Solved: Photos Disappeared from iPhone Suddenly

‘I noticed that over 500 old photos from iPhone 11 have disappeared and now only the recently shot pictures are showing! I lost almost all of my best memories saved in my phone. I am sure I did not delete them. Where did the pictures disappeared from iPhone? How do I get back photos missing from iPhone? Please help.’

Photos suddenly disappearing from iPhone or random photos missing from Camera Roll or Gallery is a common complaint. Usually, photos get disappeared after iOS update, iPhone reset/restore, or when the device storage is full. You may also lose pictures after installing any new software, or jailbreaking. Sometimes, running an iPhone cleaning software without checking what it is deleting on your iOS device can also result in loss of photos.

The situation is stressful, even more when you don’t have any copies or backup of lost photos.

So how to recover the missing or lost photos on iPhone? This post shares the effective methods to get back the missing photos from Camera Roll, Gallery, or iCloud on your iPhone.

In any such sudden photo loss situation, the best solution is to use a secure photo recovery tool for iPhone that can recover photos lost due to any reason. Besides, there are free methods that might restore disappeared photos from iPhone, which you should try once.

Method 1: Restart your iPhone

If your photos suddenly disappeared from iPhone, first restart the iOS device. Then open the Photo app, Camera Roll, or Photo Stream to see if the missing photos are showing or not.

You can check here the steps to restart your iPhone model .

Method 2: Restore photos from Recently Deleted folder on iPhone

You might have accidentally deleted the photos on iPhone. Check and recover the photos from the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder of your Photos app.

Steps to recover photos on iPhone from ‘Recently Deleted’:

• On your iPhone, click to follow Photos > Albums.
• Scroll down to Utilities and click Recently Deleted.
• Look for your missing photo, tap on it and choose Recover. If there are multiple photos, click on ‘Select’ followed by ‘Recover’.

Note: Photos deleted on iPhone stay in your ‘Recently Deleted’ folder only for 30 days, after which they are permanently removed from the iOS device.

Click here

Method 3: Unhide photos on iPhone

Photos disappeared from iPhone can be in the hidden folder in Photos app. Simply, check the Hidden folder on your device and unhide the required photos.

• Open Photos app on iPhone.
• Click on Albums.
• Under Utilities click on Hidden folder. In case you don’t see the ‘Hidden’ folder, go to ‘Settings’ of your iPhone. Click on ‘Photos’ and toggle on ‘Hidden Album’.
• If you see the disappeared photos, select and click on the ‘Share’ button (the arrow icon).
• Next, tap Unhide to move the pictures to their original location on iPhone.

Method 4: Enable iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos store images in iCloud and syncs them to your iPhone, iPad, iCloud.com, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV. This means that any changes done to pictures library on one device will show up on your other iOS devices as well. If the photos are disappearing from iPhone only, may be the iCloud Photo is not synced or turned on. So enable iCloud Photos to get back the disappeared pictures on iPhone.

Steps to enable iCloud Photos on iPhone:

• Turn on Wi-Fi of your iPhone.
• On iPhone, navigate to Settings.
• Click on your name and tap iCloud > Photos.
• Toggle on iCloud Photos.

Now check if the missing photos are showing up on iPhone or not.

Method 5: Recover iPhone photos from iTunes backup

If you have created iTunes backup, restore the disappeared photos on iPhone from it. However, this will replace your existing iPhone data with iTunes backup data.

Steps to recover photos from iTunes:

• Connect your iPhone to computer.
• Launch iTunes.
• Select your iPhone under the device list and click on Summary.
• Click Restore Backup.
• In the Restore from Backup box, select the backup date that contains your photos.

• Click Restore. Wait until the process finishes and your iPhone restarts. All your disappeared photos will be recovered on iPhone.

Method 6: Restore photos from iCloud Backup

You can restore the previous iCloud backup that has the missing photos. However, like iTunes, this method will also replace the current data on your iPhone.

Steps to recover disappeared photos from iCloud:

• On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Reset.
• Click on Erase all Contents and Settings. In the dialog box, choose Erase Now.
• On the Apps & Data screen, click Restore from iCloud Backup. Enter your Apple ID. In case you have forgot your Apple ID, click here to know how to recover it.

• Select the recent backup and click Restore. The lost photos should now appear on iPhone.

Method 7: Recover lost photos with an iPhone data recovery software

The advanced iPhone recovery software — Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone, can restore photos lost, deleted, or missing due to any reason. Whether your photos disappeared from iPhone after update, due to low storage, or any other reason, the software can recover in all situations.

