How to recover disappeared Photos on my iPhone?

Remember: iCloud is not a backup service. It is a transfer service. You need to backup all information in separate places. If you are on Mac, then definitely use Time Machine. However, also conduct regular (monthly or bi-annually) backups on a hard drive.

Apple deletes photos without any sense or reason. They say they don't know about this issue but it is rampant. It has happened to me several times over the last decade, including a few months ago. I am a high-level user. When I talk with Apple they deny; go to the discussion groups and you find it around the globe.

First off, iCloud back ups do not contain your photos; the photos are synced through your iCloud account to all your devices that have it enabled. The iCloud back up is more of the settings and other things that make your phone yours, background display, settings, ringtones, wifi networks... The photos part of iCloud is not a back up service, it is a synching service. Photos stored in the cloud are there for the purpose of syncing, not making a back up. What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support this article explains it in great detail. The only time the back up would contain your photos would be if you do not have iCloud Photos enabled. Then and only then, would those photos be stored in the back up. Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support discusses how to make archived back ups of your photos. I'm sorry for your data loss; by using the articles above I hope you can understand the different things the back up contains and how to make a safe back ups of information that you use with your Apple devices.

After a week of burning time dealing with this issue, the only thing I can recommend is do not assume that Apple Photos is perfect, because it is far from. It will delete photos from time to time for no real reason beyond some issues in programming. So, what should you do?

1. Create regular backups of all your photos and store them in a 3-2-1 format (at least three copies, in two different types of media, and one off site).
2. Do not simply make a backup of Apple Photos from the program. Take the time to export them into a non-Apple Photos file (e.g., a folder with jpegs). Save these in various places and use dates to clarify what the folder contains.
3. If you need to rebuild, find your backups if you have them; if you don't, you're out of luck.
4. Consider a third-party solution to Apple Photos, but they are costly. There is no guarantee that they won't lose photos, too, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
5. Be diligent, period. Don't assume the world is a wonderful place and that turmoil doesn't happen. It does. We lose photos and are left to cry. Be diligent.

I just noticed the same happened to me, photos I saved that my family and friends sent me are missing, but I got lucky coz I back up with Google. So I have my missing photos saved on Google.

ALL of my photos from 2021 have disappeared.

i have all photos from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 & 2024 but 2021 have disappeared 😩

Same here . I noticed yesterday all my 2015 2016 2017 2017 family pictures have disappeared . I called and chat and they told me they cannot do anything else . I’m very clear that I have not deleted.

I’m having the same issue now🤦🏾‍♂️. Can anyone help?

Same, I go to look for a screen shot, and all my photos are gone except for ones I took a few days ago. I’ve had my phone for a year, that is a years worth of photos and I am Royally ******

I don’t mind what device I can see them on! Just so I see them!! So do this process and I’ll see on my pc? Many thanks !!

You wrote: "and my iCloud account mirrors what is on the phone, which doesn't make sense."

But that is exactly how iCloud is supposed to be working. It is a syncing service, keeping the Photos Libraries on all your devices identical. With iCloud Photos enabled, you should always be seeing the same photos on all synced devices. When you import new photos to Photos on one of your devices, they will be synced to iCloud and from there to all your other devices. And when you delete photos on any of your devices, the photos will be deleted from iCloud Photos as well and from all other devices. With iCloud Photos you are essentially have one Photos Library in iCloud, that is mirrored on all synced devices.

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.

Did you delete photos from any of your devices, assuming they have been saved to iCloud or would be staying on your other devices?

Perhaps the dates on the photos are wrong and the missing photos are now sorted differently in "Library > All Photos". you may want to check, if the photos are appearing in a different month or year than you are expecting.

Photos may also appear to be missing, if a Filter has become enabled. While viewing an Album or "All Photos" tap the three dots and then "Filter". Is it set to "All items"? If not, change it to "All items".

if you have not only been using iCloud Photos but the Shared iCloud Photos Library as well, ensure, that the selector for the library has been set to "Both Libraries", not just your "Personal Library".

OK. So did you back-up your old phone's images and, if so, did you check they were on iCloud at that point? Did you delete the images from your old phone before you sold/destroyed it? If so, you might have deleted the corresponding iCloud images. Even so, you should still see them in the deleted items folder for up to 30 days ...

I have hundreds of photos missing from iCloud! I agree that what’s the point of iCloud??? Luckily, I have them backed up Costco/Shutterfly, but not sure what to do going forward! Went through and deleted almost a thousand of photos/videos (I do have ALOT) to make room but nothing did not seem to restore anything.

I had this happen to me just yesterday. I'd been checking photos on my phone on Sunday as I needed to send someone a video, only to find all photos except for 2024 on my phone. I'd lost everything including the last photos I took with my mum before she passed.

After finding this thread doing a google search, I did what a couple of people recommended and called Apple. The tech guy I spoke to was able to restore all my photos.

the key is you have to call within 30 days of noticing your photos missing.

That is completely inaccurate. If you purchase 2TB of icloud service you have that much space on an Apple server and that is where your photos reside. They don't if you choose not to save them to the cloud or you do not purchase or have enough space. But if you select save and have the space, they absolutely reside on an apple server.

That is just a silly comment.

If it is beyond 30 days there is nothing Apple can do. This is why people have to have solid backups (again, iCloud is not a backup; it is a transfer function). You have to backup on hard drives. If you use Time Machine, you can get your photos back.