The article lists reasons for photos not showing up on iPhone Camera Roll and ways to get photos disappeared from iPhone back with or without a backup.
Why did my photos disappeared on my iPhone
main reasons
1. Photos disappeared from iPhone after update
After updating iOS on your device, you may get logged out of your iCloud account. In that case, iCloud photos will disappear from your device. To get your lost iPhone photos back, just log back in to iCloud.
2. Turning off iCloud Photos
When you disable iCloud Photos in your settings, photos synced with iCloud disappear from your device’s storage. To restore the missing photos on iPhone, you need to turn on iCloud Photos back.
If you don’t want to use iCloud anymore, you can download your iCloud photos to the device. After that, you can safely turn off iCloud Photos — your photos won’t disappear.
3. Accidentally deleting a photo
You or your kids may have accidentally deleted a photo or video. How to get photos back on iPhone? Check the Recently Deleted album that has been designed for such cases.
If you can’t find your photo in the Recently Deleted folder, check whether iCloud Photos are enabled.
Navigate to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos.
✘ If iCloud Photos are turned off, the photos you take with your device are saved to your device’s internal storage. If you deleted such photos, you can restore them only from backup.
✓ If iCloud Photos are turned on, the photos you take with your device are stored on iCloud’s servers. iCloud photos are not included in the backup, but you can try to restore deleted photos from Apple’s servers.
4. Logging out of iCloud
You might have signed out of iCloud and lost photos that way. When you log out of your iCloud account, photos synced with iCloud get deleted from your device. To re-download your photos, log back in to your iCloud account.
5. Photos were not saved because you don’t have enough space
If your iPhone doesn’t have enough free space, pictures you take will not be saved. You can free up space on your iPhone to solve the issue, but there is no way to recover unsaved photos.
Pictures disappeared from iPhone
solutions
Fix 1: Log in to your iCloud account again
By default, iPhone photos are saved to iCloud, but you may get logged out of your iCloud account when updating iOS. In that case, you need to log in to your iCloud account again.
Navigate to the iPhone Settings app and click Sign in to your iPhone. Enter your Apple ID email address and password. You will need to enter a verification code if two-factor authentication is enabled.
After a while, your photos will be downloaded to your iPhone.
Fix 2: Turn on iCloud Photos
If you accidentally disable iCloud Photos, iCloud photos are deleted from your device (but remain in iCloud). To get the missing photos back to your device, you need to reset the sync.
Open the iPhone Settings app > Apple ID > iCloud > flip the Photos toggle on.
Wait till photos stored in iCloud appear in the iPhone Photos app.
Fix 3: Check the Recently Deleted folder
If you accidentally delete an image or video, that file does not disappear immediately. It is initially moved to the Recently Deleted album and will remain there for 30 days before being permanently deleted. Check that folder before you panic!
How to view recently deleted photos on iPhone: Open the Photos app, go to the Albums tab, scroll down, and tap Recently Deleted. If the needed photos are there, tap Select in the upper right corner, select the photos and videos you want to restore, then tap Restore to confirm.
You can also check the Hidden folder.
Refer to the next solutions if you haven’t found your missing photos in the Recently Deleted album.
Fix 4: Restore lost iCloud photos without a backup
When you delete an iCloud photo, it’s moved to an Apple server trash can of a sort which is not accessible for users. CopyTrans Cloudly can restore it from there in just one click.
❕ Note: Apple regularly permanently deletes deleted photos from its servers, so we recommend acting ASAP. We suggest you rescue all the photos on the same day, as Apple may swiftly delete the photos after we access them. If the program didn’t find the photos, it means that they are already gone from the servers.
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Download and install CopyTrans Cloudly from the following page:
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Run CopyTrans Cloudly. You will see a login screen. Enter your Apple ID and password.
Note: We use a secure SSL connection and do not store your account data unless you want us to save it for faster login. In this case, it will be saved on your PC within the app’s settings.
If you have two-factor authentication enabled, make sure to allow the connection on your device and enter the code you received on your device.
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To recover deleted photos from iCloud, click on Rescue and choose the folder you want to save them to.
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If your deleted photos and videos are still on the Apple servers, CopyTrans Cloudly will download them back to your PC.
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A-and done! The photos are waiting for you in the destination folder. You can now transfer photos back to the iPhone.
CopyTrans Cloudly can:
⭐ recover permanently deleted photos;
⭐ download all images from iCloud at once preserving the album structure;
⭐ upload photos and videos from your PC to iCloud in various formats (JPG, HEIC, PNG, MOV, MP4, M4V);
⭐ delete all images from your iCloud library.
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Fix 5: Restore missing photos from a backup
What to do if photos and videos disappeared from iPhone?
