How to Recover Deleted Photos from Android

Having a smartphone makes taking pictures super easy, especially with all the newly enhanced features. No longer having to deal with uploading your pictures to your computer, you can share, print, and save your special moments right in the palm of your hand. With convenience, comes the occasional trouble of deleting your photos on accident. 

Don’t worry just yet, we’re here to help!   

You’ve accidentally clicked delete on a picture you were just trying to edit, and now you’re panicking. Take a deep breath, and we are going to walk you through a few simple methods to help you recover your lost photos on any Android device. 

Option 1: Recently Deleted 

Now, have you checked your Recently Deleted file under the Photos app? If you haven’t, it might be a good idea to check because it is the first and easiest way to retrieve your lost photos. To access the Recently Deleted file:

• Launch the Photos App, scroll to the bottom, and locate the folder named “Recently Deleted”.
• Now you can see all the pictures you’ve deleted from the past 30 days (note that once the original photo has been deleted for over 30 days, unfortunately, you will not be able to retrieve your lost photos via this method).
• To retrieve the photos you want to recover, simply select and “Recover”.

If you weren’t able to retrieve your lost photos in the first method, we will now try to hunt down your lost photos via cloud backups. 

Option 2: Google Photos

There are many cloud services to choose from, and Google Photos is among one of the popular ones. If you use Google Photos, chances are your lost photos might be retrievable even if you accidentally deleted your photos on the cloud. To recover deleted photos on Google:

• Open the Google Photos App on your smartphone, locate “Library”, and from there you will be able to choose and see the deleted photos. Select the pictures you want to retrieve, and you’re good to go!

Something to note, Google Photos will clear out your deleted pictures after 60 days, so if it has been long than that time frame if will not be possible to retrieve them through this option. 

Luck is not gone yet! Photos saved onto Google Photos might also be saved on Google Drive. Since the update in 2019, photos saved on Google Drive aren’t viewable in Google Photos, so it’s worth a try looking for your pictures on there too.

Option 3:Onedrive of Microsoft

Another popular cloud service available to Android phone users is Microsoft Onedrive. Since it has the ability to back up your photos automatically, it’s a good option to check for your lost photos via this option. Look through your Onedrive cloud by: 

• Launch the Microsoft Onedrive app, and under the section “Me” look for the “Recycle Bin”.
• From there, you’re able to choose and recover photos of your choice. 

One downside to using Onedrive is when the recycle folder reaches more than 10% of your cloud’s total storage, it could start to delete pictures to make more space for your other files. One way to avoid this is to periodically sort and clean through your cloud files, or simply upgrade to a pricier cloud package.

Option 4: Dropbox

Another popular option among Android users is Dropbox. Convenient and easy to use for photo backup. Try looking for your pictures in Dropbox by:

• On the Dropbox website, you’re able to access your deleted photos. From there, you’re able to recover your lost photos.

One downside to Dropbox is that you’re not able to access your deleted photos from the Dropbox app, however, you can still log in via mobile web page. 

Please note that the free version of Dropbox only allows a 30 days time frame before your deleted photos remain permanently deleted. You can, however, change this if you upgrade your package extends it’s time frame to 180 days. 

If you’ve made it this far, then it probably means you haven’t been doing a job at backing up your photos! But, not to worry, you’re not out of options yet! We’re here to help you. 

Retrieve Photos on SD Memory Card

If cloud backup isn’t your preferred method, or you weren’t able to retrieve your lost photos via cloud backup, then an SD Memory card is another option to try. If your smartphone has an SD Memory card slot, then definitely take advantage of using it. If you have an SD memory card, it probably means that your photos are automatically backing up without you knowing. 

Remove your SD card immediately if you’ve realized you have photos deleted accidentally. By removing your memory card, you decrease your chances of permanently losing your photos by overwriting the data stored on your SD Card. Now, you will need to connect your SD card to your computer and use a recovery program to retrieve your deleted photos.

Thanks to the ever-advancing recovery software out there, ONERECOVERY is here to recover all lost photos. We recommend this software program because it is the most reliable recovery software for the Windows system. Not only is it free from virus attacks, it also has a successful recovery rate of 95%. Follow these steps to access your deleted photos on your SD Memory card:

• Download and launch the ONERECOVERY program
• Connect your SD memory card to your computer (if this is your first time doing so, make sure you have a Micro SD adapter or reader to connect to your computer)
• Once connected, you’re able to select the drive you wish to recover. In this case, select your SD Memory card, and give time for the program to scan thoroughly.
• Choose the photos you want to recover, and you’re all set!

Good news! Since ONERECOVERY is a newly launched software that has the most advanced recovery technology for Windows system, you’re able to enjoy the program for free for a limited time!  

Other options

If you’re really in need of these pictures, and you’re not able to retrieve them any other way, then give these methods a try. It may seem tedious, but it’s worth a try.

• Emails: email storage is much larger than cloud services provided to store files and photos. So if you’ve sent the pictures you need via email, then it’s a good chance that you’re able to retrieve these pictures through your sent history.
• Messages: same as emails, there is a chance that the pictures you need is sitting right in your message history for you to retrieve.
• Social Media: check your social media. There is a chance that you’ve shared your pictures via social media, or your friends and families might have the same pictures on their social media.
• Backups of your phone: if you didn’t backup your photos through clouds or hard drives, there is a chance that you could recover your photos through your phone’s backup.

You’ve been talking about Android phones, what about tablets?

Android phones and tablets share basically the same system. So methods that you used for smart phones, you can also test them out on tablets. Give it a try if you accidentally deleted valuable photos on your tablets too.

What can I do in the future?

Now that you’ve gone through the experience of almost losing your treasured photos, it is a good idea to practice backing up your photos, and here are a few ways to do so:

• Cloud services: as mentioned above, cloud services are a good way to back up photos because some third-party cloud services, such as Microsoft Onedrive and Google Photos, offer automated uploads. Which is convenient for everyone that isn’t good at backing up manually.
• SD Card: Using a SD memory card is one of the best choices because you can have backups right on your device without having to rely on the internet to upload your photos. However, it’s important to note that since the backup photos are on a tiny SD card, misplacing the memory card could result in losing all your backup data. 
• External Hard Drive: if backing up photos is your top priority, then having an external hard drive to save all your pictures is another good option. Not only can you store more photos, you can also partition your hard drive for extra protection. By partitioning your hard drive, you increase the chance of restoring your hard drive data, if it is ever corrupted or damaged. 

We highly recommend that you pick multiple methods to back up not only your photos but other files on your Android devices as well. Contacts and personal files are just as important as photos. By backing up your entire device, you save yourself the trouble of running around looking for your pictures if you ever lose them. If by any chance you’re not able to recover your data via the simple options we’ve mentioned, remember that software programs are always another fast and easy option to use.