How to recover deleted photos on iPhone 17 (iOS 26 update)
Accidentally deleted important photos on your iPhone 17? This article provides comprehensive guidance to find and recover your deleted photos on your iPhone 17.
Aileena Ivy Updated on Sep 25, 2025 8:30 PM
When you have no available backup to restore your deleted photos, Appgeeker iPhone Data Recovery can be your biggest savior, allowing you to recover your deleted photos on an iPhone 17 without a backup.
Deleted iPhone 17 photos aren't permanently gone—they're hidden somewhere, giving you a chance to recover them.
Deleting photos on your iPhone 17 can be a frustrating experience, especially for photos transferred from computer to the iPhone 17 or those without a backup. It's not just about losing photos—it's about losing precious memories. Actually, beyond intentional or accidental deletion by users, photos on the iPhone 17 can sometimes be deleted due to iOS updates.
Don't worry—this guide will walk you through how to recover deleted photos on iPhone 17, from quick fixes using the Recently Deleted folder to iCloud syncing, full backups, and even reliable data recovery software.
Whether your photos were deleted weeks ago or vanished overnight after an update, you'll find step-by-step strategies for recovering deleted photos from your iPhone 17/Air/Pro/Pro Max, along with tips to avoid the same trouble in the future.
Table of Contents
Understanding deleted photos on iPhone 17
Before diving into recovery methods, it's essential to understand what happens to photos after they are deleted on the iPhone 17.
Where are deleted photos on iPhone 17?
When you delete a photo on your iPhone 17, it doesn't disappear immediately. Instead, iOS moves it to the Recently Deleted album, located under the Utilities section of the Photos app, where it remains for 30 days.
iCloud syncing also protect your photos, so you can find your deleted iPhone 17 photos on iCloud.com. However, if the sync feature is enabled when you delete the photo, that photo will also be removed from iCloud and all other devices using the same Apple account.
Can you recover permanently deleted photos on iPhone 17?
Once you manually empty the "Recently Deleted" album or the 30-day timer expires, the photos in the Recently Deleted folder are marked as permanently deleted. At this point, they no longer appear in the app or iCloud, though traces may still linger in the device's storage until overwritten—something professional recovery tools can sometimes detect. Alternatively, you can also bring back deleted photos to your iPhone 17 using a backup you created beforehand.
Read more: How to see blocked messages on iPhone
Recover deleted photos on iPhone 17 via Photos app
The Recently Deleted album is a built-in security feature of the Photos app in iOS, acting as a recycle bin that gives you a 30-day window to change your mind after deleting a photo. When your photo is deleted, especially recently deleted ones, you should first check this temporary storage space to see if you can recover the deleted photos to your iPhone 17.
The layout of the Photos app on the iOS 26-powered iPhone 17 has undergone some significant changes. Here are the steps to get deleted photos back on the iPhone 17 using the Photos app:
1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone 17.
2. At the bottom left, you'll see the Library and Collections tabs; tap Collections.
3. Scroll to the Utilities section and select Recently Deleted.
4. Tap View Album and unlock the album using your lock screen passcode or Face ID.
5. Browse the thumbnails and select the photos you want to recover. Each photo will have a label indicating the remaining time before it's permanently deleted.
6. Once selected, tap the More button in the top-right corner, then choose Recover.
7. Tap Recover Photos in the upper right to confirm and restore your photos to the photo library.
How to recover deleted photos from iPhone 17 without backup
The most challenging scenario for recovering deleted iPhone 17 photos is when they are not in the Recently Deleted folder anymore and no backup exists. Don't panic, when a file is deleted from your iPhone 17's storage, the operating system doesn't immediately erase the data. Instead, it removes the "pointer" to that data, marking the space as available for new information to overwrite. This is where Appgeeker iPhone Data Recovery comes in.
iPhone Data Recovery is designed to perform a deep, advanced scan of your iPhone's flash memory, searching for these unreferenced data fragments. It can then attempt to reconstruct the original image files from the remaining data, allowing you to preview and recover deleted pictures, even without backup.
The software supports iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, and is compatible with the latest iOS. Beyond recovering your deleted photos to an iPhone 17 without needing iCloud or computer backups, it can also extract and restore your photos from an iTunes backup without requiring a device reset.
1. Download and install iPhone Data Recovery on your computer, then connect your iPhone 17 to the computer with a certified USB-C cable.
2. Launch the software, locate the Recover from iOS Device section, and click Start Scan to analyze your device's internal storage.
3. Once done, the software will display a list of all recoverable files from your iPhone 17, categorized by type, including photos.
4. In the Media section, click Camera Roll, Photo Stream, Photo Library, or App Photos to preview your photo library and select the photos you need.
5. Click Recover in the bottom right corner and choose a destination folder to save the recovered photos to your computer.
You can use Appgeeker iPhone Data Transfer to transfer these photos back to your iPhone 17.
Note:
- The success rate of this method depends on how quickly you act. Deleted data can only be recovered before it's replaced by new files, which may happen when you take new photos, install apps, or update iOS.
How to recover deleted photos from iPhone 17 via iCloud
iCloud Photos is a synchronization service that acts as a real-time mirror of your photo library across all Apple devices, providing a flexible way to retrieve deleted photos on iPhone 17.
