How to Restore/Recover Photos from iCloud on iPhone

This passage introduces how to restore photos from iCloud photos or iCloud backup. You could also recover deleted photos from iCloud with the guide.

By @Dylan Last Updated September 27, 2024

Restore photos from iCloud

I got a new iPhone 13 and want to restore photos from iCloud. I have saved photos on my iPhone X to iCloud but I wrongly delete some photos on it so can I recover photos from iCloud? I would thank you a lot."

- Question from Reddict.com

You might have a lot of photos about your old memory so they should not be lost in any way. Backing up your photos is very important. You could retrieve lost photos after bad things happen. To make it easier to save iPhone photos, iCloud is added into iPhone. You could backup iPhone photos to iCloud and restore photos from iCloud with Internet connected. iCloud photos could be recovered to this iPhone or synced to another Apple device. If you think it is not so convenient to use cloud tool, you could use another tool to backup iPhone photos to computer.

#1 How to restore photos from iCloud photos?

You have 5GB of free storage in iCloud. To restore photos from iCloud, you should do:

Step 1. Go to iPhone Settings > tap [your name]

Step 2. Select iCloud > enter Photos

Step 3. Toggle on iCloud Photos.

You should wait patiently. iPhone would download all the pictures to your iPhone and the speed of your Internet would decide how long it takes to complete it. If you toggle on iCloud Photos on your every device signed in the same ID, all the photos would be uploaded to iCloud and synced to every device. What happens when you delete iCloud photos? If you delete any of the photos in Photos app on iPhone, you would be informed that This photo will be deleted from iCloud Photos on all your devices. If you want to view iCloud photos or retrieve deleted photos, the next part would give you the answer.

#2 How to restore photos from iCloud backups?

Your photos might be saved in your iCloud backup. If you created iPhone backup before uploading photos to iCloud, all your photos would be saved in that backup. To restore photos from iCloud backup, you should do:

Step 1. Get to iPhone Settings > Select General

Step 2. Enter Reset > select Erase All Content and Settings

Step 3. Restart iPhone > select Restore from iCloud Backup

Tips: You would erase everything on this iPhone before using iCloud backup to restore photos. You should keep Wi-Fi connected during restoration. If you are not sure whether your photos are saved in that backup, download iCloud backup to PC to check your photos.

#3 How to recover deleted photos from iCloud?

If you delete your iCloud photos on iPhone, but regret after several days, you could retrieve those deleted photos on iPhone or the site of iCloud, but you should only get them back in 30 days.

Method 1. Go to Photos app > select Album > swipe the screen to the bottom. You could find all your deleted photos in Recent Deleted.

Method 2. If you could not use your iPhone now, go to the site of iCloud > sign in your Apple ID > enter Photos. You could see all the photos having been saved in iCloud and recover your photos in Recent Deleted in the upper-left corner.

#4 Easily restore iPhone photos without iCloud

iCloud is a good way to restore photos to iPhone. However, iCloud has some cons. For example, iCloud always requires Internet. you need to erase iPhone when restoring an iCloud backup. And from time to time, users reports iCloud issue that may cause data leak. For example, in 2022 Macrumor reported some users get some unknown photos, which possibly came from strangers.

To avoid the complicated procedure, slow Internet or insufficient iCloud storage, and keep important safe, you can use AOMEI FoneBackup to save and restore iPhone Photos. It’s a free professional iPhone backup software. You could backup all the iPhone photos (included the recently deleted photos) to computer without Internet and the videos, music tracks, contacts, and messages could also be saved along with photos if you want.

Preview and Select: You could preview all the photos on iPhone and select the photos that you care to save to computer. Previewing and selecting would also be supported when you restore these photos to this iPhone or another Apple device.

Instantly Transfer: You don’t need to wait for minutes like you use iCloud. AOMEI FoneBackup would transfer every 100 photos in 2 seconds.

Widely Compatible: AOMEI FoneBackup supports the series of iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It would perfectly support the latest iOS 16.

Easily backup and restore photos with AOMEI FoneBackup

Step 1. Download AOMEI FoneBackup for free. Connect iPhone to computer with AOMEI FoneBackup and tap “Trust” on it.

Download Freeware Win 10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 2. Click Selective Backup under the More Features. Click the icon to preview and select the photos you care and click OK to return.

Step 3. Click Start Backup to save all the selected photos to computer.

Step 4. If you want to restore these photos, connect the target device, and click Restore in Backup Management.

You could always check your photos on computer by click the eye icon or the pin icon in Backup Management.

In addition, AOMEI FoneBackup also support you to manage your iCloud data. You can upload files to your iCloud, download iCloud data to your PC/iPhone/iPad, or delete iCloud data easily. Just open AOMEI FoneBackup > Locate My iCloud on the left pane > Sign in with your iCloud account > Select Manage iCloud.

Conclusion

You could restore your photos from iCloud photos or iCloud backup in iPhone Settings. If you wrongly delete iCloud photos, you could recover them in Recently Deleted in 30 days in Photos app or on the site of iCloud. AOMEI FoneBackup would help you easily backup and restore photos without Internet and it would be a good iCloud alternative. If this passage solves your problem, you could share it to help more people.