About the Recovered album in Photos
Your iPhone or iPad can identify previously lost or damaged photos and videos that are on your device. You can choose to permanently delete or restore them to your Photos library.
In iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, there is a Recovered album in the Utilities section of Photos. This album displays images or videos that are on your device but not currently part of your library. Photos or videos can become lost due to several reasons, including a database corruption issue, photos taken in a camera app that did not save correctly to the Photos library or third-party apps that are given access to manage your photo library.
When you update to iOS 18 or iPadOS 18, your iPhone or iPad will scan automatically for photos and videos that can be recovered. From the Recovered album, you can select a photo or video and choose to either permanently delete it or restore it to your library.
Delete or restore photos and images from the Recovered album
In Photos, scroll down and tap Recovered under Utilities.
Use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock your Recovered album.
Tap a photo or video, or tap Select to select multiple items.
Tap Permanently Delete or Restore to Library.
When you delete a photo or video from the Recovered album, it will not appear in your Recently Deleted album. It will be deleted immediately and the action cannot be undone.
If you use iCloud Photos, photos you restore from the Recovered album will sync to other devices that are signed in to your iCloud account and have iCloud Photos turned on.
The Recovered album will only appear if your iPhone or iPad finds photos or images that are on your device but not part of your Library.
