How to recover missing photos from hidden album on iOS 18.5?

"Hidden" could mean different things, so just to make sure-- you're looking in the Hidden view in Utilities, is that right?

With the Customize option, things can be disappeared into unexpected places…

Have you looked for the pictures in the general Library? The Library view now has filters, and you may not have your filter set to "All Items:"

Have you tried a forced restart? 

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

This is different from a simple Power Off. I had to continue holding the button down past the "slide to power off" message, and then I released the button only after  the Apple Logo appeared indicating a re-start. 

Let us know…

Same thing here. Along with 100’s of other posts that have been locked by an admin with no answers.

-What is happening

Only photos from the “Hidden Album” are going missing.

They are not in “recently deleted” they are not showing up in the iCloud data; or any iCloud Photos.

Only certain photos in the Hidden Album disappear. In my case, I had about 35 photos and 2 videos.

I now only have 4.

-Troubleshooting

I/we have tried every obvious solution, followed the Apple Support instructions, and tried ambiguous suggestions from developers/admins that did not lead to *where* these photos went, or *how* to get them back, or *why* they went missing in the first place.

-Response from Apple support

In recent threads, we are met with answers to “how not to get hacked” -which is unfortunately so unprofessional, because we had no mention or inclination that somebody had “hacked” and “stolen” the photos.

Employees at the Genius Bar had full access to iPhones experiencing this specific issue; with a 0% fix rate. So this is not a configuration issue, or a settings issue that the average iPhone user is simply not “understanding properly.”

-Context of Photos in Hidden Album

YES, obviously some photos are private for a reason, but we are not allowed to indulge in this forum. However, in an incredibly miraculous coincidence happened in my case, where the 4 photos left in the hidden album, where the only 4 photos that I would deem as *not obviously necessary to remain in a private area that only I SHOULD have access to look at*

-What Happens Next?

1.) This gets taken seriously by Apple. This could happen quietly, and honestly; and it might be extremely unfortunate, but we can be done with it and move on with our lives.

2.) OR: This post gets locked by an admin, nobody gets answers; it looks horrendously suspicious, and I will have to figure out the reason why by going to my best friend at one of the largest radio stations on the East Coast, or by asking my 1.1M listeners to check and see if it’s happened to any of them as well. Nothing nefarious on my end, just incredibly curious; and fascinated by tech; sometimes 1 in a million shots are random, and do happen.

-Contact me directly if need be. This is not something that should be discussed on a public forum -given it could be very fragile.

Thank you.

Hey, thanks. Honestly, I do appreciate that two people can have a slight disagreement or argument, but still find a middle ground, just by being normal humans. Seems to be a rarity in the state the world is at today. Let me address your questions.

First, the only technique that I found to recover a missing photo that is simply not found in deleted or any albums was this:

1. Go to your text messages
2. Physically, scroll back as far as you can, until you come across when that person sent a photo (that is now missing)
3. There will be a white, blank, PDF looking file.
4. Click on it and the picture will show up in the string of text messages.
5. Go back to your photos and locate it. (it may not be the first photo in the album; but will show up in the timeline it was taken or shared)

A response from Apple Support - Yes, I physically been to the genius bar, They are just as confused.

Yes, I have contacted actual Apple support that generated a ticket, that ticket has now been closed. With the reason of: “This has already been solved and previously discussed.” to which they linked me to the “Solved Solution.” Which has been locked and does not even remotely answer the question. It shows you in the settings how to unhide a hidden album and that is all.

I’ve also seen responses on this form from people claiming to be real Apple support but now that I think about it; probably best not to assume anything.

I’m just going to wait this one out a little bit to see we get any responses or maybe I should start my own thread instead of on this person’s reply. I do appreciate your candor and tactfulness while still being respectful. And so likewise, I will do the same.

I trust you understand that you are talking to other users here, not to Apple employees. (The few Apple folks are here merely to keep the forums operating smoothly.) If you want to talk to Apple employees, go through the official Support or Feedback channels.

Yes, although, to your point; I’m only vaguely familiar with this forum. - But I understand if I post something to Reddit, I’m not directly communicating with the Reddit developers, however, they are around and do step in when things tend to get a little bit out of hand or something that happens to be trending on a certain topic.

This is a big deflection on the actual concern of this post. I understand you aren’t being nefarious about it, but I’d like to steer it back on track.

I’ve also now gone on the computer version of iCloud and searched everything in there; and wind up in the exact same scenario. I *do* Feel the pictures have not completely vanished, but simply turned into a different type of format, hidden somewhere in either the string of text with the person; or in an earlier back up file, which I honestly don’t know how to access; because those show the same pictures or memories that you can just recover on your iPhone.

But I have recovered other pictures that have gone missing from other albums by going back to the iCloud text messages, transfer those to my phone: clicked “img. Download” (as it is just blank pdf file with a download arrow) and then the picture shows back up in the library.

However, the Hidden Album does not even have an option to be selected.

So I believe it is a bug. Or, an oversight that was missed during an update. My suggestion to people moving forward is just to make your own separate album, label it what you want, and then have it set to private, using your facial recognition to open it. Otherwise, you risk losing basically everything you put into the hidden album that is configured on your iPhone.

This is a user-to-user mutual assistance discussion forum. Many people come here with problems or complaints. Some of us are here to learn from each other and try to pass on what information and techniques we have gained. As I said, Apple stations a few people here to keep order. Sometimes they do "step in when things tend to get a little bit out of hand" (as you put it), but not in a technical way.

There have been a number of reports of users losing items from their Hidden folder. With few exceptions, we are not given enough information to diagnose the problem at a distance or suggest a solution. Not even enough, really, to suggest a pattern of failures. (Well, there are some patterns of user errors, but I'm not suggesting that applies here.)

You mention "Response from Apple support". Was that from actual Apple Support staff, rather than somebody in these forums or at the retail store Genius Bar?

Finally, you mentioned seeking alternative strategies for keeping photos private. This is a good idea. The Hidden attribute and album were not originally created as privacy mechanisms to hide photos from others but to keep photos out of their owners' view for whatever reason. (Maybe I don't want to see photos of my ex-nephew-in-law in the Christmas albums, but I don't want to delete them.) It was never developed into a robust privacy system. (Just my opinion.)