The biggest advantage of using the software is that it doesn’t remove your existing iPhone data. Further, the software shows the preview of the recoverable photos. Hence, its easy to select and recover only the required disappeared pictures from Camera Roll, iCloud Photo Library, Gallery, or those shared on chat messages, etc. Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone is compatible with the latest iPhone 14/13/12/11, iPad, and iPod touch.  The software supports recovery from the latest iOS 16 and older versions.

Quick steps to recover disappeared photos from iPhone:

• Download Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone on PC or Mac.
• Connect your iPhone to computer.
• Launch the software and select Recover from iPhone option from the left panel.

• Select the Camera Roll or Photo Stream from where the photos have disappeared and click Next to the start the scanning process.
• Now preview the recoverable photos, select them, and click Save to restore on iPhone or computer.

Note: You can also recover the lost photos from backup by choosing Recover from iCloud backup or Recover from iTunes backup , options in the software.

Conclusion

When you find suddenly photos disappearing from iPhone try any of the above 7 methods to get back the lost pictures. However, of all we recommend solutions Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software is quick and easy to use. It is also of great help when you don’t want to recover from iCloud or iTunes backup that removes the existing data on iPhone.

How to Recover Lost Data from iTunes Backup File?

If you have lost iPhone data and are unable to restore it from the iTunes backup file, use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone. The software quickly recovers lost or deleted iPhone data from iTunes.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone is the best iPhone data recovery tool to recover data from iTunes backup files. The tool uses a sophisticated algorithm, which scans through the entire backup file to recover data. You can easily restore saved iOS data like Messages, Call History, Calendar, Notes, etc., from the backup file.

Note: Make sure your Mac or PC is updated and you are using the latest version of iTunes.

Follow the below steps to recover lost data from iTunes backup file:

1. Launch ‘Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone’ tool on your computer.

    Figure: Home screen of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone

2. Click ‘Recover iTunes Backup’ option on the left. The software scans the system for iTunes backup files and lists them along with the date of creation.

3. Select an iTunes backup from which you want to restore data.

  4. On the left pane, click on the type of data that you want to recover. You can restore Camera Roll, Photo Stream, Contacts, Messages, Message Attachments, Call history, Calendar, Reminder, Voice Memo, Notes, Notes Attachments, Safari Bookmarks, WhatsApp, WhatsApp Attachments, Line, Kik Viber, Tango, WeChat, and Apps Library.  

The software lets you preview, select, recover, and also search for specific photos, videos, messages, and other data.

5. Select what you want to recover and click on Save. Select a destination to save the iPhone data.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone failed to recognize my iPhone. How to fix it?

In case Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software doesn’t recognize your iPhone, do the following to fix the issue:

1. Install/ update to the latest iTunes on your PC or Mac computer.
2. Ensure your iPhone is turned on and on the Home screen.
3. Check if the USB port and cable are working fine or use a different Apple USB cable.
4. Ensure the iOS device ‘Trust’ your computer. If you receive the ‘Trust this Computer’ message, click on ‘Trust’.
5. Restart your iPhone.
6. Restart your computer.
7. Update your Windows or macOS.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone supports all the iPhone models and their individual variants, including iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone 11, iPhone XS, and below variants. It is compatible with the latest iOS 15, 14, 13, 12 and below.

What should I do if I don’t find the deleted iPhone files after scanning?

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone is an efficient software to recover all kinds of lost data from iPhone, iTunes, and iCloud.

In case you are unable to find the lost data after quick scan through Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone , choose to perform Deep Scan.

Deep scan is a next level of aggressive scanning. It involves thorough scan of the device and the backups (iTunes and iCloud) using advanced algorithms. Deep Scan recovers as much data as possible from the selected device or backup. It searches for lost files on the basis of file signature. This recovery option recovers everything that is found in the selected source. This option is especially helpful in case of severely deleted and corrupted iPhone data.

How to perform Deep Scan?

Once quick scan is completed, in the preview window choose Click Here option at the bottom left of the window to start Deep Scan.

When the scanning process is completed, a dialog box displaying the message ‘Deep Scan completed’ is displayed.

In case the additional data is not recovered through Deep Scan, the dialog box displays the message ‘Deep Scan completed. No additional data found.’

Files found during Deep Scan can be viewed in the preview window and saved at any desired location.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone® Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone® is the best DIY software to recover missing or accidentally deleted Contacts, Messages, Calendar, Photos, Videos, Call History etc directly from iPhone or iPad.