It’s easy to accidentally throw away photos and videos you want to keep, but these days it doesn’t have to be a big deal.
If you chose to enable your phone’s backup feature, photos are also stored in the cloud, making them accessible on any device. On most Android phones, this is done using the Google Photos app. What happens when you take a photo is that it is first saved to your phone and then copied to a Google server.
This is also possible on the iPhone, but you will need to download the Google Photos app first, then log in and enable auto-backup.
By going to photos.google.com and by logging in with the same username as on your phone (usually your Gmail address), you will then be able to see your saved photos.
The prerequisite for the photos to remain is of course that you haven’t deleted them in the cloud, but even if you have, there may be a workaround. By default, photos you delete in the Google Photos cloud service stay in the Trash for 60 days.
By pressing the Collections tab at the bottom, then Garbage canyou can see all your recently deleted files. Simply select each of them and choose Restore to put it back in your main gallery.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Not sure if the backup service is enabled? Open the Google Photos app on your phone and tap your profile photo in the upper right corner. So go to Photo settings and select Backup. Here you can enable or disable the feature and choose how it works.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
This is what it looks like if you’re using a phone with a clean version of Android. If you have a phone from another manufacturer, it may look a little different, but the basic configuration is generally the same.
This article was originally published in our sister publication PC för Alla and has been translated and adapted from Swedish.