There are tons of instructions on this topic online. But in most cases, half of them are outdated and don’t work. We’ll tell you about some really effective ways to recover deleted photos and videos on your phone and show you detailed instructions with screenshots.
Ways to recover photos and videos on Android
The Android operating system is more open than iOS. This means that there are slightly more options for recovering deleted files. In addition, the chances of success are higher (subject to certain conditions). Now we will tell you how to recover deleted photos on an Android smartphone.
- Through the Google Photos trash can
This option is suitable if you use the Google Photos app as the default gallery on your smartphone. Important condition: the trash has not been emptied either manually or automatically. By default, photos are automatically deleted from the Google Photos trash after 30 days. If the photos and videos are still in the trash, the instructions will work.
If you need to restore several photos and videos at once, you can select them by pressing and holding your finger on any file and marking all the necessary files. In this case, after pressing the restore button, all selected photos will be returned to their place.
- Through the Google Files trash
Google Files is the standard file explorer on Android, which is only available on a “clean system.” Most shells use their own file managers. However, the principle of operation remains the same, so we will take a closer look at the process of recovering photos from the file manager’s trash.
The procedure is very similar to the process of recovering files in the Google Photos app. The only slight difference is in the interface and the location of some elements.
- Via backup
If you have previously created a backup using Google tools, it is possible to restore it. If photo synchronization was enabled at the time, all deleted photos will be retrieved from the backup and returned to the smartphone’s memory. The algorithm for this is simple.
After starting synchronization, the system will extract the photos from the backup and copy the deleted ones to your phone. However, this option only works if the backup was created in advance. Here’s how to download a full copy of your Google account to your computer.
- Through cloud storage
Another option is to store your photos and videos in cloud storage. This will allow you to retrieve them from there at any time. The cloud has its own trash can, and even if you delete files from there, they will be saved in the trash can and can be retrieved.
This is a standard algorithm that is used in almost all cloud storage services. Only the names of the menu items may differ slightly.
- Using special programs
There are many data recovery applications available on Google Play. For example, Disk Digger. However, judging by the reviews of those who have used them, such programs are practically useless. They can find traces of individual files on the drive and extract thumbnails from the cache, but they cannot fully recover the file. Even those applications that require superuser rights are not capable of recovering files.