After I Backed Up Iphone to Icloud My Photos Were Missing

Fix Issues of Photos Disappeared from iPhone

iPhone photos disappeared accidentally? Don't worry, just read this post, you will know why photos disappeared from iPhone and how to get missing photos back. Supports iPhone 6/6s/7/8 (Plus)/X, and even the latest iPhone 12/11/Xr.

Hundreds of pictures suddenly disappeared from the camera roll on my iPhone 6s in iOS 12.4. Anybody encountered the same problem? Why did my photos disappeared on my iPhone and how to get back these missing photos? Any help is appreciated.

— An Email from One iPhone User

iPhone photos disappeared issues are so common to occur that a lot of iPhone users have emailed us complaining their iPhone photos disappeared from Camera Roll. Actually, it is not only photos from Camera Roll that might disappear, sometimes users might find iPhone deleted all photos.

Since many people are having questions like "why did my photos disappeared on my iPhone", "how to fix photos disappeared from iPhone", here in this post, we will show you why iPhone photos disappeared and how to get back missing photos. Please note that these methods work for all models of iPhone, including iPhone 11/XS/XR/X/8/7/6s, and even the latest iPhone 12 series.

Why Did My Photos Disappeared from My iPhone

There are many reasons for iPhone photos missing, below are the four most likely reasons.

1. Updating to iOS 13/12.4/12 or restoring from an unknown backup,

2. Someone deleted your photos without being noticed,

3. You have logged in to a different iCloud account or iCloud Photo Sync is disabled.

4. You have hidden your photos.

How to Fix Photos Disappear from iPhone Issues

We have talked about why photos disappeared from iPhone in the previous part and you now may have figured out the reason. Please follow the solutions below and fix iPhone photos disappear issues.

• Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Setting Devices
• Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone (If You Have an iTunes Backup)
• Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone (If You Have an iCloud Backup)
• Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone (If You Have No Previous Backup)

Solution 1. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Setting Devices

It seems awesome to be able to fix photos disappeared from iPhone issues just by setting devices, however, these methods don't always work. If neither of them works for you, please try other methods.

Method 1. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Restarting iDevice

It is suggested to reboot your iPhone. After you restart your device, run the Photos app and see whether photos come back on your iPhone. This is probably one of the most simple solutions to fix iPhone photos disappeared issues.

Method 2. Fix Photo Disappeared from iPhone by Logging in Another iCloud Account

If your iCloud photos disappeared from iPhone, the most likely reason is you have logged in to the wrong iCloud account. Go to Settings and you can see your name and email address if you are logging in to the wrong iCloud account, signing out and logging in to the right iCloud account will work to get back your missing photos.

Method 3. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Enabling iCloud Photos

iCloud photos would disappear from iPhone if iCloud Photo Sync or My Photo Stream is disabled. So you should make sure that you have enabled this feature.

To turn on My Photo Stream or iCloud Photo Library: Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then enable iCloud Photo Library or My Photo Stream. Notice that you should connect your device to Wi-Fi. If you turn on iCloud Photo Library, "My Photo Stream" album will disappear and all pictures on My Photo Stream will be transferred to "All Photos" album together with all Camera Roll pictures (Of course, the Camera Roll album will be replaced by All Photos).

Fix iPhone Pictures Disappeared by Enabling iCloud Photos

Since iOS 8, there is one built-in album named "Recently Deleted" in Photos app on your iPhone or iPad. This album will store the photos you recently deleted for 30 days before they are permanently deleted. So check whether there are some missing photos in the "Recently Deleted" folder.

Fix iPhone Pictures Disappeared by Recently Deleted Album

Method 5. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Unhiding Photos

If you have hidden some photos on your iPhone, they will only be available in your Hidden album, Here is how to unhide your photos.

Open Photos app and go to Albums tab. Tap Unhide Album. Select missing photos, click on icon and then tap Unhide.

Solution 2. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Restoring iPhone from iTunes Backup

If you have created backups with iTunes, then you have a big chance to get back disappeared pictures by restoring an iDevice from iTunes backup. However, you know, while restoring, you will never know what is in the backup and what would come back to your iPhone. Many people have tried to restore their devices from iTunes backup, only to find the iTunes backups they restored from doesn't contain photos they want to retrieve.

Fortunately, PhoneRescue for iOS is here for you. It is an excellent tool capable of helping you scan, view data in the iTunes backup for free, which means, with PhoneRescue for iOS, you will never worry about choosing the wrong backup. What's more, PhoneRescue for iOS can also help you selectively recover disappeared photos from iTunes backup. Now, follow us to extract disappeared photos from iTunes Backup.

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer, install and run it. Please make sure there are any previous backups on your PC/Mac.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to computer if you want to recover missing photos directly to iPhone. Select Recover from Backup, click the Right Arrow tab to continue.

Choose Recover from Backup

Step 3. Select one backup and then click the Right Arrow button to continue. Choose Only Scan Backup if you just want to view the data in iTunes backup, click Compare if you want to find the missing data.

