How to recover disappeared Photos on my iPhone?

I went to forward some photos to a friend today and hundreds of my photos have disappeared. I have a few photos from last week and then only photos from November 2023. The problem is that I also have 400 photos from my brother's wedding that I am in the process of editing and those have all disappeared. I have checked recently deleted and hidden (which are empty) and my iCloud account mirrors what is on the phone, which doesn't make sense. I don't understand what might have happened as all the photos were there at the weekend. Can anyone help?


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iPhone 14, iOS 17

Posted on Feb 22, 2024 1:31 AM

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Posted on Jun 21, 2024 3:18 AM

I have the same problem except with THOUSANDS of photos from the last 10 years. I went to go through them and just noticed them all gone. I didn’t delete them and I have no idea how to recover them since they’re not in recently deleted, iCloud storage or in my hidden folder. If someone could offer assistance as to how I recover my photos I’d be extremely grateful. I’m also on an iPhone 14 which I just got a month ago.

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Jun 21, 2024 3:18 AM in response to Shivers2024

I have the same problem except with THOUSANDS of photos from the last 10 years. I went to go through them and just noticed them all gone. I didn’t delete them and I have no idea how to recover them since they’re not in recently deleted, iCloud storage or in my hidden folder. If someone could offer assistance as to how I recover my photos I’d be extremely grateful. I’m also on an iPhone 14 which I just got a month ago.

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Jul 9, 2024 2:49 PM in response to Shivers2024

Does anyone have a solution for this problem if it has been more than 30 days since the photos disappeared? The same thing happened to my wife. We tried all of the solutions proposed. We are going to try Apple support, but we are not sure when this happened. It may have been more than 30 days ago. We did not notice it previously.

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Sep 26, 2024 7:06 PM in response to Shivers2024

I'm utterly devastated. Lost 9 years worth of photos into thin air. No explanation. As far as I know, I haven't done anything (downloaded a 3rd party app, etc.) or deleted anything and just noticed that everything from 2015 - August 2024 is gone - on the cloud and on my phone. That's my kids growing up. The problem, judging by all the recent posts, seems to be with Apple. Tech person could not help and he escalated to engineers, but I'm not hopeful. I pay so much for Apples hardware, services, etc. for reliability, safety, and accountability. What do I get? No explanations, solution or compensation. Just oops and a shoulder shrug. Thousands and thousands of memories...It feels like a weird and unexpected violation. Like somebody hit me over the head and I lost 9 years of memories. Catastrophic. Devastating. Bigger problems in the world to be sure, but really feeling the pain of this right now.


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Jul 2, 2024 5:38 AM in response to KLMAC9

I have spoken to Apple support and they have been able to restore my photos remotely. As I acted quickly (within 30 days) this was possible. They were very helpful and it was quite a quick fix. Hope this helps anyone else with similar issues.

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Jul 3, 2024 11:06 AM in response to KLMAC9

Same problem - all pics prior to a date in 2023 (10 years or more of pics) just disappeared. They suggest that if I had acted within 30 days then may have been able to recover. What's purpose of iCloud backup? Mine had updated within last 30 days and thus backup doesn't exist either. I wonder if it is a problem specific to a phone model. I have 14Max.

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Sep 13, 2024 9:31 PM in response to Shivers2024

7,000 of my photos have just vanished. Is this a possible bug with Apple software somehow? I did not delete that many photos on my iPhone nor did I delete any from the cloud since apple support says that they have no record of such. Any help or advice would be appreciated

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Nov 29, 2024 1:05 PM in response to Shivers2024

29th November 2024 since iOS 18 install recently thousands of iCloud Photos have mysteriously vanished. Spoke to apple agents, each and everyone staff have no idea. Posted a new thread just wanted to update this is ongoing. Crucially important memories and love members of family and moments. iCloud rating 👎

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Jul 23, 2024 8:49 PM in response to Shivers2024

I just got back from vacation and noticed I have nothing from July 3rd to July 6th. I have pictures and videos I took from before that and after that but all is missing from those dates. I definitely didn't delete that range. I back up to Google Photos and not iCloud. I don't even see the photos in Google back up. Not sure how they would complete just disappear and nothing in Recently delete nor Hidden. Hope there is something that can be done.

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Jun 13, 2024 4:23 AM in response to Shivers2024

I was asked in April 2024 by the police to provide copies of photographs of evidence of a physical assault on my partner which occurred on 16 October 2023. The required images were taken by my iPhone between 17 October and 24 October 2023, along with some other images of the results of actions taken by the partner between early September and mid-December 2023. I checked that the images were present on the iCloud in early January 2024 and all were present. The point at which I discovered the deletion was beyond the 30-day period on which I could have undeleted the images.


When I attempted to locate the images on my iPhone and my iCloud account the entire group of images for the period 1 September 2023 to 31 December 2023 had disappeared.


I contacted Apple Support to clarify how this situation had occurred. The response was that one of four situations must have occurred:


1: that I had carried out the deletion myself. I am not a fool and we are not talking about the accidental deletion of one or two or even several images but hundereds.


2: that a software application had deleted the images under the control of settings on my computer. I have no such applications. No such instances have ever occurred in ten years of using the iCloud/iPhone image management facilityand none has occurred since the deletion event.


3: a third party with knowledge of my email address could have accessed my iCloud account and deleted the images. This would also require possession of my iPhone in order to authorise the request. Although many third parties know of my email address, including the assailant, my iPhone has not been out of my hands over the relavnt period.


4: an authorised agency (such as the Police) with knowledge of my email address could have accessed my iCloud account and would be able to bypass the iPhone authorisation phase. This is the only logical explanation of the situation but is the most difficult to pursue.


Has anybody else had a similar experience? Apart from the immediate problem of losing the evidence, I am keen to prevent a recurrence of the situation.


KEYSPELL5140



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How to recover disappeared Photos on my iPhone?

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