Struggling with Missing Photos on iPhone after iOS 15/16/17 Update? Here Are 5 Fixes

Q: Is There Any Tool to Recover Photos Directly from iPhone on iOS 15/16/17?

Before diving into the troubleshooting steps, you might be wondering if there's a direct method to recover photos from your iPhone after the iOS update. Unfortunately, there is no built-in tool from Apple that allows you to retrieve lost photos directly from your device.

However, there are third-party software solutions like Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) that can help you recover lost photos from your iPhone after an update. These tools are designed to scan your device and locate deleted or lost data, including photos, and provide a way to recover them. Let's now move on to the troubleshooting steps to see if we can resolve the issue without using any third-party tools.

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Troubleshoot 1: Restart Your iPhone

Sometimes, simple solutions can work wonders. Before diving into more complicated methods, try restarting your iPhone. A simple restart can resolve minor glitches and software-related issues that might be causing the disappearance of photos after the iOS update.

For iPhone 8 and previous generation devices

• Step 1. Press the Power (wake/sleep) button on your phone. For newer devices, it is located on the right side while it is on the top of the phone for previous models.
• Step 2. Drag the power slider to confirm.
• Step 3. Wait for a while as the device would be turned off. After a few seconds, hold the Power button again to restart your device. Release it once you see the Apple logo.

For iPhone 11 and later

• Step 1. At the same time, press and hold the Side button and either of the Volume up/down buttons.
• Step 2. Release them once the Power slider appears on the screen. Drag it to confirm your choice.
• Step 3. Once the phone is turned off, long-press the Side button for a while, let it go once you see the Apple logo on the screen.

In this way, you can restart your iPhone and check if the missing photos will appear or not. Alternatively, if your device runs on iOS 14, 15, 16 or iOS 17, then you can go to its Settings > General> Shut Down to turn off your phone as well.

Troubleshoot 2: Check iCloud Photo Sync Issues

If there is an issue with the iCloud sync on your device, it can also make you feel your photos disappeared after the iOS 15/16 update. To check this, go to your phone’s photos app and view the available content. If you can find the local photos but not the ones synced with your iCloud account, then there could be a problem with its syncing process.

A while back, when I thought iOS 15/16 deleted my photos, I suffered from the same confusion. Thankfully, after resetting my iCloud account, I could access my photos back. You can do the same by following these suggestions:

1. Reset iCloud Photo Library

As you know, the iCloud Photo Library feature makes the iCloud sync happen across different devices. Go to your phone’s Settings > iCloud > Photos and turn off “iCloud Photo Library”. If you want to retain the photos that disappeared from the iPhone after the update, just reset this option. After that, please wait for a while, and turn it back again.

2. Enable cellular data

If you are trying to access the synced iCloud photos via cellular data, you should check these settings. Go to iCloud Photo settings and tap on “Cellular Data”. From here, you need to make sure the cellular data option is enabled. Otherwise, the syncing will only take place when your phone is connected to a Wifi network.

3. Manage your iCloud storage

The chances are that there could be a lack of free space on your iCloud account as well. To check this, go to your phone’s iCloud Store and tap on “Manage Storage”. From here, you can check how much free space is left. If you want, you can buy extra storage from here as well.

4. Reset your Apple ID

If nothing else would seem to work, then consider resetting your Apple account. Go to your phone’s settings, tap on your Apple account, and sign out from it. Afterward, sign in to it again with your account credentials.

Besides that, there are several other solutions to fix the iCloud photos not syncing problems that you can further explore.

Troubleshoot 3: Get Back iPhone Photos from the Recently Deleted Folder

The “Recently Deleted” folder was first introduced in the iOS 8 update way back in 2014 and later upgraded with iOS 11. It is a dedicated folder in iPhone that temporarily keeps the photos you have deleted in the last 30 days. Therefore, if you have accidentally deleted your photos, you can recover them by visiting the “Recently Deleted” folder. The same approach can be implemented to retrieve iPhone photos from Camera Roll after iOS update.

• Step 1. Unlock your device and go to its Albums. From here, you can view a “Recently Deleted” folder. Just tap on it.

