If you’re missing photos or videos in the Photos app

Check places like your Recently Deleted or Hidden albums, your Shared Library, and iCloud Photos.

Check your Recently Deleted album

If you’ve accidentally deleted a photo or video, it will appear in the Recently Deleted album. Anything in your Recently Deleted album will stay there for 30 days. After 30 days, it will be permanently deleted and you can’t get it back.

On your iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Photos app, swipe up, then tap Recently Deleted in the Utilities section.

2. Tap View Album, then use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock your Recently Deleted album.

3. Tap a photo or video, then tap Recover. To recover multiple photos, tap Select, select your photos or videos, tap the More button, then tap Recover.

4. Confirm that you want to recover the photos or videos.

   

On your Mac

1. In macOS Ventura or later, open Photos and select Recently Deleted in the Utilities section of the sidebar.

2. Use Touch ID or your login password to unlock your Recently Deleted album.

3. Click the photo or video.

4. Click Recover.

On iCloud.com

1. Go to iCloud.com, then sign in to your Apple Account.

2. Tap or click Photos.

3. Select Recently Deleted in the sidebar. If you don’t see the sidebar, tap or click the Show Sidebar button in the top left-hand corner.

4. Select a photo, then tap or click Recover.

On your Apple Vision Pro

1. Open Photos, then tap Collections in the sidebar.

2. Scroll down and tap Recently Deleted in the Utilities section.

3. Tap View Album, then use Optic ID or your passcode to unlock your Recently Deleted album.

4. Tap and hold a photo or video, then tap Recover. To recover multiple photos, tap Select, select your photos or videos, tap the More button in the upper right-hand corner, then tap Recover.

5. Tap Recover to confirm.

Unhide your photos

If you hide photos and videos, you’ll only see them in your Hidden album, so it may seem like they’re missing. But you can unhide your photos and videos whenever you want. With iOS 14 and later, you can hide the Hidden album so it won’t appear anywhere in the Photos app. So if you’re missing photos or videos, make sure the Hidden album is turned on so you can see it.

If you use iCloud Photos, the photos that you’ve hidden on one device will be hidden on your other devices too.

On your iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Photos app, swipe up, then tap Hidden in the Utilities section.

2. Tap View Album, then use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock your Hidden album.

3. Select the photo or video that you want to unhide.

4. Tap the More button, then tap Unhide.

   

On your Mac

1. Open Photos and in the menu bar, click View, then select Show Hidden Photo Album.

2. In the sidebar, select Hidden, then click View Album.

3. In macOS Ventura or later, use Touch ID or your login password to unlock your Hidden album.

4. Select the photo or video that you want to unhide.

5. Control-click the photo, then choose Unhide Photo. You can also choose Image > Unhide Photo from the menu bar or press Command-L.

On iCloud.com

1. Go to iCloud.com, then sign in to your Apple Account.

2. Tap or click Photos.

3. Select Hidden in the sidebar, then tap or click Show Hidden Photos. If you can’t see the sidebar, tap or click the Show Sidebar button in the top left-hand corner.

4. Select a photo, tap or click the More button, then tap or click Unhide.

On your Vision Pro

1. Open Photos, then tap Collections in the sidebar.

2. Scroll down and tap Hidden in the Utilities section.

3. Tap View Album, then use Optic ID or enter your passcode to unlock your Hidden album.

4. Tap and hold a thumbnail, then tap Unhide. To unhide multiple photos, tap Select, select your photos or videos, tap the More button in the top right-hand corner, then tap Unhide.

Make sure iCloud Photos is turned on

iCloud Photos securely stores all of your photos and videos in iCloud, so you can access them on all of your devices. If you’ve taken a photo on your iPhone with iCloud Photos turned on but later turned the feature off, you may still be able to find a missing photo in iCloud Photos.

On your iPhone or iPad

1. Go to Settings > [your name], then tap iCloud.

2. Tap Photos.

3. Turn on Sync this [Device].

On your Mac

1. Open Photos, then choose photos > Settings (or Preferences) from the menu bar.

2. Click the iCloud tab.

3. Select iCloud Photos.

After you turn on iCloud Photos, you might need to connect to Wi-Fi and wait a few minutes. Then look for your photos again.

On your Vision Pro

1. Go to Settings > [your name], then tap iCloud.

2. Tap Photos.

3. Turn on Sync this Apple Vision Pro.

Check your iCloud Shared Photo Library

In iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1 and later, you can start or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library with up to five contacts. Some photos may only appear in certain library views.

Switch between your Personal Library and Shared Library on your iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Photos app.

2. Tap the profile button in the top right-hand corner.

3. Choose Both Libraries, Personal Library or Shared Library in the Library View Options section.

In Both Libraries or Shared Library view, photos that are in the Shared Library are marked with the Shared Library icon. Photos that are in the Personal Library are marked with the Personal Library icon.

Find out more about how to switch between your Personal Library and Shared Library on your iPhone or iPad

Sign in with the same Apple Account

For your photos and videos to stay up to date on all your devices, make sure that you sign in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on every device.

You can check which Apple Account your device is using in Settings. You’ll see your name and email address. Your email address is your Apple Account.

Learn more

• If you organise a photo or video into an album and then delete it from Photos, it will be deleted everywhere, including that album. You can recover the photo in the Recently Deleted album for 30 days.

• Find out what to do if your photos aren’t syncing to your device.