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

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

Check your Recently Deleted album

If you've deleted a photo or video accidentally, it will appear in the Recently Deleted album. Go to Photos > Albums and tap Recently Deleted in the Utilities section.

On your iPhone or iPad

  1. In iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 or later, use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock your Recently Deleted album.
  2. Tap a photo or video, then tap Recover. To recover multiple photos, tap Select, select your photos or videos, then tap Recover.
  3. Confirm that you want to recover the photos or videos.

The Recently Deleted album in Photos on iPhone 

On your Mac

  1. In macOS Ventura or later, use Touch ID or your login password to unlock your Recently Deleted album.
  2. Click the photo or video.
  3. Click Recover.

Anything in your Recently Deleted album will stay there for 30 days. After 30 days, it will be deleted permanently and you can't get it back.

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 to. With iOS 14 and later, you can hide the Hidden album so it won't appear anywhere in the Photos app. 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. In the Photos app, go to the Albums tab.
  2. Tap Hidden under Utilities.
  3. In iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 or later, use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock your Hidden album.
  4. Select the photo or video you want to unhide.
  5. Tap the More button , then tap Unhide.

    The Hidden album in Photos on iPhone

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.
  3. In macOS Ventura or later, use Touch ID or your login password to unlock your Hidden album.
  4. Select the photo or video 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.

Make sure iCloud Photos is turned on

iCloud Photos stores all of your photos and videos securely 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 iCloud Photos.

On your Mac

  1. Go to Photos > Settings.
  2. Click the iCloud tab.
  3. Select iCloud Photos.

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

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 5 contacts. Some photos may only appear in certain library views. 

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

Sign in with the same Apple ID

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

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

Learn more

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