Photos from icloud deleted when I synced my photos

kerem104 wrote:

This incident happened around 2022, but I’m still curious as to seeing if there is a fix for it.

Let me just give some background info first. In 2022, I was using my mom’s old iPhone as a daily, which was a 6+. The iPhone had pictures she took dating back to 2015, so I did not delete them just so there was some type of a backup. I knew that those photos were also on her iCloud, which was logged into the 6+, because when she got a new iPhone in 2021, the same photos came back in her photo gallery when she logged into her iCloud.

Anyways, one time, I was doing something in the iCloud settings on the 6+, when I turned on something related to photo syncing. Keep in mind, her iCloud storage was full too.

After I turned on the sync-related setting, all of the pictures she took dating back to 2015 were gone on the iPhone, and when I checked it on iCloud, they were not there as well.

The photo-sync ended up deleting all of her photos, and I could not find a way to recover them.

I’m not sure if I have a backup of the photos, but I was wondering if there was a way to somehow recover those photos.

I honestly doubt it considering that it happened a few years ago, but I might as well try.

Please let me know if there are any solutions.

Nope those photos are gone. Since you both were syncing to icloud Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support isn't part of the icloud backup What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support.

What should've happens when you first received the phone was this What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support