How to Recover Deleted Screenshots on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows?

Can I Recover Deleted Screenshots?

Screenshots are digital images captured from the display of a device (mobiles or computers)—often used to save important information, conversations, or moments quickly. Because they're stored as regular image files, once deleted, they may be recoverable depending on the device and the method of deletion.

How to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Different Devices?

Fortunately, whether you're using a smartphone or a computer, there are several ways to recover lost screenshot. The success of recovery often depends on how the screenshots were deleted, how long ago it happened, and the tools or settings available on your device. In the following sections, we’ll walk through specific methods to recover deleted screenshots on different devices—including iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows for reference.

Part 1. Methods to Recover Deleted Screenshots on iPhone

If you've accidentally deleted screenshots on your iPhone, don’t worry, and you can give the following methods a try:

1. Check the Recently Deleted Album

When you delete a screenshot, it’s not immediately removed from your device. Instead, it goes to the "Recently Deleted"album in the Photos app, where it stays for 30 days.

Step 1. Open the "Photos"app.

Step 2. Scroll down and tap "Recently Deleted" under "Utilities".

Step 3. Look for your missing screenshots.

Step 4. Tap "Select", choose the screenshots, and tap "Recover".

2. Restore from an iCloud Backup

If the screenshots are deleted from the Recently Deleted folder and no longer available for recovery, you may be able to restore them from a recent "iCloud backup".

Note:✎...

This method will restore your entire phone to the state it was in at the time of the backup. This means any data, apps, photos, or settings added after the backup point will be lost, so be sure to back up any important new information before proceeding.

Step 1. Go to "Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings".

Step 2. After erasing, follow the setup process and choose "Restore from iCloud Backup".

Step 3. Sign in to iCloud and select a backup that likely contains the screenshots.

3. Use a Third-Party Data Recovery Tool (Without Backup)

If neither the Recently Deleted album nor an iCloud backup has what you need, don’t worry—there’s still hope.There are iPhone data recovery tools like MyRecover (for iOS) that can scan your device and recover deleted screenshots on iPhone, iPad, and iPod, without the backup required.

You can install it on your Windows computer and take the following methods to recover deleted screenshots on iPhone without backup available.

Step 1.Connect your iPhone to the computer and trust the computer on your iPhone.

Step 2. Click "Scan Now" on MyRecover for iOS to scan the iOS device.

Step 3. Choose what you want to restore and then click "Recover" to the computer in the top right corner.

Part 2. Methods to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Android

Similar to restoring deleted screenshots or pictures on iPhone, there are also 3 different ways available to retrieve screenshot on Android.

1. Check the "Trash Bin" in Your Gallery App

Many Android gallery apps (like Google Photos or Samsung Gallery) have a built-in trash folder where deleted photos are stored temporarily (usually for 30 days).It is the most convenient way to recover removed screenshots on Android mobile photos.

Step 1. Open your Gallery app.

Step 2. Look for the "Trash Bin" in the "Albums"directory.

Step 3. Select the deleted screenshots and tap "Restore".

2. Restore from Google Photos Backup (If Enabled)

If you had Google Photos backup enabled, your screenshots might still be in the cloud.

Step 1. Open the Google Photos app.

Step 2. Tap "Library" > "Trash".

Step 3. Select the screenshots you want to recover and tap "Restore".

3. Use a Third-Party Data Recovery Tool (Without Backup)

If your deleted screenshots are not in the Trash Bin and you don’t have a backup, you can still try recovering them using Android data recovery software. These tools scan your phone’s storage (or SD card) to find and restore lost files. Here we use DiskDigger as example.

Step 1. Download & install DiskDigger.

Step 2. Open the app and choose your device. Tap "Start Basic Photo Scan".

Step 3. After scanning, choose the recovery file type.

Step 4. Select the deleted screenshots. Tap "Recover" and save them to a safe location.

Part 3. Methods to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Mac

Accidentally deleted important screenshots on your Mac? Don’t worryand now we will walk you throughseveral effective methods to recover themeasily:

1. Check the Trash Bin

When you delete screenshots (or any files) on Mac, they usually go to the "Trash"first.So, check it before any other attempts.

