If you’ve accidentally deleted some photos from your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8, it’s now easier than ever to recover them, and frankly, iOS 8 is the first time that iOS users can actually recover deleted photos without restoring them from a backup.
iOS 8 was released to the public last month with a host of new features and changes over iOS 7. One of these changes was the disappearance of Camera Roll and the replacement of a folder and a folder in the Photos app.
The Recently Deleted folder takes action when a user deletes a photo. The deleted photo is automatically put in the Recently Deleted folder, meaning it’s not actually deleted from your iPhone or iPad after you delete it.
Many users online express their dissatisfaction some even wonder if it is possible to completely delete the Recently Deleted folder.
While this feature is useful for some iOS users, it can be a nuisance for many iPhone and iPad owners. Also, there is no way to disable the feature and only one option remains for those who want to permanently delete photos from their iOS 8 device every time.
However, it is easy to understand why such a feature is worth having on iOS, as it prevents users from accidentally deleting photos and if they do, they can be easily recovered. It’s essentially like having a Recycle Bin on your iPhone.
Users have up to 30 days to recover deleted photos from Recently Deleted folder until they are officially permanently deleted, so if you deleted any photo you want to recover within that time, here is how to do it.
How to Recover Deleted Photos on iOS 8
If you deleted a photo in the Photos app and aren’t sure how to get it back, that wasn’t possible in iOS 7 unless you have a backup in iCloud or iTunes. But that is no longer the case because now you can recover deleted photos even without backup.
Open the app and tap the icon in the lower right corner and you will see two folders appear. One is a folder and the other is a folder. The photos you take will automatically appear in the Recently Added folder.
Deleting a photo, on the other hand, will automatically move it to the Recently Deleted folder and still remain accessible on your iOS 8 device and whenever you need it. Open the folder to view all your photos deleted in the last 30 days.
When you open the folder, you will see your deleted photos and each one will have a number on it in “days”. If a photo has a “19 days” stamp on it, it means that the photo will be automatically deleted within 19 days, giving you that much time to recover the photo if needed.
If you see a photo you want to recover, tap in the upper right corner of the screen and then tap the photos you want to recover. Then tap in the lower right corner and confirm the action when the popup appears.
These photos will be moved back to the folder where they will be stored until you delete them again.
This new feature in iOS 8 can help many users survive a certain disaster, and although we see the purpose of the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app, the fact that users do not have it as an option and disable it. Seems like a pretty big oversight on Apple’s part.
In any case, you can provide Apple feedback on thisand hopefully the company changes this feature in the next major iOS 8 update to give users a choice.