Whether you’ve accidentally deleted a video on your iPhone while trying to free up some space or you’ve factory erased your phone, and now all of the data is gone, don’t give up just yet. There are ways to bring those videos back.
In this article, we’ll show you the six most effective data recovery methods that can help you recover deleted videos from an iPhone.
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How to Find Deleted Videos on iPhone
Before actually starting to recover a missing video on your iPhone, it’s a good idea to double-check to see whether it is really gone from your device. It’s quite possible that you weren’t looking at the right place, and the video is still stored on your phone.
All videos are, by default, stored in the Photos app on your iPhone.This is a built-in application that comes pre-installed on all iPhones. To view all of the videos that are located on your device, follow these steps:
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Choose the Albums tab.
- Tap Videos.
Alternatively, you can go to the Library tab to view all of your photos and videos organized by days, months, or years. Also, you can use the search tool in the Photos app to look for the needed video by typing in a word that describes it best.
If you remember hiding the video on your iPhone, then you should check the Hidden folder in the Photos app. You can find it by going to the Albums tab, scrolling down to the Utilities section, and opening the Hidden folder. If the video is there, tap the share icon on the bottom left and tap Unhide to put it back into its original location.
How to Recover Deleted Videos on iPhone
Here are the most effective data recovery methods that can help you bring back a deleted video on your iPhone. You can either choose the one that best suits your data loss situation or go through the methods one by one.
Method 1: Check the Recently Deleted Folder in Photos
The first thing that you should do when trying to recover a deleted video on your iPhone is to check the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app. Any photo or video that you delete on your iPhone gets instantly transferred to that folder and is kept there for 30 days. Once that time has passed, the deleted data gets removed from your device, and then you’ll need to try a more complex data recovery method to undelete a video on your iPhone.
Note: You can see how many days are left till the deleted video gets permanently removed from your iPhone in the Recently Deleted folder at the bottom of the video.
Follow these steps to retrieve deleted videos on your iPhone from the Recently Deleted folder:
- Open the Photos application.
- Choose the Albums tab.
- Scroll down to the Utilities section and tap Recently Deleted.
- Tap a video you wish to open it.
- Tap Recover at the bottom right to place the video back into its original location.
Method 2: Use Data Recovery Software
If the video is already removed from the Recently Deleted folder, your best option is to use specialized data recovery software to recover it. This effective and quick data recovery method is especially useful if you haven’t been backing up the data on your iPhone and don’t have a copy of that deleted video anywhere.
There are not so many data recovery tools that are compatible with iPhones. Our recommendation is Disk Drill since this application is very straightforward and easy to use.
Apply a coupon “DD-IOS-30” during the checkout process, and you’ll get Disk Drill PRO (Mac edition) with a 30% discount.
Follow these steps to recover permanently deleted videos from your iPhone using Disk Drill:
- Download Disk Drill for Mac and follow the onscreen instructions to install it.
- Using a cable, connect your iPhone to the computer and unlock your phone to start the interaction.
- Launch Disk Drill and choose the iPhones & iPads tab from the sidebar on the left.
- Click your iPhone to select it from the list of available devices.
- Click the Search for lost data button to initiate the scan.
- Wait for the scan to finish.
- Choose the Videos tab from the sidebar to view only this type of file, or enter the needed format of the video that you want to recover in the search field at the top-right (for example, .m4v, .mp4, or .mov).
- Click the box near the video that you wish to restore and click the Recover button (to actually recover the files, you need to upgrade to the Disk Drill Pro version since the trial one allows you to only scan the device and preview the recoverable files).
- Choose the folder where you wish to store the recovered video files and click Next to confirm.
Note: The Disk Drill free version allows you to only scan your device and preview the potentially recoverable files. But to actually perform the recovery process, you’ll have to get the Pro version.
If you want to transfer the recovered video file back to your iPhone, the best option would be to use AirDrop to send it from your Mac to your iPhone. To do that, double-click the video, choose Share from the drop-down menu, and click AirDrop.
Method 3: Recover From Your iCloud Account
If you’ve been using iCloud to backup the data on your iPhone, you should be able to recover a deleted video from your account. But keep in mind that the deleted files will be stored in the Recently Deleted folder in your account for only 40 days after deletion. If more time has passed, this method won’t be an option in your case.
Follow these steps to recover a deleted video from your iPhone using your iCloud account:
- Using a browser either on your iPhone or your computer, go to iCloud.com.
- Log into your iCloud account.
- Choose Photos from the main page.
- On the sidebar on the left, choose the Recently Deleted tab.
- Click or tap the video that you wish to recover and choose Recover on the top-right of the screen.
The recovered video will appear on your device the next time your iPhone syncs the data with your iCloud account.
Method 4: Recover the Whole iCloud Backup
If the deleted video is no longer present in your iCloud account, but you are confident that you’ve backed it up using this service, then you should be able to restore it by performing a factory reset on your iPhone and then using one of the iCloud backups to recover your whole phone.
A great advantage of this method is that you can do it without a computer — all you need is your iPhone and your iCloud login details.
Note: It’s important to complete another backup of your iPhone right before moving forward with this method to make sure that you don’t lose the data that’s currently located on your phone.
Follow these steps to recover a deleted video by restoring your whole iPhone from an iCloud backup:
- Open the Settings application on your iPhone.
- Go to General, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and choose Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Tap Erase All Content and Settings and wait for the process to finish.
- Turn on your iPhone and follow the instructions to set it up.
- When you see the Apps & Data screen, choose Restore from iCloud Backup.
- Log into your iCloud account to view all of your backup versions.
- Choose the needed backup version.
- When the process is finished, you’ll have all of the data back on your iPhone, including the deleted video.
Method 5: Recover From iTunes Backup
Another option that you have is to recover the deleted videos using iTunes on your computer. You can use either a Windows-powered computer or a MacBook, depending on which computer you’re storing the backups. But this method will actually work only if you’ve been backing up your iPhone using iTunes and if one of those backups contains the deleted video.
This method will let you access all of your iPhone backups that were made with the help of iTunes. Therefore, it is a great option if you are trying to recover old videos from your iPhone.
Follow these steps to get a deleted video back on your iPhone using iTunes:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer with a cable.
- Launch the iTunes application on the computer.
- Click the iPhone icon located in the upper-left of the window.
- Choose Summary from the sidebar.
- Scroll down and choose Restore Backup.
- Choose the needed backup version.
- Wait for the process to finish and eject your iPhone.
Method 6: Get Help From a Data Recovery Service
If you’ve tried the above-mentioned data recovery methods and nothing worked in your case, the only option that you have left is to resort to a professional data recovery center for help. You can either find such a center nearby and go there in person or choose one online. Just remember that it’s important to select a reliable data recovery center since there might be only one chance for restoring the deleted video.
We recommend the CleverFiles Data Recovery Center since it has a high rate of successful data recovery outcomes. Moreover, they have a no data – no charge policy, meaning that you’ll need to pay only if the specialist actually recovers your deleted video.
Follow these steps to restore deleted videos on your iPhone with the help of a data recovery service:
- Choose a data recovery center and tell them about your issue.
- Pack and ship your iPhone to the lab.
- Wait to receive a price quote.
- If the price meets your expectations, let the data recovery center know your decision.
- Once the professionals recover the deleted video, they’ll ship it to you on a new media along with your iPhone.
Conclusion
Having to deal with data loss is no fun, especially when it comes to losing a video on your iPhone that contains your precious memories. Luckily, iPhone video recovery is not as complicated as one might’ve thought, and there are many ways to restore a deleted or missing video on your phone: from the Recently Deleted folder, a backup, or with data recovery software. Or, if nothing helps, you can always get help from a professional data recovery center.
FAQ:
- Open the Photos app.
- Go to Albums > Recently Deleted.
- Tap the video that you want to recover to open it.
- Choose Recover to place the video back in its original location.
- Restore it from the Recently Deleted folder.
- Use a data recovery tool.
- Use a backup to retrieve the video.
- Get help from a data recovery center if nothing else works.
- Download Disk Drill for Mac and install it.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Launch Disk Drill and choose iPhones & iPads from the sidebar.
- Choose your iPhone from the list of devices and click Search for lost data to start a scan.
- Wait for the scan to finish and click Videos from the sidebar to narrow down your search.
- Choose the video files you want to recover and click Recover.
- Select a preferred destination for the files and click OK.