How to Recover Permanently Deleted Photos from iPhone without Backup

With professional iPhone data recovery software -MyRecover for iOS, you can easily recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup.

By @Lora
Last Updated February 17, 2025

Can you recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup?

“I accidentally deleted pictures last week in my iPhone X. How can I restore them without any backup (iCloud, iTunes, etc.)? Please help me. Thank you.” –Question from Apple Communities

At first, when you deleted photos from iPhone, they would be moved to the "Recently Deleted" album until 30 days later. Thus, it's necessary to check if your photos are there.

But if you deleted it from the "Recently Deleted" album or after 30 days, your photos are permanently deleted. You can't recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup unless you use professional data recovery software.

How to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup

In this part, I will show you how to recover permanently deleted photos on iPhone without backup, including recovering from Recently Deleted and trying a third-party tool.

▶ Option 1. Recover deleted photos on iPhone from "Recently Deleted" album

If you deleted those photos, the first step you need to do is to find them in the Recently Deleted folder. Some users thought the deleted photos were permanently deleted from iPhone but not in reality.

When you delete photos from your iPhone, they are moved to the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before being permanently deleted. You could find deleted photos in one month.

Step 1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Tap “Albums” on the bottom bar.

Step 3. Scroll down and find the Recently Deleted folder under the Albums.

Step 4. Select the photos you want to restore and tap “Recover”.

▶ Option 2. Recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone with software

If you can’t find the photos you want in the Recently Deleted folder, it means the photos are permanently deleted from your iPhone. At this time, the best choice to is use third-party iOS data recovery software to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup.

With iPhone data recovery software, it will directly scan the iPhone to find deleted photos and then recover them, even without a backup. Many iPhone data recovery tools on the market can help you, but MyRecover for iOS is one of the best.

★Key features of MyRecover for iOS: 
Have a user-friendly interface and easy-to-follow guides.
Supports more than 10 data types of iPhone, including photos, videos, contacts, notes, WeChat history, etc.
Preview and selectively recover data (i.e. photos) instead of the whole iPhone.
Support iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch with iOS 10 and later.

Step 1. Connect the iPhone to the computer.

Download and install MyRecover for iOS on your computer. It’s advised to use an original lightning cable to connect your iPhone to the computer.

MyRecover for iOS

Best iPhone data recovery tool for personal use.

Step 2. Click “Scan Now”.

MyRecover for iOS will detect your iPhone automatically. Tap “Trust this computer” on your iPhone to authorize the computer. Then, click “Scan Now” on the software to start the scanning process. It usually takes several minutes to complete.

Step 3. Click “Recover”.

All of your iPhone data found will be listed on the left panel. Click “Photos” and select the deleted photos and videos you want to restore, and then click “Recover” to save them to your computer.

How to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone with backup

It will be best if you have an iCloud or iTunes backup, thus you can easily recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone. 

Option 1. Restore permanently deleted photos from iCloud Backup

iCloud backup will include all the data on iPhone, so you can easily restore permanently deleted photos from it. But please be sure you don't activate iCloud Photos as it's not part of the iCloud backup. 

⚠️If you activate the iCloud Photos, iCloud backup will not include any photos. At this situation, your photos will be permanently deleted from icloud.com and all your devices. You can only check the Recently Deleted folder from icloud.com to find deleted photos.

Before starting, you need to know that this process will delete all the current data on ithe Phone, thus restoring iPhone to previous date. If you don't mind, continue to learn the following steps:

Step 1. Connect your iPhone using the original lightning cable. Then, go to “General” > “Reset” > “Erase All Content and Settings”. 

Step 2. Input your passcode to confirm when prompted.

Step 3. Set up your iPhone and be sure it's connected to a well-worked WiFi network.

Step 4. Once reaching the “Apps & Data” window, click “Restore from iCloud Backup”.

Step 5. Sign in with your Apple ID. Then, choose a backup to recover from. It's recommended to select the latest backup containing more data. 

If restore from iCloud backup is not working, please refer to the troubleshooting guide.

Option 2. Recover permanently deleted photos on iPhone using iTunes backup

iTunes backup is another backup feature provided by Apple to help you recover permanently deleted photos on iPhone. Please be sure you use the latest version of iTunes and authorize the computer while connecting your iPhone. 

⚠️Similarly, iTunes backup will delete all the current data on the iPhone. This means you will lose some of the data when restoring. So it's suggested to backup data on iPhone now. It's best to use a third-party iPhone backup software to break this rule. Otherwise, you will be stuck in this deadlock.

Step 1. Connect your iPhone via a charging cable.  Open iTunes on your computer, find and click the “iPhone” icon. 

Step 2. Go to “Summary” > "Backups" > "Manually Back Up and Restore", and click “Restore Backup”. You can then see all the backup versions and select the one to recover from. 

If trying to restore iPhone from iTunes backup failed, please get help.

Bonus tip to avoid iPhone data loss

Unfortunately, the best iOS data recovery software couldn’t guarantee a 100% recovery success rate. If the iPhone data was deleted for a long time or covered by new data, it’s hard to restore.

Therefore, please be careful when you want to delete iPhone data and make a regular backup in your daily life. For those who don’t use iTunes or iCloud for making iPhone backups, there must be some reasons as the following.

  • It’s complex to use iTunes or iCloud.
  • It will be interrupted due to iTunes internal error or third-party charging cable.
  • Lack of iCloud storage.
  • It takes lots of time to make an iPhone backup.
  • In addition, iCloud or iTunes backup will delete all the current data during the recovery process, which may cause data loss. 

No worries! AOMEI FoneBackup could solve those problems perfectly. As a free iPhone backup tool, AOMEI FoneBackup supports full backup and custom backup. You could only make photos backup on your computer. It’s faster and more stable than iTunes and iCloud backup.

Besides, you could use it to transfer iOS data between iPhones and computers at lightning speed.

Bottom line

Using professional iOS data recovery software could be the only way to recover permanently deleted photos from iPhone without backup. MyRecover for iOS is that one!

As a useful and reliable iPhone data recovery tool, it could not help you recover permanently deleted photos, but videos, notes, contacts, voice memos, call history, WeChat history from iPhone. Overall, the software is easy to use and will walk you through a successful recovery process.

MyRecover for iOS

Best iPhone data recovery tool for personal use.

In addition, remember that backing up data on iPhone is critical for any Apple user who wants to avoid data loss. It’s recommended to use AOMEI FoneBackup to keep your vital iPhone data on your computer.