How to Recover Deleted Photos and Videos From Google Photos

Google Photos that have been deleted remain in the trash folder for 60 days before they are erased forever.

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 29 August 2021 11:00 IST

How to Recover Deleted Photos and Videos From Google Photos

Google Photos back up and sync feature must be enabled to find and recover data

Highlights

Recovery of photos and videos can be done via trash folder
This folder holds content for 60 days before deleting it forever
Recovery of photos is easy only if back up feature is turned on

Google Photos is one of the most preferred cloud storage options for backing up your photos and videos, especially for Google Pixel phones and other Android users. This platform can be used to archive old photos and access them anytime using any device that lets you sign you in to your Google account. Google Photos neatly categorises photos based on faces, places, time, and several other album options. Even the photos and videos you delete from the Google Photos app are kept in the Trash folder for 60 days before they are erased forever. And it's possible to recover them before they are gone. However, this is only if the Google Photos Back Up and Sync feature is enabled.

How to recover deleted photos and videos from Google Photos

If a user wants to recover deleted photos and video, they'll first have to check if the content is there in their Trash folder on the app. If a deleted photo or video isn't in Trash, then it can't be restored. Users won't be able to restore a photo if they had moved it to Trash more than 60 days ago, or if they moved it to Trash and then emptied the folder. In addition, the photo or video can't be restored if it was moved to the Trash folder more than 30 days ago on a device running Android 11 or later and it wasn't backed up. The restoration will also not happen if the Trash folder was permanently deleted or if the content was permanently deleted from the device's Gallery app, without backing it up first. If the photo or video is visible in the Trash folder of Google Photos, follow the steps mentioned below to recover it using your Android phone or a Web browser.

To restore a photo or video on an Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone, or iPad, open the Google Photos app.
At the bottom, tap Library, go to the Trash folder.
Find the photo or video you want to restore. Touch and hold the photo or video.
At the bottom, press the Restore option. The photo or video will be moved back to the phone's Gallery app, Google Photos library, and in the albums it was in.
On your computer, you can go to photos.google.com.
On the left side of the window, click on Trash folder.
Place your cursor over the photo or video you want to restore, then click Select.
At the top right, click Restore. That photo or video will be restored to your Google Photos account and added back into any albums it was in.

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