Recover Recently Deleted Photos in iOS 12

Accidentally deleting photos from your iPhone or iPad running iOS 12 does not mean they are permanently gone. iOS 12 includes a built-in safety net called the "Recently Deleted" album, which retains removed images and videos for up to 30 days before erasing them forever. This guide explains how to locate this album, restore your deleted media back to your main photo library, or permanently remove items to immediately free up internal storage.

How to Recover Deleted Photos

To restore photos to your primary library, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Photos app on your device running iOS 12.
  2. Tap the Albums tab located at the bottom navigation bar.
  3. Scroll down past your user-created albums to the Other Albums section at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Tap Recently Deleted.
  5. Tap Select in the top-right corner of the screen.
  6. Select the individual photos or videos you wish to retrieve. Alternatively, tap Recover All in the bottom-right corner if you want to restore everything.
  7. Tap Recover in the bottom-right corner, then confirm your choice by tapping Recover Photo (or the prompt indicating the number of selected photos).

The restored files will return to their original locations in your library and camera roll based on the date they were originally taken.

How to Permanently Delete Photos Immediately

If you want to free up storage space immediately without waiting for the automatic 30-day expiration, you can manually empty the Recently Deleted album:

  1. Open Photos and navigate to Albums.
  2. Scroll down and open the Recently Deleted album.
  3. Tap Select in the top-right corner.
  4. Choose the photos you want to remove, or tap Delete All in the bottom-left corner.
  5. Confirm by tapping Delete [Number] Photos.

Note: Once photos are permanently deleted from this folder, they cannot be recovered without a previously created iCloud or iTunes backup.

Understanding the 30-Day Window

Each thumbnail in the Recently Deleted album displays a badge indicating the number of days remaining before that item is automatically deleted. The countdown begins at 30 days from the moment of deletion. Once that counter hits zero, the device permanently purges the file to conserve device storage.