I can't seem to find a certain photo I saved and I tried looking for it. I still can't find it, did Apple delete my picture or am I just gonna have to look harder for it? I take lots of pictures and for some reason it seems like either Apple deleted the photo I was looking for or someone (not me) did when I wasn't looking. If not, is there some way I can get it back. It was screenshots of something important. How can I ensure my data is backed up? Only I have access to my account.
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Does Apple delete photos from the iCloud if you have an active iCloud plan for whatever reason?
- Thread starter ethanmiller960
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I think it's probably a bug rather than something malicious. I have a missing block of photos that never turned up again (I was overseas at the time and I have all the photos from the start of the trip and the end of the trip, but nothing from the middle). They never synched onto my Mac in the first place, and at some point they disappeared off my phone.
I don't know where you saved the screenshot from, but if the screenshot's creation date was in the past (for example 2003) it would be listed deep in your library, not at the point in time you added it to the library.
Apple doesn't delete photos for you - but iCloud Photo Library is not a backup service. If you don't have your photos backed up and they disappear, for WHATEVER reason, Apple's not gonna help.
Look at the ‘Recents’ folder under ‘My Albums’ in Photos to see your photos sorted by added date rather than creation date.
And yes, frequently backing up is very important. External hard drives are cheap. Time Machine is easy. Plug the drive in once a week and it’s more or less “set and forget.”
iCloud generally works very well, but don’t trust that it will keep your data 100% secure.
I don't trust any 1 method so I have several backup setups.
What many people don't realize is iCloud Phots is a synch, not backup service and deleting photos deletes them from iCloud; and eve with iCloud backup if you synch Apple uses teh synched library as the backup, not a separate actual backup.
Given how cheap memory is and that most iCloud library's may be big but are not huge, having several backups on drives is a good idea.
As above. If you care about your photos implement a 3-2-1 backup plan with 1 copy off-site.
I take frequent Time Machine backups from my MacBook.
How would you go about finding a photo in a backup?
How would you go about finding a photo in a backup?
You'd restore the library to a new folder, and open Photos while holding Option to be able select that as a separate library.
Rescue the deleted photo, delete the restored library, add the photo back to your "Real" library.
Very helpful! Thank you! I feared you’d have to wipe your current library. Didn’t realize you could load to a different location.
Honestly it "used to be" easier, when iPhoto was a Time Machine-aware app. You could literally open Time Machine from within iPhoto and restore individual photos from there.
But, I understand why they took that away. It's a lot of work to make and keep an app Time Machine-aware, and it takes a lot of developer resources to ensure that new features don't break it (or new macOS updates, etc). By letting photos handle photos, and Time Machine handle "Files," there's much less chance of screwing something up.
In 15 years I've needed to restore photos from a Time Machine backup exactly zero times, so I'm fine with it being a bit more "Involved" on my end but simpler from an OS point of view.
I value my photos and videos very highly like most people. I have multiple Time Machine drives and multiple cloud backups. Like you, I’ve thankfully never needed them.
If you’re extra paranoid like me I might suggest taking things one step further and exporting all your photos in the library to an archive.
When you select “export unmodified originals” you will actually get all of the individual files including the separate .M4A video file used to create Live Photos and the .AAE sidecar files where all of the non-destructive edits for each corresponding photo are stored (assuming they’ve been edited).
It might be over kill but I don’t fully trust the Photos app in terms of its complexity of storing information, and this way you will have an absolute fail safe you can rebuild a library from in case something gets messed up.
When you select “export unmodified originals” you will actually get all of the individual files including the separate .M4A video file used to create Live Photos and the .AAE sidecar files where all of the non-destructive edits for each corresponding photo are stored (assuming they’ve been edited).
It might be over kill but I don’t fully trust the Photos app in terms of its complexity of storing information, and this way you will have an absolute fail safe you can rebuild a library from in case something gets messed up.
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It appears you are using an iPhone or iPad (This is posted in iOS 17 forum). Apple made a change to the default filter somewhere along the line and now things like screenshots do not appear. Make sure you select "All Photos" (instead of "Years", "Months" or "Days") to remove the screenshot filter.