iPhone Missing Photos

iPhone Missing Photos: a reader asked…

Something very peculiar has been happening with my phone. For the first time in over 11 years of having some variant of the iPhone, random pictures seem to be disappearing into thin air (the entire year of 2020, the second half of 2023, and 2019, etc.). I didn’t notice this issue until the past couple of months. Troubleshooting I’ve done so far: 1) All of my recent 2024-2025 photos seem to be OK, and I double checked my iCloud settings + remaining storage space. It is unlikely this is a storage issue. 2) The missing photos are not in the Recently Deleted or Hidden albums. 3) The photos are not on iCloud/iCloud.com either, despite frequent backups and syncs. 4) None of the apps currently downloaded on my phone seem suspicious. 5) I called Apple support, and apparently, I’m not the only one having this issue. They say it’s a software glitch. Question: Does the “software glitch” explanation seem viable, or do you think these mysterious deletions are due to a virus? Have you ever heard of this happening? Is there still hope when it comes to recovering these old photos?

Thanks for the detailed information in your question! You have taken all the appropriate steps to try to diagnose and resolve the issue. I looked through the Apple support website and elsewhere online to see if any other tips might help you. Unfortunately, there are only a few areas that potentially point to a cause for the missing photos, and may not apply in your case. I’ll list them anyway:

1. You have used multiple Apple IDs over the years. I see this most often in families where the kids start off using their parents’ Apple ID, then at some point get their own. Then, at some point (maybe when upgrading to a new iPhone), they stop using their parents’ Apple ID, and everything that was saved on that account is no longer on your iPhone.
2. Similarly to #1, your parent(s) (or anyone else) may have access to your Apple ID setup on their iPhone, and they may have been deleting photos from “their” camera roll, not realizing those were photos you took.
3. You use a Mac, and the Photos app on the Mac has changed over the years, with incomplete synchronization when upgrading.
4. You added photos to your iPhone Photo library from other sources (digital cameras, for example), and those photos were in a different format, not compatible with your iPhone. Then, when upgrading to a new iPhone, those photos didn’t transfer over to your latest iPhone due to incompatibility (and weren’t backed up to iCloud).
5. At some point, you turned off iCloud Photos and then later turned it back on (this may have happened by accident). Photos you took while iCloud Photos was turned off were only saved to your iPhone, and the standard iCloud backup works separately from iCloud Photos, so those photos were lost when you upgraded your iPhone.
6. At some point, you deleted photos from your iPhone to save space (maybe an older iPhone) and didn’t realize that iCloud Photos is not a backup solution, but live photo/video storage. When you delete a photo or video from your iPhone, you’re deleting it from your Apple ID account.

The words in italics on #6 above are a critical point: you need a photo backup solution. I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to preserving my digital photos and videos. I have expanded iCloud storage space. Hence, I never run out of storage space. I also have two separate photo and video saving solutions on my iPhone: Google Photos and Dropbox (both with plenty of optional storage). For both of these, I have them set to sync photos from my iPhone’s camera roll/Photo Library. So all my photos and videos live in three places: iCloud, Google Photos, and Dropbox. Redundant? Yes, but then I don’t worry about losing anything. I do have to remember to open Google Photos and Dropbox occasionally, because even with “Background App Refresh” on, the photos don’t always save automatically.

Notice I’m using different companies’ solutions, I don’t put all my eggs in Apple’s basket (to brutalize a metaphor). I’m a firm believer that no one company should be trusted for everything. I believe having your photos in two different places with two different companies is a reasonable strategy to keep your treasured memories safe.

While I don’t have great advice to give you regarding recovering those missing photos, I do recommend you set up a separate backup method for your photos so that, in the future, you won’t lose anything. You really don’t need two separate methods unless you’re like me and nerdy (plus are ok with the added expense), one will do.

There are many options available, which you take depends on what other services you use. For example, if you use a Microsoft 365 subscription, that includes 1 TB of file storage (which can include copies from your iPhone photo library). If you have a Google account, Google Drive storage can be expanded to cover all your photos with the Google Photos app. If you use another cloud-storage option (like Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, etc.), you can use that. Use whatever is most comfortable and familiar to you.

As to your concern about a virus, I don’t think that’s the case; it’s more likely a synchronization glitch or one of the issues I noted above. If you find that one of the above issues is causing your missing photos issue, there’s a chance you can locate them on a digital camera memory card or another smartphone.

As we’ve all moved from physical to digital, our strategy for saving what’s essential needs to reflect the current environment. Cloud-based storage is not the same as a backup solution in most cases, but it is incredibly convenient compared to traditional backup solutions. Just remember to account for the limitations of cloud-based storage and keep your memories safe.