This post explains why photos missing from iCloud backup and provides 6 methods to fix the “Photos missing from iCloud backup/photos library” problem.
Years of photos missing from iCloud on iPhone.
I’m puzzled as I recently realized that random batches of photos have missing from my iCloud Photos Library. I restored iPhone from an older iCloud backup, but I can’t find my photos on iCloud Photos. Is there a chance that I can fix the iCloud photos missing issue?
- Question from discussions. apple.com
Photos disappearing from iCloud is a common iOS issue. Lots of users had this problem after updating the system version or restoring iPhone from iCloud backup. Generally, there are some common reasons may cause the issue.
• iCloud photos feature is disabled: iCloud gives you an option to manually turn on and turn off iCloud Photos. If it is disabled, the photos are not on the iCloud. • Your iCloud storage is full: If your iCloud storage reaches the storage limit, it will stop automatically uploading photos and videos. • The Photos are hidden: You may hide your photos from your Photos, so you can’t find your photos in the Photos library. • The Wi-Fi connection is weak: iCloud syncing based on a stable and Internet. Thus, if your Wi-Fi connection is weak, these photos can’t be synced to your device in time.
According to these causes, this post summarized some common solutions to help you out of this issue.
If you lost your photos when switching to a new iPhone, please make sure the two iPhones are using the same Apple account. Then try the following ways to fix it.
As we mentioned above, a strong and stable Wi-Fi connection is necessary to sync iCloud Photos, especially if you have a bunch of pictures or other data on your iCloud storage. Make sure your Wi-Fi is working well and wait for a while to see if you can find your pictures.
You probably accidentally turned off the iCloud Photos feature. It could be the reason why Photos missing from iCloud Photo Library on iPhone/iPad. Follow the steps below to check.
1. Open the “Settings” app on your device.
2. Tap the “Apple ID”/ “Your Name” banner > “iCloud” > “Photos”.
3. Toggle on the “iCloud Photos” option.
Apple only provides 5GB free storage space with each user and for those people who store lots of pictures, it is easy to find iCloud storage is running out of space. In this condition, you can either free up some space or change your storage plan.
To buy more storage space, you can go to “Settings” > “Your Name” banner > “iCloud” > “Manage storage” > “Change Storage Plan”. And you can see the iCloud price plans, and you and gain 2TB of storage at most.
If you don’t want to upgrade your iCloud storage, deleting some iCloud data is another solution. Here are the steps to check iCloud data and delete it.
Step 1. Go to iPhone “Setting” on your iPhone or iPad.
Step 2. Tap “[Your Name]” banner > “iCloud” > “Manage Storage”.
Step 3. Tap the data that take up too much storage, and disable and delete it.
One of the possible reasons why you can’t find some random photos is that you mistakenly hide them. And you can’t find them in the Photos Library. This is how to unhide photos.
1. Go to the “Photos” app on your iPhone > Choose "Albums" tab > Scroll down and tap "Hidden".
2. Tap the hidden photos/album, and choose the share icon.
3. Tap "Unhide". Then the photos will be restored to the Photo Library.
Recently Deleted works like Recycle Bin in computer. If you accidentally deleted some images, you can still get the backup in 30 days. So if your photos are missing from iCloud backup, Recovering from Recently Deleted is worth a try.
To recover photos from the Recently Deleted:
1. Launch "Photos" app > Choose "Albums" > Scroll down and tap "Recently Deleted".
2. Tap "Select" and choose the photos you need. Then choose "Recover All" to get them back.
If the above methods can’t help you, you can try a powerful iOS data transfer & backup software -AOMEI FoneBackup to scan your iPhone to check if your photos are on your iPhone. This tool helps you find all photos on your device and help you create a backup on a computer/external disk.
Step 1. Run AOMEI FoneBackup, and click "iPhone to PC" on the interface to start.
Step 2. Click the "+" icon. Choose the "Photos". Then view all photos on the iPhone.
In addition, If there are some important photos that you don't want to lose, you can click "OK" > "Start Transfer" to transfer/backup iPhone photos to the computer.
These are all 6 solutions to "Photos Missing from iCloud Backup". Hope these methods can help you out of it. Usually, if you can't find your pictures from iCloud, you can check your network, iCloud settings, or scan iPhone photos with AOMEI FoneBackup.
iCloud is a cloud server. It is very convenient, but sometimes, it can have a glitch and issues. It is not safe to only have iCloud photos backup. What's more, some users reported that iCloud may have a bug leading to data leaks.
You can use AOMEI FoneBackup to backup photos to computer, so you have a local backup. Once iCloud has some issue, you can still have your photos. And no one can access your photos because it won't upload data to any server.
