How to Recover Deleted Photos on Android: A Step-by-Step Guide

Android users can recover recently deleted photos for up to 30 days from when they were deleted.

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Written by Dhruv Raghav, Edited by Rohan Pal | Updated: 30 August 2026 10:00 IST
Highlights
  • Android moves deleted photos to the Recently Deleted folder first
  • You can recover deleted photos from Google's Photos app, too
  • You can not recover permanently deleted photos on Android

Here's how you can recover deleted photos on Android

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Lisa Fotios

Android phone gallery can fill up quickly when you like taking a lot of photos. However, while selecting the images from the lot, you often delete a number of images in one go. During such times, you can inadvertently delete a photo that you wanted to keep for posting on social media or memories. As a safety net, to help users avoid such mistakes, Android phones do not permanently delete the photos. Instead, the deleted images are moved to the phone's recycle bin, similar to how deleted files are moved to your laptop's trash bin. The recently deleted images are saved in the recently deleted folder of your Android phone for 30 days, after which they are permanently deleted, giving you enough time to recover all or select photos, if and when needed.

If you are wondering how you can recover photos that you deleted by mistake from your Android phone, we have prepared a step-by-step guide to help you with the same.

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  1. To recover an image that you deleted less than 30 days ago, you must first open the Photos or Gallery app on your Android phone.
  2. Then, you must tap on the Albums button, appearing at the bottom of the screen, to view all the albums on your handset.
  3. Now, depending on your Android phone's model, you can scroll up or down to locate the Recently Deleted folder.
  4. Open the Recently Deleted folder by tapping on it.
  5. A new screen will appear with all your deleted photos. Here, tap on the vertical dotted line appearing in the top-right corner of the screen.
  6. Now, you must click on Select and tap on the specific images that you wish to recover.
  7. Alternatively, you can tap on Select all to select all the images in one go.
  8. Then, you must click on Restore to recover the recently deleted images.
  9. You can find the recovered images in the specific folders from which they were deleted.

How to Recover Deleted Photos on Android via Google Photos

  1. Android phone users can also recover recently deleted photos from Google's Photos app by first opening the Photos app on your handset.
  2. Now, tap on the Collections button, which appears at the bottom of the screen.
  3. A new screen will appear. Here, click on Bin in the top-right corner of the screen.
  4. Then, select the recently deleted images you wish to recover by tapping on Select.
  5. Once done, you can tap on Restore to recover only the selected images.
  6. Alternatively, you can click on Restore All, appearing in the bottom-left corner of the screen, to recover all the recently deleted photos.

FAQs

1. Can I recover permanently deleted images on my Android phone?

No, Android does not provide the ability to recover images that have been permanently deleted.

2. For how many days does my Android phone retain the recently deleted photos?

3. Where can I find the recently deleted photos on my Android phone?

Your Android phone moves the deleted photos to the Recently Deleted folder in your handset's Gallery or Photos app.

 

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