How to Recover Deleted Photos from Years Ago on iPhone

Part 1: Can You Recover Deleted Photos from Years Ago on iPhone?

When photos are deleted on your iPhone, they go to the "Recently Deleted" album and stay there for 30 days before being permanently erased. It is straightforward to recover photos from the Recently Deleted album.

In your scenario, the photos were deleted a long time ago. So, the recovery approach will be different. You can recover those photos by restoring the backup, checking synced accounts, or asking the other person to share them again. Alternatively, you can use a data recovery tool to scan and extract the photos directly from your iPhone.

In short, you are still in a strong position to recover old photos. Head to the next part to learn how to recover deleted photos from a year ago on iPhone using the best proven methods.

Part 2: How to Recover Deleted Photos from Years Ago iPhone

Since the duration of photo deletion is long, you need to try multiple methods until you recover them. Follow the methods below one by one and get back your old photos:

Method 1 – Check "Hidden" Album in iPhone Photos App

Sometimes, photos are not deleted and are placed in the "Hidden" folder. If that's the case, you won't see any trace of those photos in your albums. Therefore, the first method involves checking the Hidden album.

Here are the steps on how to recover deleted photos from iPhone from years ago by checking the Hidden album:

• Open the Photos app and scroll down until you see the "Hidden" album option under the Utilities section.
• Click Hidden and verify your identity.
• Explore the available photos. Click the Select button from the top and select all the photos you want to pull back to your albums.
• Click the 3 dots icon from the bottom and tap Unhide.

This way, you can pull out the hidden photos back to their previous location in albums.

Method 2 – Restore iCloud Backup from the Time Photos Existed

Are you among those iPhone users who create regular phone backups on iCloud? This habit has become a savior for you, as you can restore iCloud backup to retrieve old photos.

Basically, when you create an iCloud backup, it backs up your entire photo collection as well. However, restoring iCloud backup requires you to factory reset your iPhone. Besides that, it restores the entire backup, not just the required photos.

Follow the steps below to recover years of photos missing from iCloud on iPhone using a backup:

• Factory reset your iPhone by clicking Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.

• Start the iPhone setup. When you get to the Transfer Your Apps & Data section, tap From iCloud Backup.

• Enter your Apple ID credentials to sign in. Select the backup file that you believe contains the year-old photos.

Once done, wait for the restoration to complete. Then, open the Photos app and look for the recovered deleted photos.

Method 3 – Restore from iTunes/Finder Backup (Old Mac or PC)

iTunes/Finder is another backup platform for iPhone users. This backup is also made on the computer rather than in the cloud. However, restoring iTunes/Finder backup also overwrites existing iPhone data and restores the entire backup.

Check out the steps below to learn how to retrieve deleted photos on iPhone from years ago using iTunes/Finder backup:

• Open the iTunes/Finder app on your computer. Also, connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable.
• Select your iPhone from the left panel and tap Restore Backup.

• Select the correct backup file based on the right date and time, and also enter the password. Once done, tap Restore.

Within minutes, iTunes/Finder will restore the backup to your iPhone. Afterward, you can check for the deleted files in the Photos app.

Method 4 – Use iPhone Photo Recovery Tool (No Backup Needed)

What if we tell you that you don't need a backup to recover deleted photos from years ago on iPhone. You can directly scan your iPhone's internal storage to pull out the photos. That's what you can do with UltData iPhone Data Recovery.

UltData iPhone Data Recovery is a feature-packed and intuitive iPhone data recovery tool. It can recover photos from iPhone lost due to accidental deletion, factory reset, system crash, physical damage, iOS upgrade bug, or other reasons.

Feel impressed? Here are the key features you can enjoy with UltData iPhone Data Recovery:

• Recover deleted photos directly from iPhone without backup.
• Recover recently or years-old photos lost from any possible scenario.
• Deep scan-based recovery for a high success rate.
• Recover other data types as well, including videos, contacts, messages, voicemails, and third-party apps data.
• Preview of recoverable data and selective recovery of required files only.
• Compatible with old and latest iPhone models.
• Click-based, intuitive interface with super-fast processing.

Here are the steps to learn how to recover deleted photos from years ago on iPhone using UltData iPhone Data Recovery:

• Download and install the tool on your Windows/Mac system. Launch it and tap iPhone/iPad Data Recovery.



• Connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable.

• After the connection, you have to select the data types to recover. Tick Photos and other data types to scan and click Start.

• Once the scan completes, preview the recoverable photos. Select the old photos you want to retrieve and tap Recover to save them.

In this way, you can quickly and easily recover years old photos directly from iPhone.

Method 5 – Check Other Synced Cloud Accounts (Google Photos, Dropbox, etc.)

Some iPhone users are seen to sync their photos with other cloud accounts, such as Google Photos, Dropbox, etc. If you are also the one, why not check those cloud accounts to recover old photos?

Let's take Google Photos as an example and see how to retrieve deleted photos on iPhone from years ago:

• Open the Google Photos app and make sure you are signed in with the correct Google account.
• View the photos and see if you can find the old ones you want to retrieve. Select the photos and then tap to save them back to your iPhone's local storage.

You can follow similar steps for Dropbox or other synced cloud accounts.

Method 6 – Ask Family Members in Shared Albums

Shared Albums on iPhone allow multiple people to view, add, and save photos and videos. If you have lost photos that were part of a Shared Album, there is a chance that family members who participated in the album may still have copies.

Even if the Shared Album was deleted, the photos can exist in the creator's or contributors' main photo library. So, request your family member(s) to reshare the specific photos you want.

Wrapping Up

Whenever your photos are deleted, don't get worried, even if they were deleted a long time ago. You have a 90%+ chance to recover deleted photos from years ago iPhone using the above methods. You can start with any method that suits you, but UltData iPhone Data Recovery seems the best. It provides a click-based interface to scan, preview, and recover recent and old deleted photos with a high success rate. Therefore, install UltData iPhone Data Recovery and retrieve your photos right away.

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