well, here are some common issues they may concern:

Why did my photos disappear on my iPhone?

As a matter of fact, a lot of factors may result in photos missing from iPhone, and the most common ones are as below:

  • Many large apps, heavy photos/videos or VR games have occupied most of internal memory on iPhone.
  • Photos disappeared from iPhone after it updates to an unstable iOS version.
  • Turn off Photo Stream in the camera roll.
  • You or someone else have deleted photos from iPhone unintentionally.
  • Photos synced from iTunes will cover the existing photos on iPhone.
  • You have restored files from an unknown backup.
  • Invalid Data and Time on iPhone.
  • You have logged into a different Apple ID.
  • You have hidden photos on iPhone but you cannot remember you did.
  • Other reasons.

Where did my photos go on iPhone?

Well, how do iPhone photos disappear? Actually, when you or someone else delete a photo on iPhone, the photo attribute just changes from Allocated to Unallocated but it still exists in the system. And, when new data generates on iPhone, the new information will occupy the space of Unallocated items first and overwrite them.

Can I find back lost photos on iPhone?

"My pictures disappeared from my iPhone, is it possible to find them back?" Before disappeared photos are overwritten by the new data, it is still possible to get them back to iPhone. You can follow the instructions from our superior IT engineers and experienced users to recover deleted photos on iPhone.

People also read:

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Part 2. Basic Ways to Find Back Lost Pictures on iPhone

Here are the proven tips to make disappeared iPhone photos show up in the Photos app again:

Option 1. Check your Recently Deleted folder

If you have deleted photos from Photos app unintentionally, the deleted iPhone photos will stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. You can check your Recently Deleted folder to see whether disappeared photos are there: Open Photos app on your iPhone > Tap Albums > Recently Deleted. If you see the missing photos, tap the photo > Select Recover > Confirm this operation to move back a single photo, or you can tap Select > Select photos > Hit Recover > Confirm this operation to get multiple photos back to iPhone.

check recently deleted folder if photos disappeared from iphone

Option 2. Restart your iPhone

In general, many minor bugs can be fixed by simply restarting your device. Hence, if iPhone photos disappeared, you can give it a try.

On iPhone 8 or later versions: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the slide button appears on the screen > Drag the slider to power off iPhone > Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button again until the Apple logo appears on the screen > Release all buttons.

On iPhone 7/7 Plus: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake + Volume down buttons at the same time until the Apple logo appears, then release all buttons.

On iPhone 6s and earlier versions: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake + Home buttons at the same time for a while, until you see the Apple logo appears on the screen, then release all buttons.

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Option 3. Unhide your photos

You can also check your hidden album to see whether you have ever hidden photos on iPhone.

And here is how:

Go to the Photos app on your iPhone > Click Album > Tap Hidden under Other Albums > If there are hidden photos, select the photos that you want to show up > Tap the square-shaped icon with an upward arrow > Click Unhide.

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Option 4. Check if you have enabled iCloud Photo Library

iCloud Photos syncs all photos to iCloud, and it allows you to access all camera roll photos on all of your devices. If you cannot see the lost photos in Recently Deleted folder, you can go to Settings to check whether you have turned on iCloud Photo Library: Open Settings on your iPhone > Tap your Apple ID > Select iCloud > Photos > Enable iCloud Photo Library or My Photo Stream.

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Option 5. Make sure that you have signed in with the correct Apple ID

If you have more than one Apple ID like me, you may sign in each Apple ID in turns to do different things. So, if your live photos disappeared from iPhone, you can check whether you have logged into your device with the same Apple ID. If not, sign in with the correct Apple ID and access the photos you like.