Select One Backup to Scan

Step 4. Scroll down to Media Data and select Photos, Photo Videos and Thumbnails, click OK.

Select Photos Related Categories and Continue

Step 5. Select photos you want to recover. Click To iDevice button, you can restore selected photos back to iPhone. You can also save missing photos to computer by clicking the To Computer tab.

Select Photos and Recover to Device or Computer

Even though it is free to use PhoneRescue for iOS to scan and view data in iTunes backup, only a registered version of PhoneRescue for iOS can be used to extract disappeared photos from iTunes backup. Frankly, nearly all date recovery tool requires users to pay, however, iMobie team provides you 60-Day Money Back Guarantee. If PhoneRescue for iOS fails to recover your disappeared photos, you can apply for a full refund within 60 days since the purchase day.

Solution 3. Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone by Restoring iPhone from iCloud Backup

An iCloud backup could lead you a helping hand to fix photos that disappeared from iPhone. With a previous iCloud backup, you can get back missing photos by restoring iPhone from iCloud backup. However, before getting started, please note that all existing data would be gone. Besides, data in iCloud backup are not viewable, thus many users may also encounter issues like choosing the wrong iCloud backup.

Under this circumstance, we also suggest users view data in iCloud backup with PhoneRescue for iOS for free to avoid incidents like choosing the wrong iCloud backup. Besides extracting disappeared photos from iTunes backup, PhoneRescue for iOS can also help users to extract disappeared photos from iCloud backup. Here are detailed steps.

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer and then launch it. Please make sure you have any previous iCloud backups.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to computer, select Recover from iCloud, click the Right Arrow button.

Recover iMessages from iCloud

Step 3. After logging in your iCloud account, all contents on iCloud would be displayed. Click iCloud Backup. You can also download photos from iCloud Photo Library to computer.

Get Back Missing Photos from iCloud Backup – Step 3

Step 4. Select one backup and download it. Click on the Right Arrow button again, tap Only Scan Backup if you want to view contents in iCloud Backup. Click on Compare if you want to know the differences between data in iCloud backup and iPhone.

Get Back Missing Photos from iCloud Backup – Step 4

Step 5. Check the box of Photos, Photo Videos, and Thumbnails. Don't forget to click OK.

Get Back Missing Photos from iCloud Backup – Step 5

Step 6. Here you can view all photos in iCloud backup. Select the disappeared photos, tap either recover tabs. To Computer button can help you store disappeared photos to computer. To Device tab can help you recover these photos to Photos app on your iPhone.

Retrieve Deleted iPhone Photos without Backup

Solution 4. Recover Disappeared Photos from iPhone without Backups

If you failed to fix "iPhone photos disappeared" issues with the common solutions above, and have no available iTunes or iCloud backups, the only way to get them back is using some iPhone data recovery tool like PhoneRescue for iOS. Even if you have no backups at all, it can still scan your iPhone thoroughly and display you all deleted photos yet not overwritten photos, then recover them to iPhone's Photos App directly or save them to computer as a printable or viewable format.

It is free to scan your iPhone for disappeared photos with PhoneRescue for iOS, but if you find photos you want to recover to iPhone, you may need to upgrade PhoneRescue for iOS to Pro version to recover disappeared photos. However, iMobie provides "60 Day Money Back Guarantee" to all users, that is to say, you can ask for a refund within 60 days if you failed to recover disappeared photos from iPhone.

Here are how to recover disappeared photos directly from iPhone.

Step 1. Download and install PhoneRescue for iOS to your PC/Mac > Launch it.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to your computer > Select Recover from iOS Device > Click button.

Recover from iOS Device without Backup

Step 3. Select Photos, Photo Videos, Thumbnails > Click OK.

Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone – Step 3

Step 4. All photos on your device would be displayed. Select the missing photos, click the To Computer or To iDevice button. To iDevice button can help you recover disappeared photos directly back to iPhone and To Computer button will help you export missing photos to computer.

Fix Photos Disappeared from iPhone – Step 4

In addition to the issue discussed above, you will also encounter a number of other issues related to iPhone images, such as can't copy HEIC photos from iPhone to Windows for preview. As HEIC is the trending JPEG alternative format be chosen by Apple to save images on iDevices and Macs since iOS 11. However, it is not yet widely compatible so that you may encounter some annoying issues when you try to open or view these photos on your device or computer. Fortunately, there are some best HEIC Photo Viewers that can help you out, or you can try free online HEIC Converter to change them into JPG.

The Bottom Line

The above tips are some basic ones that you can have a try if your photos disappeared from your iPhone. Any better ideas? Be free to post them in the comment section.

Member of iMobie team as well as an Apple fan, love to help more users solve various types of iOS & Android related issues.

After I Backed Up Iphone to Icloud My Photos Were Missing

Source: https://www.imobie.com/support/photos-disappeared-from-iphone.htm

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