Missing photos after disabling iCloud sync on iPhone

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Missing photos after disabling iCloud sync on iPhone

Hi, I recently turned off the option to sync photos to iCloud in settings. As a result, so many of my photos over the years disappeared from my phone; my intention was to only keep them on the phone instead of syncing. I've turned on iCloud again, but photos are still not there. They've also disappeared in such a randomised way, half my photos from trips are there, while the other half are not. I've looked through suggestions on here, but nothing seems to be working. I've also signed into iCloud on a different device but they're not there. How can I find these photos again? Why have they disappeared?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: missing photos

iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 26, 2025 8:45 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 27, 2025 7:05 AM in response to zeynep137

Some pictures transferred from a computer can be viewed in Photos but they can't be modified by Photos, so there may be some operations that produce a warning about those being at risk. So if you're missing pictures were transferred from a computer, you should look on the computer.

You can see this:

If you're missing photos or videos in the Photos app - Apple Support

Basically the above says to look in Recently Deleted and in Hidden. Be sure to check your Library thoroughly-- the pictures may not be where you expect, as dates may have changed. You can use the search field with the date or location. And remember, you can sort the Library by date captured or by date added. Also, your Library view now has filters, and you may not have your filter set to "All Items’.

If you don't use iCloud Photos, but you have Settings>Apple ID>iCloud Backup turned on, then you may be able to recover data from the last 30 days or so. Unfortunately if you do use iCloud Photos, the backup doesn't also copy those. You should look here:

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

“Restore” is what you do when you buy a new phone, so this safety, if you have it set, requires you to erase everything on your phone and replace it with the backup.

If you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look.

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