If iCloud Photos is turned on, the deletion action is synced to all your Apple devices linked to the same Apple ID, removing it from your iPad, Mac, and iCloud.com. Conversely, if iCloud Photos is disabled, deletion actions only affect the local device, meaning deleted photos may still be recoverable from iCloud to your iPhone 17.
1. Check if iCloud Photos is disabled on your iPhone 17. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos and ensure the Sync this iPhone option is turned off. This confirms that you deleted the photos while offline.
2. Check if photos are still on iCloud.com. On your iPhone 17, visit iCloud.com and log in with your Apple account credentials, then tap the Photos icon. Browse the photos uploaded to the cloud under the Library tab.
3. Download the deleted photos. If you find the deleted photos here, select them, then tap the three dots icon in the lower right corner, and choose Download to recover the deleted photos on your iPhone 17's local storage.
Note:
- You can also verify if the photos are still present on another device.
- When you find that photos still save on iCloud.com, do not immediately re-enable iCloud Photos on your iPhone 17, as this will sync the deletion to iCloud.
Also see: Photos disappeared from iPhone & How to fix
How to recover permanently deleted photos on iPhone 17
For photos permanently deleted from your iPhone 17, restoring the entire device from a backup is the most effective method. The restoration process essentially rolls back all your phone's data (including photos, apps, and settings) to a point before the photos were deleted. However, note that this is an all-or-nothing approach. Any new data, messages, or photos created after the backup will be lost.
Depending on your previous backup method, you can recover permanently deleted photos on your iPhone 17 using an iCloud backup or an iTunes/Finder backup.
Recover permanently deleted iPhone photos via iCloud backup
1. Verify the date of your last iCloud backup. On your iPhone 17, head to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup. Check the date listed under "Last successful backup."
2. If the backup date is earlier than when you deleted your photos, you can proceed. You must first erase your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings to factory reset your iPhone 17.
3. After the device restarts and enters the setup process, when the "Transfer Your Apps & Data" screen appears, select From iCloud Backup.
4. Sign in with your Apple ID and choose a backup from the list that was created before deletion.
5. Wait for the restoration to complete. The photos contained in that backup should now reappear in your gallery.
Retrieve permanently deleted photos on iPhone 17 via computer backup
1. Plug your iPhone 17 into the PC or Mac used for backups.
2. On a Mac, open Finder. On a Windows PC, open iTunes.
3. In Finder, select your iPhone from the sidebar. In iTunes, click the device icon in the top left corner of the window.
3. Under General (Finder) or Summary (iTunes), click Restore Backup.
4. Select the right backup you wish to restore from the dropdown list.
5. Click Restore and wait for the process to finish.
Note:
- Restoring from a backup will overwrite your iPhone's current data. Be sure to separately save or back up all recent files before starting.
Photos deleted after iOS 26 update [Fixed]
Upgrading your iPhone 17 to iOS 26 may trigger a large-scale reindexing of the media library and file system, especially if you have a large number of photos. Your iPhone 17 is busy verifying, migrating data, relinking, and re-optimizing each photo and video. During this process, some photos may get deleted. You could try the tips below to recover deleted images on iPhone 17.
- Wait Patiently: The first and most important step is to wait. Keep your iPhone 17 charged and connected to Wi-Fi overnight. This allows the re-indexing process to complete in the background without interruption.
- Check Your iCloud Status: Navigate to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos. Look at the status section. If it says "Syncing...", your device is still trying to communicate with iCloud to ensure everything is in sync.
- Simple Restart: If the issue persists after a few hours, a reboot your iPhone 17 can sometimes re-establish a clear connection and kickstart the reindexing process.
- Verify Apple's System Status: In rare cases, the issue may be on Apple's end. Visit Apple's official System Status page to see if there are any reported outages for iCloud Photos.
You should develop proactive backup habits. Enable iCloud Photos and iCloud's automatic backups to prevent future loss or to easily restore photos to the iPhone 17 after they're deleted.
Conclusion
This guide reveals the complete path to recovering deleted pictures in the brand-new iPhone 17 and iOS 26 ecosystem. From the native apps to professional third-party tool, we've provided you with multiple solutions to restore deleted photos to your iPhone 17. The key is to act quickly, check all possible locations, and choose the method best suited to your specific situation.
FAQs
1. Can I recover photos deleted from iPhone 17 more than 30 days ago?
Yes, but it's much harder and not guaranteed. Once a photo leaves the "Recently Deleted" album, your primary options are restoring from an iCloud or computer backup that was made before the deletion, or using Appgeeker Data Recovery software as a last resort. The success of the latter depends entirely on whether the original data has been overwritten on your iPhone's storage.
2. Do photos delete from iPhone 17 stay on iCloud?
No, they do not. When you delete photos from your iPhone 17, the deletion is immediately synced to iCloud Photos across all your connected devices. This is because iCloud Photos is a live syncing service, not a separate, static backup. The only exception is if your device was offline and the deletion hadn't had a chance to sync. However, once the connection is restored, the photo will be deleted from iCloud and all other devices as well.
3. How do I get back permanently deleted iPhone 17 photos without a backup?
Use Appgeeker Data Recovery, which scans your device for traces of deleted files before they're overwritten.
