How to recover photos on iPad (Air, Mini, Pro) with/ without backup

Don't let accidental deletions erase your precious memories. Act now for hassle-free photo recovery on your iPad, iPad Air, iPad Mini, or iPad Pro.

Explore proven ways to retrieve your iPad photos, whether they've been deleted, lost, or seem to be disappearing.

Don't panic if your precious photos disappeared from iPad — there are several ways to recover your iPad photos, depending on how they were lost. Whether you accidentally deleted your pictures, experienced software glitches, or forgot to back them up, these efficient solutions can help recover photos on iPad with or without a backup:

• Recover iPad photos from Recently Deleted — If your iPad photos were deleted in the past 30 days, you can easily find them in Recently Deleted album for recovery.
• Restore photos from an iCloud backup or iTunes backup — A recent backup in iCloud or iTunes can help recover deleted iPad photos that you consider permanently lost.
• Sync from iCloud Photos — When iCloud Photos is enabled, your missing iPad pictures may still be in iCloud Photos Library on the cloud.
• Use iPad Data Recovery software — It offers a deep scanning to find and recover permanently deleted photos from iPad directly without needing any backups.

This guide will walk you through each iPad photo recovery solution step by step. The sooner you act, the better your chances to recover iPad photos successfully!

Table of contents:

• How to recover iPad photos from Recently Deleted album
• How to recover permanently deleted photos from iPad without backup
• How to restore deleted iPad photos from iCloud backup
• How to restore deleted photos on iPad from iTunes backup
• How to retrieve lost iPad photos from iCloud Photos
• Prevent photo loss after recovery
• FAQs on iPad photo recovery

The recovery solutions in this guide apply to iPad, iPad Air, iPad Mini, and iPad Pro, supporting all iPadOS versions.

How to recover iPad photos from Recently Deleted album

Since iPadOS 9, the Photos app on iPad includes a Recently Deleted album that temporarily stores deleted photos and videos for 30 days before permanent removal. If you've accidentally deleted some pictures, this gives you a one-month window to recover photos on iPad (Air, Mini, Pro) from Recently Deleted folder in Photos app directly.

That is, the deleted photos won't disappear from your iPad immediately. Once you find your picture lost, Recently Deleted album would be your first stop for iPad photo recovery:

• Open the Photos app on iPad, swipe up, and tap Recently Deleted in Utilities on the left.
• Tap View Album and use Face ID/Touch ID or passcode to unlock Recently Deleted album.
• View recently deleted iPad photos and find the picture(s) you want to recover.
• Tap a photo or video, and then tap Recover to get it back.
• To recover multiple deleted iPad photos, tap Select from the upper-right corner and tap on each image you want, then tap three-dot icon > Recover.
• Confirm the recovery option to recover your iPad photos or videos.

Then, the recovered iPad photos will re-appear in your Photos Library or Camera Roll.

Make sure to recover recently deleted iPad photos within 30 days, or they'll be permanently deleted. If your missing photos aren't in this folder, explore alternative recovery options below.

How to recover permanently deleted photos from iPad without backup

If your iPad photos were deleted over 30 days ago and you don't have any backups available, there's still hope for photo recovery on iPad with the help of iPad Data Recovery.

This efficient tool can deeply scan the internal storage of your iPad to find all lost photos even after permanent deletion from both your Photos Library and Recently Deleted album. Additionally, the process lets you preview each desired picture and selectively recover deleted iPad photos without needing any backups.

What can it do for iPad photo recovery:

• Perform thorough scan in iPad / iPhone for recoverable deleted data
• Recover deleted and lost photos from iPad / iPhone / iTunes backup directly
• Extract lost data from iTunes backups without overwriting current data on iPad
• Preview deleted photos on iPhone/iPad for selective recovery
• Support the recovery of photos, messages, contacts, notes, call logs, reminders and more.

Steps to recover deleted photos on iPad without backup:

The success depends on how many photos still exist on your iPad before overwritten by new data. The sooner you attempt recovery, the better results.

Step 1: Run iPad Data Recovery to scan your iPad for deleted photos.

Open iPad Data Recovery software on your PC or Mac and click Recover from iOS Device on the left menu; then connect your iPad and click Start Scan button to initiate a deep scan.

Step 2: Preview the recoverable photos on iPad.

When all scanning results display on the screen, locate Media from the left menu and choose Camera Roll, Photo Stream, Photo Library or App Photos to view your deleted iPad photos.

Step 3: Select and recover photos from iPad without backup.

Tick the iPad pictures you want to get back, then click Recover button at the bottom-right corner. In the pop-up box, select a local computer folder to save your recovered iPad photos.

If needed, convert iPad's HEIC photos to common JPEG/PNG formats for wider compatibilities.

This also works for recovering permanently deleted photos on iPhone. If you want to transfer the recovered photos to your iPad or iPhone, the iPhone Data Transfer is an excellent option.

How to restore deleted iPad photos from iCloud backup

If you've enabled automatic iCloud backups for your iPad, recovering lost photos can be simple — provided you have a backup created before the permanent deletion occurred. To restore photos from iCloud to iPad, ensure the backup contains your missing photos, and then follow these steps to restore deleted photos to iPad from iCloud backup:

Important: The process will erase your iPad and revert it to the last backup status. Hopefully, you have a separate backup of your current iPad data, otherwise, any newer data added after that backup will be replaced completely.

Step 1. Verify iCloud backups before recovering iPad photos.

• Open iPad Settings and tap [your name] > iCloud.
• Choose iCloud Backup.
• All device backups will list at the bottom the iCloud Backup screen. Ensure there's a previous backup containing the iPad photos you want to recover.

