Hey everyone, I recently inherited my sister's old iPhone 12 after she upgraded to a new one. We transferred all of her data, including photos, to her new phone using iCloud. However, when I got the old iPhone, I deleted everything thinking everything was safe on her new device. I then reset the old phone but forgot to log her out of her Apple ID first. After the reset, I checked her new phone only to find out all her photos are gone! I've looked in iCloud, but I can only see the recently deleted ones from today. Is there any way to get back those 900+ missing photos? I'm really worried because they mean a lot to her!
4 Answers
You should definitely contact Apple Support ASAP. They may have tools or advice that could help you recover the photos, but act quickly! And for future reference, always wipe a second-hand device before using it. Wipe it clean before doing anything else to avoid issues like this.
I recommend checking the 'Recently Deleted' folder on iCloud.com where deleted photos are stored for 30 days. If your sister logged into her account there, she might find her deleted photos and recover them. Otherwise, be sure to check other iCloud settings that may have automatic backups.
It’s essential to have enough iCloud storage and to make sure backups are regularly occurring. If your sister’s turned on backup settings, she might be able to restore photos from an older backup. You can check this in her iCloud settings or on iCloud.com, but make sure she's the one logging in to restore her data!
You might be out of luck. When you delete from the old iPhone, it affects the cloud as well if you're still logged in. Always ensure to log out of an Apple ID before resetting a device. If there are no backups visible on iCloud or if your sister didn’t have backup settings turned on, those photos are likely lost. You can check iCloud.com to view if there's anything left there, but it doesn’t sound promising.
Backup settings are super critical! Definitely something to set up beforehand to avoid panic later!