If you have an iTunes or iCloud backup, you can restore them from a backup. Search for iPhone backups with CopyTrans Backup Extractor, you might not know you have them (looking for backups is totally free!).
Here’s how to look for lost photos on iPhone:
Automatically search for iTunes backups on your PC (FREE feature);
Log in to iCloud and automatically search for iCloud backups (FREE feature);
Look through a list of all your backups;
Extract photos, contacts, messages, and more to PC.
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Download and install CopyTrans Backup Extractor.
Get CopyTrans Backup Extractor *100% clean and safe
For installation instructions, follow the installation guide.
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Run CopyTrans Backup Extractor. Log in to iCloud if you want to search for cloud backups, too.
Note: We use a secure SSL connection and do not store your account data unless you want us to save it for faster login. In this case, it will be saved on your PC within the app’s settings.
When ready, start the backup hunt!
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Wait until the backup hunt is over. You will see a list of all available backups.
💡 iTunes backups are marked with a folder icon. iCloud backups will be marked with a cloud icon.
Got any backups?
❗ You can use iTunes or iCloud to restore your photos from the backups you just found. However, restoring a backup using iTunes or iCloud will overwrite all the other data on your device. To avoid it, restore only photos with one of the following methods.
iPhone pictures disappeared
restore lost photos to computer
With CopyTrans Backup Extractor, you can extract photos and videos from iTunes or iCloud backups to your PC:
✓ Compatible with different backups: created by iCloud, iTunes, and CopyTrans Shelbee;
✓ Only photos and videos will be restored to your computer;
✓ Other iPhone data won’t be overwritten;
✓ Finds all the backups automatically.
❕ This method works only if iCloud Photos have been disabled during the backup. To check, navigate to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos.
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Download and install CopyTrans Backup Extractor.
Download CopyTrans Backup Extractor *100% clean and safe
For installation instructions, follow the installation guide.
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Run CopyTrans Backup Extractor. Log in to iCloud if you want to search for cloud backups, too.
Note: We use a secure SSL connection and do not store your account data unless you want us to save it for faster login. In this case, it will be saved on your PC within the app’s settings.
When ready, start the backup hunt!
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After a few seconds, you will see a list of all the backups available. Select the one you need.
💡 If you are restoring from an iTunes backup, you may be asked for a backup password. What password?
💡 iCloud backups will be marked with a cloud icon, and they are never password-protected.
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Click Photos > Extract.
Note: If your photos missing from iCloud backup, it means that they were synced to iCloud at the moment when the backup was created. Refer to this part of the guide then.
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Finally, select a folder you want to save photos to. Wait until photos are extracted. Click on Go to folder to see all the photos and videos recovered with CopyTrans Backup Extractor.
If you have a new device, you can transfer the photos back to the iPhone. And if you don’t want to purchase multiple apps for all these tasks, we’ve got a deal for you:
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Missing photos on iPhone
restore missing photos back to iPhone
With CopyTrans Shelbee, you can transfer only photos directly from an iTunes backup to iPhone:
✓ Only photos and videos will be restored to the iPhone;
✓ Other iPhone data won’t be overwritten;
✓ Can extract data from a corrupted iTunes backup;
✘ Existing iPhone photos and videos will be overwritten.
❕ This method works only if iCloud Photos have been disabled during the backup. To check, navigate to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos. It will also restore the Camera Roll photos only.
- Optional: Back up your existing photos to your computer.
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Download CopyTrans Shelbee from the following page:
Download CopyTrans Shelbee *100% clean and safe
Install the program. If you need help installing CopyTrans Shelbee, please refer to the installation guide.
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Run the program and connect the iPhone or iPad to your PC. Click on the Custom restore button.
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Next, click on the pencil icon and navigate to the folder where you store your backups. Select the backup that contains photos you want to recover.
TIP: Use CopyTrans Backup Extractor to find all backup locations on your PC.
Note: If your backup was encrypted before, you’ll have to enter the encryption password. If you don’t remember the password, use our backup password recovery tips.
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Select Photos from the list of data types.
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Confirm the restore and hit Next.
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Wait until the restore is finished and voila! Recovering photos from an iPhone backup is easy, right?
Check CopyTrans Shelbee out! It can:
✔ selectively restore any data from an iPhone backup: photos, contacts, messages, calendars, notes, apps, and more;
✔ change the default folder of an iTunes backup;
✔ backup iPhone to an external hard drive;
✔ make an incremental backup that will contain only the latest changes.
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Lost photos on iPhone
summary
If your iPhone photos disappeared from Camera Roll, try these tips:
If your iСloud photos missing, try the following tips as well:
