Why Did My Photos Disappeared on My iPhone After Update iOS 18/17? 4 Ways to Fix

by Jenefey Aaron   Updated on 2024-09-19 / Update for  iOS 12

After I upgraded to iOS 18, all of my photo albums disappeared. I've synced a few times. The photos show as being synced, but the albums never show up so the photos aren't accessible. This is on both my iPhone and my iPad Pro. Anyone else have this happen?"

Why Did My Photos Disappeared on My iPhone After Update iOS 18/17? Well, you don't have to worry much about this issue as many of the users are also going through this issue and they are able to solve their problem using some fixes which has been shown in this article. Basically, I will show your 4 ways to fix photos not showing up on iPhone after the iOS 18/17 update.

Way 1: Recover Lost Photos from Recent Deleted Folder

"Recently Deleted" folder is a separate folder in iPhone that keeps your deleted photos of last 30 days. Normally if you have deleted the picture then you can simply go to this folder and recover it back. The same things might have happened to all your photos of album when you update to iOS 18/17. So, you better check your recent deleted folder and if you found all your photos there, just recover it.

Steps on how to recover iPhone photos disappeared after update:

  • First unlock you Phone >> Go to Photos.
  • Tap on Albums >> Tap on Recently Deleted folder.
  • If there are photos, select the photos and then tap on recover option.

    photos missing after ios update

Way 2: Recover Lost Photos from iCloud Photos Settings

We all are aware about the fact that enabling iCloud Photo Library syncs all the photos to iCloud across all the device log-in with same iCloud account. But if there is problem with the iCloud sync then you might think all the photos got disappear only after update. Let's get your photos back.

Steps on how to recover photos lost after update:

  • Open settings of your iPhone >> iCloud >> Photos >> Confirm that iCloud Photos Library is turned on.
  • You can even turn it off and after few second again turn it on to ensure that it is working fine.

    iphone photos disappeared after ios update

You can even log out and again log in to iCloud account to make sure that there is not any problem with iCloud account and syncing.

  • Just go to settings of your iPhone >> tap on iTunes & App Store.
  • Tap on Apple ID >> Tap on Sign Out.

    photos disappeared after ios update
  • Now again sign in to iCloud account entering your Apple ID and Password.

Way 3: Recover Deleted Photos by Restarting Your Devices

There are plenty of time when the simple solution like restarting the Phone can fix many issue of your phone. If you are getting any kind of issue on your iPhone and even tried many of the methods to solve the issue but couldn't fix the issue then you better try to force restart your iPhone. Who knows if it fixes your issue? Similarly, if photos disappeared after iOS 18/17 update then try force restart your iPhone.

For iPhone 6 and older models:

  • Press and hold sleep/wake or power button and home button of your iPhone for at least 10 seconds until you see the Apple logo.

For iPhone 7/7 Plus:

  • Press and hold sleep/wake and volume down button for at least 10 seconds until you see Apple logo.

For iPhone 8 and later models:

  • Press Volume up and down button along with Power button for few seconds until you don't see Apple logo.
  • You iPhone will now reboot and see if this fixes you issue or not.

    photos not showing up on iphone

Way 4: Recover Deleted Photos after iOS 18/17 Update

The one method that works perfectly fine to get back your missing photos after update is using Tenorshare UltData.  This tool is so perfect that you can actually recover all the data directly from iTunes, iCloud backup or without backup . You can get back you lost data selectively and even safely which is also compatible with latest iOS version. It supports more than 30+ files types like WhatsApp, SMS, contacts, photos, videos etc.

Let's see how to recover missing photos after iOS update using UltData.

Note: Make sure to download and install UltData on your computer or Mac.

  • After you launch "Recover Data from iTunes Backup" option, UltData will automatically display all iTunes backup on the computer. Just choose the one you wanto to recover.

    recover lost photos after update
  • Now clcik the button "Start Scan" to scan the backup files including photos, wait some minutes till the scan process is complete.

    lost photos after ios update
  • After the process is finished, tap the item "Photos" in left and you will find the missing photos in your backup back. And click button "Recover" to recover them to your PC.
  • lost photos after ios update

Another way to find the missing photos aftrer updating to iOS 18/17 is using the feature "Recover from iCloud Backup Files" of UltData, the steps is very simple. But as iPhone has Two-factor authentication, the chances of data being retrieved are small, but you also can try it.

  • Install UltData in your computer or Mac, then choose the feature "Recover from iCloud Backup Files", and log in your iCloud account.

    photos missing after ios update
  • Then choose the iCLoud backup in your account to restore. And hit the button "Next" to choose the file type.

    recover missing photos after ios update choose file type
  • In this process UltData will downlaod the bakcup files, the time depends on the backup files'size. When the download process is complete, you can choose the missing photos you want.

    get lost photos back after ios update

Finally you have recovered all the missing photos after iOS 18/17 update.

Conclusion

In this article it has shown how to fix photos lost after iOS 18/17 update and how to recover the photos. Though 4 ways has been shown to fix the issue but Tenorshare UltData works the best and recovers the photos just in few minutes with only some clicks. You can even preview the content before recovering them. So, why to choose any other methods when you get everything in one tool. Try UltData and share your experience with us.