How to Recover Deleted Photos on Android (2025 Guide)

We’ve all been there. That heart-stopping moment when you realize a precious photo—a memory of a family vacation, a baby’s first steps, or a perfect sunset—is gone from your phone. Whether you deleted it by accident or it vanished after a software update, the feeling of loss is immediate. But before you panic, take a deep breath. On most Android devices, deleted photos aren’t immediately gone forever.

Thanks to modern features and a variety of recovery tools, you have several good options for getting your pictures back. This guide will walk you through every method available, from the simplest built-in features to more advanced software solutions. You’ll learn not just how to recover your photos, but also how the deletion process works on Android and how you can prevent this from happening again.

This guide will cover:

• Where your photos go when you delete them.
• How to recover photos from the Google Photos Trash.
• How to use the Recycle Bin on Samsung and other devices.
• When to use third-party photo recovery apps.
• Proactive steps to safeguard your photos against future loss.

Understanding Photo Deletion on Android

Before diving into recovery methods, it’s helpful to understand what happens when you delete a photo. On most modern Android phones, deleting a photo doesn’t instantly erase it from your device. Instead, it’s moved to a temporary holding area, often called a “Trash” or “Recycle Bin.”

This feature acts as a safety net, giving you a grace period (usually 30 to 60 days) to change your mind. If you don’t restore the photo within that time, it will be permanently deleted to free up space.

If a photo is permanently deleted, recovery becomes more difficult, but not always impossible. When a file is “permanently” deleted, the operating system marks the physical space it occupied on your device’s storage as “available.” The data itself remains there until it’s overwritten by new data—like a new photo, an app installation, or a system update. This is why acting quickly and using the right tools are crucial for successful recovery.

Method 1: Check Your Gallery’s Trash or Recycle Bin

This is the first and most important place to look. Nearly all modern Android phones, especially those from manufacturers like Samsung, and apps like Google Photos, have a built-in trash folder.

For Google Photos Users (Most Android Devices)

Google Photos is the default gallery app on many Android phones, and it’s excellent at protecting your memories. If you use it, your deleted photos are almost certainly waiting for you in the trash.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Google Photos App: Find and tap the colorful pinwheel icon on your phone.
2. Navigate to the Library: At the bottom right of the screen, tap on the Library tab.
3. Open the Trash Folder: At the top of the Library screen, you’ll see several options. Tap on Trash (or sometimes labeled “Bin”).
4. Find and Restore Your Photos: You will see all the photos and videos you’ve deleted recently.
5. • Press and hold on a photo to select it. You can then tap on other photos to select multiple items.
   • Once you’ve selected all the photos you want to recover, tap the Restore button at the bottom of the screen.

Your photos will be instantly moved back into your main gallery and will reappear in any albums they were previously in.

Important Note: Photos and videos that are backed up to your Google account stay in the trash for 60 days. Items that were not backed up are only kept for 30 days before being permanently deleted.

For Samsung Galaxy Users

Samsung devices have their own Gallery app with a very similar feature called the Recycle Bin.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Gallery App: Tap the Gallery icon on your home screen or in your app drawer.
2. Access the Menu: Tap the three horizontal lines (the “hamburger” menu) at the bottom right corner.
3. Select Recycle Bin: From the menu that appears, tap on Recycle Bin.
4. Select and Restore:
5. • Inside the Recycle Bin, press and hold a photo to select it. You can then select multiple photos.
   • Tap the Restore button at the bottom to bring them back to your gallery.

Samsung’s Recycle Bin holds deleted photos and videos for 30 days before they are permanently removed.

For Other Android Devices (OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc.)

Most other Android manufacturers include a similar feature in their native gallery apps. The name might be slightly different (“Recently Deleted,” “Trash,” “Bin”), but the process is generally the same: open your gallery app, look for the menu, and find the trash folder.

Method 2: Check Your Cloud Backups

If you couldn’t find your photo in the trash, don’t give up yet. You might have a cloud backup service running in the background that saved a copy of your photo before it was deleted.

Google Photos Backup

Even if a photo isn’t in your Google Photos trash, it might still be in your main library if it was successfully backed up. Sometimes, we delete a photo from our device’s local storage, but the cloud copy remains.