Step 1. Open the "Trash" icon from your Dock.

Step 2. Look for your deleted screenshots.

Step 3. Right-click on the files and select "Put Back"to restore them to their original location.

2. Use Time Machine Backup

If you use "Time Machine", Apple’s built-in backup solution, you can easily restore deleted screenshots:

Step 1. Connect your Time Machine backup drive.

Step 2. Click the "Time Machine"icon in the menu bar and choose "Enter Time Machine".

Step 3. Scroll through the timeline to locate the deleted files.

Step 4. Select the right backup version and click "Restore".

3. Recover via iCloud Drive (if enabled)

If you store your Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud, the following steps can help you recover deleted screenshots on Mac.

Step 1. Go to "iCloud.com" and log in with your Apple ID.

Step 2. Click on the Account icon, then select "Data Recovery".

Step 3. Click on "Restore Files".

Step 4. Then, it will search all recoverable files and list them. Find the deleted screenshots and restore.

Part 4. Methods to Recover Deleted Screenshots on Windows

If you are a Windows users and delete a screenshot by mistake, and now want to get it back, then check out the following methods.

1. Check the Recycle Bin

When you delete a file on Windows, it usually goes to the Recycle Bin first — unless the files were permanently deleted (e.g., using Shift + Delete).

Step 1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.

Step 2. Look for your deleted screenshots (use the search bar if necessary).

Step 3. Right-click the desired file and select "Restore".The file will be restored to its original location.

2. Use Windows File History

Windows has a built-in backup feature called File History that automatically backs up copies of your personal files, such as documents, photos, music, videos, and even Desktop files, allowing you to recover files if they're accidentally deleted, lost, or modified incorrectly.If it's turned on, you can recover earlier versions of your files.

Step 1. Press Win+S, input "Restore your files with File History" and click "Open".

Step 2. Choose the target folder or and click on "Restore" button.

3. Try Windows File Recovery Command Tool

If File History wasn't enabled and your screenshots are permanently deleted, you can use Windows File Recovery, a command-line tool developed by Microsoft. It helps recover lost files from hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards even after the Recycle Bin has been emptied.

Step 1. Download Windows File Recovery from the Microsoft Store.

Step 2 . Press "Win + S " and type "cmd ". Right-click on Command Prompt and select "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Run a command like:winfr H: D: /extensive /n *.png

• Replace H: with the source drive and D: with the destination drivein your situation.
• Replace the path and file type as needed.

Once the recovery process is done, you can type "Y" on your keyboard to directly access the recovered files in Windows File Explore.

4. Employ Windows Data Recovery Software-MyRecover

The above Windows data recovery tool doesn’t have a GUI, so it may be better suited for advanced users. For easier recovery, consider using graphical tools like MyRecover.With a very clean and intuitive interface, any one can operate it with simple clicks. Besides, apart from recovering pictures, it is also capable of restoring music, video, pdf, excels, words, zips, audios and other types of files on all Windows operating systems including Server.

Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your Windows PC.

Download Freeware
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Server

100% Secure

Step 2. Launch the application and select the drive where your screenshots were deleted. Click "Scan" to start the search process.

Step 3. After the scanning process, select your screenshots (or other files). To make it quick, you can make use of the "Filter" feature.

Step 4. Once all screenshots you want to recover are checked, click "Recover" button.

Step 5. Select a safe location to store the recovered screenshots.

For a small amount of data recovery, it can be finished in minutes. Afterwards, you can go to the destination location to check file integrity. To recover more than 500MB of data, please consider upgrade to Professional edition, which comes with unlimited data recovery quota and "preview before recovery" feature.

Summary

Accidentally deleting important screenshots can be frustrating—but as you’ve seen, it’s not the end of the road. Whether you’re using an iPhone, Android, Mac, or Windows device, there are reliable methods and tools available to help you recover lost screenshots. Choose the method that best fits your device and situation, and recover deleted screenshots with confidence.