No, iCloud does not keep deleted photos forever; they are held in the "Recently Deleted" album for 30 days, after which they are permanently removed from your devices and iCloud, unless you manually delete them sooner or have a backup. After this 30-day window, the photos are gone from iCloud and generally can't be recovered through standard means, though sometimes Apple support or backups (like Time Machine) might help in critical cases.
When you delete a photo or video from Photos on iCloud.com, it's also deleted from all your devices that have iCloud Photos turned on. If you change your mind, you have 30 days to recover it before it's permanently deleted.
If it's within 30 days: check the Recently Deleted folder on iCloud.com. If you have a backup: restore via iTunes, Finder, or iCloud device backup. If no backup exists: use a permanently deleted photos recovery app like Gbyte Recovery, which gives you the best chance of retrieving files safely.
Cloud Data Recovery
If backups exist in iCloud, Google Drive, or other cloud services, police may request access through legal warrants.
The image is gone forever—erased from existence. But not so fast. In reality, deleted photos might not disappear right away. In fact, depending on how and when the deletion occurred, there's a good chance the data is still on your phone, just out of view.
If the photos were deleted from the storage drive years ago, you may not be able to recover them manually unless you have a backup. The only way is to use a professional photo recovery software — Stellar Photo Recovery.
Delete photos & videos permanently
No, deleted iPhone photos cannot be recovered from modern iPhones (iPhone 6 and later) due to cryptographic erasure. When you permanently delete a photo, the iPhone destroys the unique encryption key, making the data impossible to decrypt.
You can restore recently deleted photos and videos that are still in your trash. Items that are permanently deleted can't be restored.
Files you delete from iCloud Drive are recoverable for 30 days, but you can remove deleted files before the 30-day time period is up. See Recover deleted files on iCloud.com and Permanently remove deleted files on iCloud.com.
When you delete photos and videos, they go to your Recently Deleted album for 30 days. After 30 days, they'll be permanently deleted. If you use iCloud Photos, and delete photos and videos from one device, the photos and videos will be deleted on your other devices.
If you haven't turned on iCloud Photos, iCloud Backup may include photos and videos in your Photos or Camera Roll, as well as face information from the People & Pets album. When you use iCloud Photos, your photos, videos, and face information automatically sync to iCloud so they aren't included in your daily backup.
In the latest iOS versions, accessing this album requires authentication with your Apple ID or password. This added security provides that even if someone gets hold of your iPhone, they won't be able to retrieve your deleted photos.
When it comes to recovering permanently deleted data, you can try employing the following methods: Recovery from the Recycle Bin / Trash. Backup Files (Cloud or OS backup data) Data Recovery Software.
However, if you have enabled iCloud Photos (previously known as iCloud Photo Library), deleting a photo from your iPhone will also remove it from iCloud and all other devices connected to your iCloud account. This ensures that your photos are synced across all your devices.
On iCloud.com, you can recover files deleted from both iCloud Drive and other apps within the last 30 days, whether you deleted them on iCloud.com or another device that has iCloud Drive turned on.
AnyRecover is a consumer-grade data recovery tool that can be used to recover deleted photos, as well as other types of data, from iOS devices, Android devices and PC. While it is not specifically designed for forensic investigations, it may be used by police or other investigators in some cases.
Summary: It is totally possible to recover old deleted photos, even ones that were deleted years ago. However, the only reliable way of going about this is to use specialized software, such as Stellar Photo Recovery Software.
It depends on where the data is being stored and what type of data it is. However, with sophisticated software and equipment, it is possible for the police to retrieve deleted data from a phone.
If the file has not been overwritten, recovery tools can scan the unallocated space on the storage device to reconstruct the file's data and metadata, allowing users to restore it. However, once the space is overwritten, the original data becomes irretrievable.
Unfortunately, Windows 10 does not have a built-in tool to recover files after they've been permanently deleted (including from the Recycle Bin). Your best official option is to restore from a backup using File History or a previous system restore point if you had them configured.
Apple iPhone Permanently Delete Photos or Videos
To permanently delete photos from Android device, including ensuring they are not recoverable, follow these steps:
A deleted file doesn't really disappear from your hard drive; it stays there until new data fills up the space it occupied. This process might be hard to understand for people who don't know much about how computers handle files.