Recovering deleted photos from a shared album on iPhone

I put photos in a shared album, and after a while, they suddenly disappeared and were deleted. How can I get them back?



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Oct 4, 2025 1:17 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 6, 2025 7:28 AM

Shared Albums don't count against your iCloud Storage, because they are lower quality copies of the pictures in your Library--the don't have all the same information. Shared Albums don't replace the pictures in your Library-- they are completely separate things. As muguy said, pictures deleted from your Library go to Recently Deleted for 30 days (or until that safety is defeated.) Picture removed from Shared Albums are gone.


It is valuable to keep backups of pictures and important data on an external drive.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 6, 2025 7:28 AM in response to Bayanm99

Shared Albums don't count against your iCloud Storage, because they are lower quality copies of the pictures in your Library--the don't have all the same information. Shared Albums don't replace the pictures in your Library-- they are completely separate things. As muguy said, pictures deleted from your Library go to Recently Deleted for 30 days (or until that safety is defeated.) Picture removed from Shared Albums are gone.


It is valuable to keep backups of pictures and important data on an external drive.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Recovering deleted photos from a shared album on iPhone

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.