Step 2. Reset iPad to factory settings and erase everything on it.

• Navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad.
• Select Erase All Content and Settings and tap Continue to proceed.
• When asked, verify your passcode or Apple ID password to sign out and initiate the iPad erasing process. Get help if you forgot your iPad passcode.

Step 3. Restore lost iPad photos from iCloud backup.

• When the iPad restarts after reset, follow the prompts to go through the setup procedure.
• On Transfer Your Apps & Data screen, select From iCloud Backup.
• Sign in to your iCloud account with your Apple ID and password.
• From the list of backups, select the one that includes the deleted pictures you need back.
• Complete the reset of setup steps.

Keep the device connected to a Wi-Fi network. iCloud will restore everything from the backup to your iPad, including all old photos and videos you've permanently deleted by accident. Once done, you can open the Photos app to view all recovered photos on iPad.

How to restore deleted photos on iPad from iTunes backup

If you've regularly backed up your iPad with iTunes or Finder on computer, a previous iTunes backup or Finder backup can help recover deleted photos to iPad if it's created before any permanent loss. Steps to restore iPad photos from iTunes backup:

TIP: iTunes works on Windows PC and macOS 10.14 or earlier. If you're using macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, launch Finder instead.

• Run iTunes on your computer and connect your iPad with a USB data cable.
• Click the device icon when it appears at the top-left corner in iTunes window.
• Select Summary from the left side and scroll down to Backups part.
• Check This Computer and click Restore Backup.
• When prompted, choose the most relevant iTunes backup for iPad photo recovery.
• Click Restore to start.

Keep in mind that restoring iPad photos from an iTunes backup or Finder backup will erase all current data on your device and replace it with the backup content.

To prevent data loss, the iPad Data Recovery software provides a powerful iTunes backup extractor — enables you to preview, select, and recover only photos from an iTunes backup to your iPad, without overwriting any current data you already have. Here's how:

Steps to restore photos from iTunes backup selectively — without data loss

• Launch iPad Data Recovery on a PC or Mac.
• Choose Recover from iTunes Backup File from the left menu. The tool automatically detects and lists all available iTunes backups on your computer.
• Choose a backup with a date earlier than you lost your iPad photos.
• Hit Scan button. All data files in that iTunes backup will appear by category on the left.
• Click the photo categories from the Media section in left-side menu.
• Preview all iTunes backup photos and select the ones you want to get back to your iPad.
• Click the Recover button to restore your desired photos from iTunes backup.

The selected iPad photos will be recovered in seconds. You may save them on your computer for local backup or transfer the photos to your iPad for seamless access.

How to retrieve lost iPad photos from iCloud Photos

When iCloud Photos is enabled on iPad, it automatically uploads and stores your entire photo library in iCloud, keeping it synced across all devices linked to your Apple ID. If you accidentally delete a photo, it isn't immediately lost — instead, it's moved to iCloud's Recently Deleted album, where it remains recoverable for 30 days. To get it back, simply access iCloud Photos online and check Recently Deleted for iPad photo recovery:

• Open a browser and visit iCloud.com.
• Sign in with your Apple ID and the password.
• Choose Photos icon from the main screen.
• In iCloud Photos Library, check Recently Deleted tab on the left sidebar.
• Preview and select your wanted iPad photos, and click Recover button in upper-right corner.
• The recovered photos will get back to your iPad Photos Library instantly.

Be aware that this can only recover the iPad photos deleted within the last 30 up to 40 days. After this period, they will be permanently gone.

Prevent photo loss after recovery

After recovering your iPad photos successfully, it's a good idea to back up your important pictures and videos regularly to avoid accidental deletion.

• Enable iCloud Backup for automatic backups of your iPad photos and other data.
• Back up iPad with iTunes or Finder to save a full device copy on computer.
• Manually transfer iPad photos to Mac or PC for local backup and access.
• Sync photos to cloud services for online backups, using tools like iCloud Photos, Google Photos, or Dropbox.

With regular backups, it's easy to get your iPad photos back even after unexpected deletions.

FAQs on iPad photo recovery

Q1: Can I recover my deleted iPad photos from years ago?

Yes, it's possible to recover deleted photos from years ago if they haven't been overwritten by new data on your iPad. You can look into a previous backup, either in iCloud or iTunes, or use third-party tools like iPad Data Recovery to scan your device deeply for lost pictures.

Q2: What to do if my photos disappeared on my iPad?

There are various causes that may lead to photos disappearing on iPad. To resolve it, here are some common fixes:

• When pictures disappeared on iPad, check the Recently Deleted album in Photos app first.
• If some photos or videos are missing, make sure the Hidden album is enabled so you can view and recover any pictures you want to unhide.
• When using iCloud Photos for photo syncing with your iPad, ensure you're signed in with right Apple ID and the iCloud Photos is set up correctly with enough cloud storage.
• If your iPad photos disappeared after iPadOS update, troubleshoot it by restarting your device or updating to the latest system version.

Q3: How do I recover my iPad photos if they were permanently deleted?

Generally, you can find your deleted pictures in iPad Photos' Recently Deleted album. If not, they might be permanently removed but still exist on your device's internal storage.

In that case, try using a tool like iPad Data Recovery that can scan the entire storage of your iPad to find both recently and permanently deleted files that are still recoverable.

Q4: If I delete iPad photos, will they disappear from my iPhone?

If you've enabled Cloud photos both devices, the deletion of iPad photos will sync to your iPhone by next time you connect to the internet and open the Photos app. Seek fixes if your photos disappeared from iPhone.