• Step 2. Here, you can view all the photos that were deleted in the last 30 days. Tap on the Select button to pick the photos you wish to recover.

• Step 3. Once you have made the selections, you will get an option to either delete these photos permanently or recover them back to your phone. Tap on the “Recover” option.

• Step 4. You will be asked to confirm your choice. Tap on the Recover button, which will also list the number of photos that would be restored.

That’s it! After that, all the selected photos will be recovered back to their source. Though, you should be a bit cautious and follow this approach early as the Recently Deleted folder can only store photos that have been deleted in the last 30 days. Once that duration is crossed, the photos will be deleted permanently from your device.

Solution 1: Recover Photos Selectively from iTunes Backup

If you have already taken a backup of your photos with iTunes, then you can use it to restore the deleted or lost content as well. The only problem is that when we use iTunes to restore a backup, it deletes all the existing data on our phone. To resolve this problem and restore your deleted photos, you can use a third-party tool like Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS).

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Wondershare developed a complete data recovery tool that can help you retrieve your data under different scenarios. In this case, we will use Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) to restore photos from a previous iTunes backup without deleting the existing content on our device. If your photos are missing after the iOS 15/16/17 update and you have a previous iTunes backup available, then this would be a perfect solution for you.

• Step 1. Launch the Dr.Fone toolkit on your Mac or Windows PC and go to the “Data Recovery” module from its home.
• Step 2. Connect your device to the system and let it be detected by the application automatically. Now, choose to recover iOS data from proceeding.

• Step 3. From the left panel, click on the “Recover from iTunes Backup File”. The tool will automatically detect all the existing iTunes backup files and provide their basic details.

• Step 4. Select a file and start scanning it. Wait for a while as the application would automatically retrieve the data from the file.

• Step 5. Select the photos you wish to get back and restore them to your computer or directly to your iPhone. Just go to the Photos tab and preview the pictures. All the retrieved data will be segregated into different categories.

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Solution 2: Recover Photos Selectively from iCloud Backup

Just like iTunes, Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) can also be used to recover photos from an iCloud backup as well. If you don’t use Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS), you first need to reset your device entirely. This is because the option to restore an iCloud backup is given while setting up a new device. The good thing is that Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) can help you selectively restore photos from an iCloud backup without the need to reset your device.

In this way, you won’t have to get rid of your existing data while restoring the iCloud backup. This makes it a perfect solution to restore the photos that disappeared after the iOS 15/16 update.

• Step 1. Launch Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) on your system and connect your phone to it. To start with, choose to recover data from an iOS device.

• Step 2. Great! Now from the left panel, click on the “Recover from iCloud Backup file” option. You would have to log in to your iCloud account on the native interface by providing the right credentials.

• Step 3. Once you have logged in to your iCloud account, the application will automatically display all the previous iCloud backup files associated with your account. Select the file of your choice and click on the “Download” button.

• Step 4. The following pop-up would appear and ask you to select the type of data you wish to download. Ensure the “Photos & Videos” options are enabled before clicking the “Next” button.

• Step 5. Please sit back and wait for a while as the application will download the data and display it under different categories.
• Step 6. From the left panel, go to the Photos option and preview the pictures you wish to retrieve. Select them and click on the Recover button to get them back.

Besides photos, you can also recover videos, contacts, messages, music, and tons of other data types using Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS) as well. It is an extremely user-friendly and sophisticated tool, which will let you selectively recover data from iTunes and iCloud backup.

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Conclusion

Losing photos after updating your iPhone to iOS 15, 16, or 17 can be disheartening, but there are several solutions available to recover your precious memories. In this article, we explored troubleshooting steps like restarting the iPhone, checking iCloud photo sync, and recovering photos from the "Recently Deleted" folder. If these methods didn't work, we also introduced two effective third-party solutions, Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS), to selectively recover photos from iTunes and iCloud backups.

Remember to back up your iPhone regularly to avoid potential data loss in the future. While we can't prevent every issue that may arise with iOS updates, having a backup can ensure that your data remains safe and easily recoverable.