Option 6. Update Data and Time

Invalid data and time happens rarely and randomly. If photos disappeared from iPhone while you found the data and time on iPhone were inaccurate, you can go to iPhone Settings > General > Data & Time > Enable Set Automatically to let it automatically update the data and time. And you can also select the correct Time Zone.

update time to fix photos disappeared from iphone

Option 7. Restore lost photos from iCloud backup

If other solutions fail and you have synced photos to iCloud, you may consider restoring photos from iCloud backup. To restore lost photos on iPhone from iCloud, you can follow these steps:

1. Erase all contents on iPhone.

2. Go to Settings > Find Apps & Data option > Select Restore from iCloud Backup.

3. Sign into your Apple ID, choose the backup file which includes missing photos and enter the Apple ID to confirm this operation. Wait until the whole process is complete.

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Learn more: How to download photos from iCloud to iPhone

Option 8. Restore lost photos from iTunes backup

If you have backed up your iPhone to iTunes previously, chances are that you will get back those missing photos to iPhone from iTunes. As iTunes will permanently erase all current data on iPhone, you will lose data if you take this way.

1. Install the latest version of iTunes on your computer and connect your iPhone to this computer with a USB cable.

2. Tap Trust when Trust This Computer window pops up.

3. On iTunes window, click Summary from the left panel, tap Restore Backup... from the right panel, choose the last backup file from the pop-up window and hit Restore option.

restore iphone from itunes backup if photos disappeared from iphone

Part 3. The Advanced Way to Recover Lost Photos on iPhone

Well, if all the above methods cannot find back missing photos, and meanwhile, if you have ever backed up your iPhone using iTunes, you can use a professional iPhone data recovery app to recover lost photos on iPhone.

Coolmuster Data Recovery for iPhone iPad iPod is the ultimate way to effectively find back lost pictures on iPhone. It supports to recover lost SMS, photos, calendars, call history, contacts, notes and other 5 types of data from iTunes backup file on computer to iPhone/iPad/iPod. Besides, you can preview all types of data before recovery and recover lost files selectively.

And, it is fully available on all generations of iPhone, iPad and iPod, like iPhone 14/13/SE (2nd generation)/11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max/Xs Max/Xs/XR/X/8/8 Plus/7 Plus/7/SE (1st generation)/6S Plus/6S/6/6 Plus/5S/5C/5/4S/4, etc.

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Let's see how to recover lost photos on iPhone without connecting iPhone with this professional iPhone photos recovery app.

1. Install and launch Coolmuster Data Recovery for iPhone iPad iPod on your computer. It will then automatically detect your computer and show the iTunes backup history of your iPhone which you have done on this computer. After that, select the right iPhone name and click Start Scan to extract the iTunes backup files.

install coolmuster data recover for iphone ipad ipod on computer and scan the itunes backup files of iphone

2. After scanning, this program will display all your iPhone data in different categories. Just tap Photos from the left panel, preview and select photos you want to recover from the right panel and hit Recover below. When the progress bar is complete, the selected photos will be extracted and saved on your PC.

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Tip: Want to recover lost photos from iPhone without backup? Here's how to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone.

Bonus Tips: How to Avoid Losing Photos from iPhone Again

Now you have understood why all your photos disappeared from iPhone and how to get lost photos back to iPhone. To prevent this problem from happening again, here are some useful tips for you:

  1. Regularly back up iPhone data and Apple ID to iCloud or using some professional iPhone backup software.
  2. Clear the unimportant files in iPhone internal memory to free up the storage.
  3. Never restore files from any unknown backup.

You may also like: How to back up iPhone photos effectively

Conclusion

Losing important data from iPhone for no reason will worry people sick. If the photos disappeared from iPhone quietly, you can try the 9 possible solutions in this article to get back lost photos on iPhone. They are all effective. Well, considering data security and success rate, we highly recommend you to try Coolmuster Data Recovery for iPhone iPad iPod. It's easy to operate, read-only and does not require you to connect iPhone to it.

Of course, you can try all these solutions to fix "photos disappeared from iPhone" problem. Finally, if you encounter any difficulty during use, feel free to leave a comment below.

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