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When you delete a photo from your cell phone, it may not be gone for good. That’s great news if you accidentally delete a treasured photo. But it could be disastrous if a photo you wanted to delete isn’t actually gone.
You may think when you tap the trash can icon to delete a photo, that photo is no longer on your phone. But that may not be true. The photo may stay on your phone for a while to give you a chance to restore it to your phone.
If you don’t know that the photo is still on your phone, you may be surprised to find it’s still there. That may be a good surprise or a bad surprise.
Either way, it’s important for you to know what happens to a photo when you send it to the trash.
iPhone and iPad Photos App
When you delete a photo by tapping on the trash can in the Photos app on the iPhone and iPad, the photo is not actually deleted from your device.
When you tap the trash can icon, you’ll see a confirmation and a notice that the photo will be deleted from the Photo Stream on all of your devices.
But after you confirm that you want to delete the photo, it’s not actually deleted from your phone.
Instead, the photo is sent to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app where it stays for 30 days. Within those 30 days, you can restore a photo from the Recently Deleted album to your phone, or delete it permanently from your phone.
To find the Recently Deleted album, open the Photos app, then tap Albums in the bottom menu. Swipe to find the Recently Deleted album.
Tap on the Recently Deleted album to find the photos you have deleted within the past 30 days. On each photo will be the number of days until the photo will be deleted from your phone.
If you decide you want to keep a photo or immediately delete it off of your phone, tap Select in the upper right corner of the screen. Then tap the photo you want to keep or delete so a check mark appears on the photo.
Tap Delete or Recover at the bottom of the screen to delete the photo or add it back into the app.
If you choose to delete a photo from the Recently Deleted album, you will be asked to confirm your choice. You will also be warned: “This photo will be deleted. This action cannot be undone.”
Google Photos
If you use Google Photos, you may be surprised to discover that deleted photos are kept for 60 days until they are truly deleted. You can restore deleted photos within that time. You can also truly delete photos from Google Photos if you don’t want to wait 60 days for them to disappear.
To find photos you’ve deleted, open the Google Photos app and tap the menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. The menu will appear.
Tap Trash to see the photos you’ve deleted from Google Photos within the past 60 days.
Tap the three dots in the upper right corner of the Trash page. You will be given the option of Empty Trash, which will permanently delete photos in Trash from Google Photos. You also have the option to select photos.
Choose the photos you want to either delete or restore. After you’ve selected the photos, tap the trash can or the circle arrow in the upper right corner of the screen to delete or restore the selected photos.
If you choose to delete the photos, you will be asked to confirm the choice and reminded, “Deleting items from the trash is permanent.”
Deleting Photos from Other Photo Services
If you use a different app for storing and sharing your photos, check to see whether deleted photos are truly deleted. This information can come in handy should you accidentally delete a photo or want a photo to disappear.
Either do an Internet search or look within the app to see what happens to deleted photos.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever accidentally deleted a cherished photo? Have you ever deleted a photo, only to find it was still on your phone? What app do you use to store and share your photos?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
* Photo collage image (edited) courtesy of Seth Meranda via Flickr and Creative Commons
Most Misspelled Words in Each State in the US
In honor of Spelling Bee Week, Google Trends, the site that gives us insights into what people are searching for on Google, posted an interesting tweet this week. They shared data on the most misspelled word in each state in the US.
The tweet includes a map with each state’s most misspelled word:
America’s most misspelled words – it’s #spellingbee week and we mapped top “how to spell” searches by state#dataviz pic.twitter.com/oHkRHj8Eku
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 30, 2017
It calculated this by tallying searches beginning “how do you spell” for each state. As a resident of Pennsylvania, I am unsurprised by sauerkraut being the most misspelled word in my home state.
Voice of America Learning English
If you know someone who is learning the English language and is interested in tech, have them check out my weekly personal technology column at Voice of America Learning English. This week’s article is Study: Fitness Trackers Accurate for Heart Rate, Not Calories.
Hello Carolyn,
Thanks for the help here 🙂 Sometimes some of our pictures get deleted in a rush and afterwards we all just regrets that we didn’t had a backup or how we can let that capture let away. Not any more all thanks to you. This is of great help, surprised to know that google photos are there in the trash folder for 60 days, great to hear that, going to recover some of my photos just now 🙂
Thanks for the share.
Shantanu.
Hi Shantanu, I’m so glad this information was helpful to you. Good point, we’ve all deleted photos accidentally that we wish we could have back. But now we know that deleting a photo may not mean it’s gone for good. If we know where to check we may be able to retrieve our cherished photos and not lose them forever.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shantanu!
Literally, I didn’0t knew that Google photos are there for 60 days even after deleting it from your mobile device. Thanks for such a useful information.
Hi Kriti, Yes, it’s true. This can be a treasure if you accidentally delete a cherished photo. But it can also be a trap if there is a photo you need to have off of your phone. Either way, knowing this is important!
I never know that deleted photos can be available somewhere. It could be risky.
H Jashan, You’re right, if you think you have deleted a photo but it’s still on your phone, that could be a big problem. If you truly want a photo deleted, you need to take extra steps.
Just when I thought I had deleted all my photos. Thanks will check the trash. Knowledge is power
Hi Joyce, You’re exactly right, knowledge is power and it’s important to know whether you have truly deleted your photos.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Joyce.