I’ve deleted photos on my iPad which loaded from my iPhone (iCloud). I then cleared
them from the recently deleted folder (to free up space). I then noted that they have gone from my iPhone. The most recent back up was done after this happened, so the restore file does not include them. Can I restore from an older version of a backup. There used to be an option.
iPhone 15, iOS 18
It sounds like you have iCloud photos turned on. iCloud is not backed up, and by removing them from recently deleted, you have deleted them from everywhere, forever.
Iphone iCloud backups have only one version, and iCloud photos are not part of the backup anyway.
If you have a computer with the original photos on, turn off your router, try to find them, export them somewhere else on the computer, then turn the router on. You may wbe able to save the to save them.
Restoring from an earlier version of backup to iPhone
