3 ways to recover deleted photos on Android

Have you ever wondered how to recover deleted photos on Android? After all, the lack of space is one of the main issues for users, making it very common to delete old pictures and videos to get that little bit of extra space. However, when trying to do that, you often delete something you didn’t want to. Which begs the question: What now?

The good news is that there are ways to recover lost photos on cell phones. The bad news is that this doesn’t always work, as the more time it takes to recover, the greater the chances that the photo is lost. With that in mind, let’s get to the tips. 

1 – Use Google Photos

Starting with the easiest way, Google Photos is the Android system that helps you control your photos. That can be the default setting, which makes your life much easier. 

Automatic and manual backup in Google Photos

The first step is to activate the automatic synchronization feature. That will sync all photos to the cloud, so even if you delete one from your cell phone, you can recover it on Google Photos. Let’s see how to activate synchronization: 

1. Open the Google Photos app on your smartphone;
2. Log in to your Google account if necessary;
3. Tap your profile picture or the first letter of your name, which is in the upper right corner of the screen;
4. Select the Google Photos Settings and then the Backup option;
5. Tap Backup to enable or disable this functionality. 

With this, every photo you take will automatically go to the cloud. However, you have to be careful as only 15GB of space is available for photo storage for free. Depending on how many photos you take, that may not be enough. 

Another option is to do this manually, backing up each photo individually. The process is similar and also quite simple: 

1. Open the Google Photos app on your smartphone;
2. Log in to your Google account if necessary;
3. Select the photo you want to backup;
4. Choose the Backup option, which is at the top right. 

That gives you more control over your photo backup, even if it takes a little more work. 

Finding items in Google Photos trash

If you already have synchronization active or use Google Photos as a default for photo management, all your deleted photos on Android go to the trash can. That means that recovering them is very simple: 

1. Open the Google Photos app;
2. Select Library and then Trash;
3. Tap and hold the photo you want to restore and click on the Restore option. 

However, there are some Google rules about how long photos stay in the trash. That’s why the more it takes, the greater the difficulty of recovering them. Here are the rules: 

1. More than 60 days in the bin or more than 30 days, in case of phones with Android 11 or newer and without backup;
2. You emptied the trash, or deleted the image permanently; 
3. The picture was deleted directly from the gallery without having been backed up to Google Photos.

2 – Use a photo recovery app

Didn’t find deleted photos on Android by Google Photos? Then you can use a photo recovery app. There are some options, such as DiskDigger or MobiSaver.

These apps work similarly, with a mix of free and paid versions. For example, DiskDigger only allows you to recover photos for free. Check out a very quick step-by-step on how to use DiskDigger: 

1. Download and open the app and start a basic photo scan;
2. After some time, which can take up to a few minutes, the application returns a list of possible recoverable photos;
3. Click on the ones you want to recover and choose a place to save them.

3 – Recover photos via PC with a recovery program

A similar option is to use a recovery program on the PC, such as RecoveryAndroid. In addition to the program, you will also need a USB cable to connect your cell phone to your computer or notebook. 

1. Install RecoveryAndroid or another similar program;
2. Connect the cell phone to the PC or notebook with the USB cable;
3. The program automatically recognizes the cell phone and maps files and photos found. 
4. Choose the items you want to recover to finish the process. 

4 – Avoid deleting photos on Android to have more space [extra tip]

Finally, if you have the habit of deleting photos on Android to have more space on your cell phone, dfndr security can help you. Much more than an antivirus, the app has several features that help with performance, such as more battery, more space, more memory and several others. 

Two features in particular help a lot to optimize the space in the photo gallery. The first is the duplicate photos feature, which recognizes duplicate photos and helps you delete them, preventing you from accidentally deleting more important ones. In addition, you can activate the gallery assistant, which will make recommendations for you to always have space on your cell phone for new photos. 

Do you want to know more about this and other dfndr security features? So go to the Google Play Store and check it out!