Can I get back pictures from an iCloud backup?

[torbjornhb]

Hi.
I have deleted all the pictures from my iPhone, and I also deleted them from "deleted pictures". I have a iCloud backup from November which is about 10GB in total. I had about 7000 pictures...

My question then is it this backup includes all the pictures, or if it only contains metadata that is no longer possible to get back as long as the pictures are deleted from iCloud?

Hope that was understandable
Thanks for all the answers.

 

[Tartarus]

Hi.
I have deleted all the pictures from my iPhone, and I also deleted them from "deleted pictures". I have a iCloud backup from November which is about 10GB in total. I had about 7000 pictures...

My question then is it this backup includes all the pictures, or if it only contains metadata that is no longer possible to get back as long as the pictures are deleted from iCloud?

Hope that was understandable
Thanks for all the answers.

Connect your iPhone to iTunes, make a backup on your computer, then reset your iPhone to the iCloud backup you mention.
See for yourself if it does contain the photos or not.
If it does, make sure those photos are safely backed up to a medium of your liking.

Then restore the iPhone back to the backup on your computer.

This is the best and surest way to know what you wanna know.

 

[torbjornhb]

Thanks.
I tried a software that should find pictures from the iCloud backup, but it didn't work. Not sure if that is a good way of doing it though...

 

[Just_Me_D]

Hi.
I have deleted all the pictures from my iPhone, and I also deleted them from "deleted pictures". I have a iCloud backup from November which is about 10GB in total. I had about 7000 pictures...

My question then is it this backup includes all the pictures, or if it only contains metadata that is no longer possible to get back as long as the pictures are deleted from iCloud?

Hope that was understandable
Thanks for all the answers.

If iCloud Photos is enabled on the device then those photos do not get backed up via an iCloud backup because they are already synced to iCloud. With that being said, if they have been deleted from iCloud in the manner you mentioned above then they are gone.

On the other hand, if you did not have it loud Photos enabled on the device then your photos should be included via an iCloud backup and then restoring that backup should restore the photos.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428

 

[torbjornhb]

Thanks.
ICloud has been enabled all the time, so unfortunately I guess their all gone. I have copies in Google Photos, but they are compressed and not the original version. The good thing is that even though they are compressed, they still seem to have very good quality. I used the whole day yesterday to export all of the 37000 pictures from Goggle Photos, because I thought I should upload them to ICloud, then delete them from Google Photos, and then turn on Google Photos synchronisation on the phone. That way all the pictures would show up on both places. But today I found out that I is impossible to have all the pictures stored in iCloud without taking up any space on my mac harddrive. Of course I can turn on optimized storage, but they will still take a lot of space. And I think it would take forever to upload 360 GB of photos...

Ah... I just want those 7000 pictures back. Maybe just upload 7000 compressed pictures from Google Photos to iCloud...

 

[Lee_Bo]

I got the 256 gig version of this just to prevent that very thing:


SanDisk 256GB IXpand Flash Drive for IPhone and IPad - SDIX30N-256G-GN6NE https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUH9BE...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUimUvbUpU3185362

 

[torbjornhb]

It's not that I'm in lack of storage, I was just trying to organise all my pictures, and I think I deleted everything when I hit that freaking "free up space" button in Google Photos.

 

[Rockdog97]

It's not that I'm in lack of storage, I was just trying to organise all my pictures, and I think I deleted everything when I hit that freaking "free up space" button in Google Photos.

I wont hit that freak'n button now! Yikes!

 

[wpn00b]

Thanks.
ICloud has been enabled all the time, so unfortunately I guess their all gone. I have copies in Google Photos, but they are compressed and not the original version. The good thing is that even though they are compressed, they still seem to have very good quality. I used the whole day yesterday to export all of the 37000 pictures from Goggle Photos, because I thought I should upload them to ICloud, then delete them from Google Photos, and then turn on Google Photos synchronisation on the phone. That way all the pictures would show up on both places. But today I found out that I is impossible to have all the pictures stored in iCloud without taking up any space on my mac harddrive. Of course I can turn on optimized storage, but they will still take a lot of space. And I think it would take forever to upload 360 GB of photos...

Ah... I just want those 7000 pictures back. Maybe just upload 7000 compressed pictures from Google Photos to iCloud...

There is a remote possibility that a Senior Advisor at Apple Care can retrieve them. Call customer support and tell them the issue so they can create a case, then ask to speak with a Senior Advisor.

If shortly after deletion there MIGHT be an option available to restore some of those photos.

I used to work for Apple (left in September 2019) and this would happen from time to time. I woman had deleted 4000 photos and I was able to restore them for her a day later.

This isn’t a guarantee, so don’t go giving them a hard time if they say the option isn’t there .

Good luck!

 

[Annie_M]

There is a remote possibility that a Senior Advisor at Apple Care can retrieve them. Call customer support and tell them the issue so they can create a case, then ask to speak with a Senior Advisor.

If shortly after deletion there MIGHT be an option available to restore some of those photos.

I used to work for Apple (left in September 2019) and this would happen from time to time. I woman had deleted 4000 photos and I was able to restore them for her a day later.

This isn’t a guarantee, so don’t go giving them a hard time if they say the option isn’t there.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your feedback and welcome to iMore. It's great to have you here.

When you get a moment, stroll on over to the new members' section and introduce yourself to the community:
https://forums.imore.com/new-forums-introduce-yourself-here/

 

[wpn00b]

Thanks Annie_8plus!