Follow the correct order: trash the gallery, Google Photos, and only at the end, a recovery app.
Where could the deleted photo be?
A deleted photo from the gallery doesn't always disappear instantly. Depending on the phone and its settings, it might be located in one of these places, and it's worth checking in this order:
- In the phone's gallery trash, which stores items for about 30 days.
- In Google Photos, in the trash, or in a cloud backup.
- In the device's memory or on the card, a recovery application can find what's left.
First, the gallery's trash can
In the Samsung Gallery, tap the three-line menu and select Trash. On other brands, look in the Albums tab for an album called Trash, Recently Deleted, or Recently Deleted.
If your phone uses Google Photos as its gallery, skip directly to the next step.
Touch and hold a photo to select multiple photos at once, then tap Restore. They will be returned to their original album without any loss of quality.
Then, Google Photos
If Google Photos backup was enabled, the photo may remain in the cloud even if it has disappeared from your phone.
Tap the Collections tab, then tap Trash. Backed-up photos are stored there for up to 60 days; unbacked photos are stored for 30 days. Select the ones you want and tap Restore.
Use the search function with the month, place, or a person's name. Sometimes the photo has only been removed from the manufacturer's gallery but remains saved in Google Photos.
Archived photos disappear from the main screen, but are not deleted. In Collections, open Archive and, if you use this feature, the Locked Folder.
If you have more than one account, tap on your profile picture and switch accounts. The backup may have been made on the other account.
Finally, a recovery app
When the photo doesn't appear in the trash or backup, the only option left is to scan the memory. Here it's important to have realistic expectations: on current phones, without root access, what usually appears are thumbnails and cached copies, with lower resolution than the original.
Install only one application at a time and avoid downloading multiple ones in sequence, because each installation takes up memory space that you want to preserve.
Open the app, start a basic search, and wait. The list shows the images found with their size. Very small images are usually thumbnails.
Select what you want to save and send it to the cloud or another folder. This way you won't overwrite photos that can still be found.
So I don't have to go through this again
- Enable backup in Google Photos, preferably only over Wi-Fi.
- Check the trash can from time to time, before it empties itself.
- If you often accidentally delete things, an extra recycle bin like Dumpster keeps copies of whatever is deleted after it's installed.
- Review what the cleaning apps will delete before confirming.
1. Google Photos
Google Play
The recycle bin stores deleted photos for 30 days, or 60 days when there was a backup. It's the first place to look.
Open Collections, tap Trash, select the photos, and tap Restore.
Download on Google Play
2. DiskDigger
Google Play
Scans the phone's memory and card for deleted photos. Without root access, it mainly finds thumbnails and cached copies.
Save what you find to the cloud or another folder, never to the same place where the photos disappeared from.
Download on Google Play
3. Dumpster
Google Play
Creates an extra trash bin for anything you delete after installation.
It serves to prevent further data loss. Photos deleted before installation are unlikely to reappear on it.
Download on Google PlayFrequently Asked Questions
I emptied the trash can. Is there still a way to fix it?
Only if the photo is in a backup or still exists in memory. In that case, the recovery application is a last resort, and the result may be partial.
Why is the recovered photo small?
Because the app found a thumbnail or a cached copy, and not the original file. This is what usually happens on phones without root access.
If I delete something from Google Photos, does it also delete it from my phone?
Yes. When a photo is backed up, deleting it in Google Photos removes it from the device and the cloud, and it goes to the app's trash.
Does the "Free up space" option delete my photos?
It only removes photos from the phone that have already been backed up. They remain in the cloud and can be viewed in Google Photos.
Is rooting worth it to recover the data?
For most people, no. The process is risky, it can erase data and void the device's warranty.