• Check on another device: The easiest way to verify this is to log into your Google Photos account on a different device, like a computer or tablet, by visiting photos.google.com. If the photo is there, it means your cloud backup is safe. You can download it directly from the website.
• Check the Archive: Google Photos also has an “Archive” feature, which hides photos from your main library without deleting them. From the Library tab in the app, tap on Archive. If your missing photo is there, you can press and hold it and select Unarchive.

Other Cloud Services (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)

If you use other cloud storage services to automatically back up your photos, be sure to check their web interfaces and trash folders as well.

• Dropbox: Has a “Deleted files” section on its website where items are kept for 30 days on a basic plan.
• Microsoft OneDrive: Has a “Recycle bin” that holds deleted files for up to 30 days.

Method 3: Using Third-Party Photo Recovery Apps

If your photo wasn’t in any trash folder and you didn’t have a cloud backup, your next option is to use a dedicated photo recovery app. These apps scan your phone’s internal storage (and SD card, if you have one) for traces of deleted files that haven’t been overwritten yet.

Important Considerations Before You Start:

• Act Fast: The longer you wait and the more you use your phone, the higher the chance your deleted photo will be overwritten with new data.
• Rooting May Be Required for Deep Scans: For the most effective recovery, many apps need “root” access to your device. Rooting gives an app privileged control over the Android system, allowing it to perform a much deeper scan. However, rooting can be a complex process that may void your warranty and, if done incorrectly, can damage your phone.
• Success Is Not Guaranteed: Recovery is highly dependent on how much time has passed and how much the device has been used since the photo was deleted.

Recommended Recovery App: DiskDigger

DiskDigger is one of the most popular and reliable photo recovery apps on the Google Play Store. It offers both a non-root and a root option.

Step-by-Step Instructions (Without Root):

1. Install DiskDigger: Download and install the free version of “DiskDigger photo recovery” from the Google Play Store.
2. Start a Basic Scan: Launch the app and tap the Start Basic Photo Search button. The app will ask for permission to access files on your device; grant it.
3. Scan for Photos: DiskDigger will begin scanning your storage for recoverable photos. This scan looks for cached and thumbnail versions of your pictures. The results may be lower-quality than the originals, but it’s often better than nothing.
4. Filter and Recover: The app will display a grid of found images. You can filter the results by size or file type using the settings icon.
5. Select the Photos to Recover: Tap the checkboxes for the photos you want to save.
6. Save the Files: Tap the Recover button at the bottom. The app will give you three options:
7. • Save to an app (Recommended): Save the files to a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox, or email them to yourself. This is the safest option as it avoids writing new data to your phone’s internal storage.
   • Save to device: Save the files directly to a different folder on your phone.
   • FTP upload: Upload the files to a server.

If the basic scan doesn’t find your photos, and you’re willing to take the risk, rooting your device and performing a full scan with DiskDigger is the most powerful mobile-based option.

Tips to Prevent Future Photo Loss

Recovering photos can be stressful, so the best strategy is to prevent losing them in the first place. Here are the most effective ways to protect your memories:

1. Enable Automatic Cloud Backups: This is the single most important step you can take. Set up Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox to automatically back up every photo you take. This way, even if you lose or break your phone, your photos will be safe in the cloud.
2. • To enable Google Photos backup: Open the app, tap your profile icon, go to Photos settings > Backup, and turn it on. You can choose to back up over Wi-Fi only to save mobile data.
2. Don’t Empty Your Trash Folders Immediately: Give yourself the 30- or 60-day grace period. There’s usually no urgent need to empty the trash, and it provides a crucial safety net against accidental deletions.
3. Regularly Transfer Photos to a Computer or External Drive: In addition to cloud backups, consider making periodic manual backups. Connect your phone to a computer every few months and copy your photos to an external hard drive. This gives you a physical, offline copy of your most important memories.
4. Use an SD Card (If Your Phone Supports It): Saving photos to a microSD card can make recovery easier in some cases, as you can remove the card and use desktop recovery software, which is often more powerful than mobile apps.

Conclusion

The sinking feeling of deleting a cherished photo is something no one wants to experience. Fortunately, with the tools and features available on modern Android devices, a deleted photo is rarely gone for good. By methodically checking your gallery’s trash, reviewing your cloud backups, and knowing when to turn to recovery software, you have an excellent chance of getting your pictures back.

Remember that the best defense is a good offense. Setting up an automatic backup system like Google Photos is the most reliable way to ensure your memories are protected, no matter what happens to your device.

Have you ever had to recover deleted photos on your Android? What method worked for you? Share your stories and questions in the comments below