If often happens that in an attempt to clear the constantly accumulating clutter on our phones, we accidentally end up deleting photos we didn’t mean to erase. There is no reason to panic because there are ways to bring back the photos you thought were gone. Learn how you can recover deleted photos on your Android phone.
Also read: 5 of the Best Panorama Apps for Android that Take Stunning Photos
How to Recover Photos You’ve Deleted from Your Gallery
The majority of Android phones out there ship with a preinstalled Gallery app that allows you to view and browse the photos on your device. If you were trying to clean out your gallery and you unwittingly deleted some photos, don’t stress, as you can bring them back easily at this stage.
Most Gallery apps group photos in folders based on various criteria. You should look for a folder called “Recently Deleted” or something similar.
Once inside this folder, search for the image(s) you want to reinstate, tap on it and then find the Recover option. Alternatively, on other phone models, you’ll have to look in the Trash folder and restore your photographs from there.
This method is handy for those who you don’t have backup enabled in the Google Photos app or who don’t use the app. Those who do should be able to find the deleted photos in the app waiting for you.
How to Recover the Photos You’ve Deleted from Google Photos
If you deleted some photos directly from the Google Photos app and want them back, it’s possible to recover them by following these steps.
1. Open the Google Photos app on your phone.
2. At the bottom of the display, tap on Library.
3. From the four buttons that appear at the top, select Trash.
4. Locate the picture you wish to recover and tap on it.
5. Select the Restore button.
That’s it. Your photo should be back in Google Photos. Depending on when you snapped the picture, it may not be among the first images you will see when you open the app.
Note: Once you’ve realized you’ve deleted a photo, stop whatever you’re doing on your phone and turn off Wi-Fi or any other data connection. The reason behind this suggestion is that when you delete something (like a photo or video), it’s not really deleted until something is written over it in the device’s memory. So to avoid data overwrites, disable your Internet access.
How to Recover the Photos You’ve Deleted Using a Third-Party App
There are many third-party services that promise to help you recover deleted photos on your Android device. However, most options are either paid or require you to have a rooted phone.
To Root or Not to Root?
Just remember that rooting your phone comes with its fair share of risks, so make sure you really think through whether rooting is the way to go for you or not. If you decide to go ahead with it, Dr. Fone by Wondershare is a service which facilitates the recovery of files including photos from your phone. It requires a rooted device and a paid subscription to get their files back.
Another alternative which can be installed directly on your Android phone is DiskDigger. Again, you need a rooted device to do to a full scan of the device. But you can also do what’s called a Basic Scan. Go ahead and try, and you’ll see that the app does find (some of) your deleted photos. Select the ones you want to restore from a list containing a mix of images – some of which still exist on your device.
In the free version of the app, even with a non-rooted device, you’ll be allowed to retrieve images by pressing the Recover button. Next, you will be given the option to save them back to the cloud or to your device.
But here’s the catch, if you’re not willing to upgrade to the PRO version, the app will only recover low-quality copies of your lost photos. To get back to full quality images, you’ll need to shed $4.
How to Avoid Losing Your Photos in the Future
If you want to make sure you don’t ever lose your pictures again, you should consider making a backup. We already explained above that you can do so with Google Photos, at least for the time being. If you don’t have the backup feature turned on on your device, follow these instructions.
1. Download and open the Google Photos app on your device.
2. Tap on your profile photo in the upper-right corner of the display.
3. Select the Photo Settings option.
4. Tap on “Back up & sync.”
5. Toggle on the “Back up & sync” option if it’s not already on.
Upload image size is set to High Quality on default, which means images will be compressed to 16MP. Google offers free unlimited storage in Photos for images like this until June 1, 2021, after which it will charge you if you go over the allotted 15GB.
Alternatively, you can back up your photo archive using competing services such as OneDrive or other Google Photos alternatives. If you’re looking to back up more than your images, you’re invited to explore our list of the best Android apps to back up your phone’s data.
If you still have photo-related questions, perhaps you’d like to get up to speed regarding how to tag faces manually in Google Photos or how to view pictures as a slideshow in Windows 10.
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