iOS 18 May Let Users Recover ‘Accidentally’ Deleted Photos and Videos on iPhone: Report

iOS 18, the next operating system update for the iPhone, was showcased at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 on June 10. Although Apple did showcase several key features arriving with the update, the rollout of iOS 18 Developer Beta and recently public beta has led to discoveries of other new features that the update might include. One of the features is reported to be a ‘Recovered' album in Photos which, as the name suggests, may let users retrieve some of the photos which may have been accidentally deleted and thought to be lost forever.

Recovered Album in iOS 18

According to a 9to5Mac report, the Recovered album shows up in the Utilities section in the Photos app on iPhone, following the iOS 18 update. It is reported to be visible next to the Recently Deleted tab. The feature is speculated to identify and catalogue photos and videos on the user's device if they are not found to show up in Photos.

This may include media that has a damaged database or those which don't get saved in the photo library upon capture. However, it is suspected to be different from the Recently Deleted option which simply retains the deleted media in a folder up to 30 days after its deletion. It is unclear if the photos and videos in the Recovered tab will follow the same auto-delete schedule or stay in the iPhone library forever.

The report speculates that this feature may be in response to a bug reported in the iOS 17.5 update which resulted in the surfacing of media which users thought they had deleted permanently. As per the company, it occurred with “photos that experienced database corruption”. The issue was reported to have been fixed with iOS 17.5.1 update which arrived a few weeks ago.

Alongside the iPhone, the Recovered option in the Photos app is also reported to arrive with iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia updates for the iPad and Mac, respectively. This development coincides with the rollout of the iOS 18 Public Beta, weeks after it was introduced to the developers.