Recover deleted iPhone photos

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carmen617

Well-Known Member
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Location
Boston, MA
As in the title, my neighbor accidentally deleted all the photos off her iPhone. She thought she had uploaded them to DropBox but she deleted them from her phone prior to upload completion. Of course, no backups to be had.

Anybody have any suggestions for me? I see a lot of software solutions on the web, but have no experience with any of them.

Thanks!
 
I haven't even seen the phone, but I suspect it's a pretty late model. Do you know which models will be encrypted as a matter of course?
 
If I remember correctly the encryption happens only if a pin code, etc was implemented. Even then if they still have normal access to the device encryption is a moot point, as the device is unlocked so the file system is unlocked if I understand things correctly. No different than a regular desktop OS FDE.

I've heard of Dr. Fone but have not tried it. The important thing is the EU needs to immediately stop using the phone to have any possibility of recovering. The space was released and may be over written with things like SMS, emails, voice mails, etc.

A couple of other thoughts. Was it plugged into and synced with iTunes? They will have to have an iCloud account so maybe they got backed up to that.
 
She has a free iCloud account and is missing about 1800 pics, I'm pretty sure they aren't all up there, but as I said I haven't seen the phone. She has never backed the phone up to iTunes. She asked me my advice this morning via Facebook messenger (free support, yay!) and I told her I thought it was a real problem but I wasn't sure I could help her. I told her she was probably going to have to try one of the third party recovery programs, but I didn't have any experience with any to recommend. She told me she was going to go to the Apple store to see if they could help her. I wished her luck, and suggested she install Google photos from now on to automatically back up all her photos for free.

This afternoon I found a post on our local town's Facebook page where she was asking for general help. She mentioned me by my business name as being "unable to help", as well as the Apple store. Bahhhhhhh, that will teach me to respond to Messenger requests. She's my next door neighbor. Not sure if I should pursue the opportunity to help, respond (in my business name) on the Facebook page, or just let the kerfuffle lie.
 
carmen617 said:
This afternoon I found a post on our local town's Facebook page where she was asking for general help. She mentioned me by my business name as being "unable to help", as well as the Apple store. Bahhhhhhh, that will teach me to respond to Messenger requests. She's my next door neighbor. Not sure if I should pursue the opportunity to help, respond (in my business name) on the Facebook page, or just let the kerfuffle lie.
Click to expand...
You now know that about 70% of your local clients wont come to you if they have problems similar to this?
Your competitors will also be rubbing their hands together, especially if one of them does assist her!
I (personally) would go over to her house and very politely explain the situation to her. I would also ask her to amend the post to something less damning to your business, like "tried to assist" or similar.
I would not let the "kerfuffle" lie.
 
Barcelona said:
You now know that about 70% of your local clients wont come to you if they have problems similar to this?
Your competitors will also be rubbing their hands together, especially if one of them does assist her!
I (personally) would go over to her house and very politely explain the situation to her. I would also ask her to amend the post to something less damning to your business, like "tried to assist" or similar.
I would not let the "kerfuffle" lie.
Click to expand...
Yup. I know it. Sigh. Multiple polite and pleasant back and forths about how unfortunate the situation is and what might actually work and what might not - and then publicly named as unable to help. She is a nice woman, and has no idea what she's done. I have an excellent reputation in my town, and my heart sank when I saw her post. Sheesh. Would love to approach her with an actual solution, however.
 
Computer Bloke said:
And that this isn't necessarily a bad thing?
Click to expand...
Yup, actually it is. I have a very small, one person, local business that's very much based on referrals and relationship building. Even though my neighbor has absolutely no intention of doing me any harm, she's just publicly named me, specifically, as someone who couldn't help her. Most likely nobody can help her, but that part isn't what people will read.
 
carmen617 said:
Yup, actually it is. I have a very small, one person, local business that's very much based on referrals and relationship building. Even though my neighbor has absolutely no intention of doing me any harm, she's just publicly named me, specifically, as someone who couldn't help her. Most likely nobody can help her, but that part isn't what people will read.
Click to expand...

To be honest I'd not sweat it too much @carmen617. "unable to help" is much different than "won't help". People do understand that, someone is busy, etc. And I agree with @Barcelona, head on over and spend a few minutes with her. But in the end it sounds like she's looking for something for nothing. In other words a free solution, that's usually what I find when someone is just randomly posting "I need help..." on the Internet.
 
johnrobert said:
I agree we do a lot of work we don't get paid for
Click to expand...
And truthfully, I don't mind it that much. In my business, a lot of that is marketing. I answer some basic questions for free, and, when a real problem occurs, I get called to fix it. Someone calls and says their computer is screaming at them that they have a virus, and I tell them to restart it first, if it shuts up after that they are fine, if not, give me another call.

My experience is that some people take advantage, but most don't. I even have a few clients who insist on mailing me an unbilled-for check every time I pick up the phone and answer a question. I just don't expect to get publicly pointed out as incapable of helping when my free advice doesn't provide the solution.
 
carmen617 said:
Someone calls and says their computer is screaming at them that they have a virus, and I tell them to restart it first, if it shuts up after that they are fine, if not, give me another call.
Click to expand...
WAIT! WHAT!
Did I read that right?
I'm dumbfounded!
You've almost single handedly brought down the credibility of every "professional" on this forum!
 
For what it's worth, I just spent a few hours at my neighbor's working through various options. We scanned her phone with the free trial of dr. fone software first, and it didn't detect any of her deleted files. Then I tried Easus MobiSaver Pro - the trial pulled up thumbnails for about 2400 deleted photos, so we paid for the full version (i think $65.00) and did the recovery. It recovered the 2400 photos, but at what looks to be a reduced resolution. I ran out of time so I haven't had a chance to really inspect what she ended up with, but I have to say that the Easus software worked as advertised, was pretty simple and intuitive to run, and left her with at least a usable version of her deleted pictures.
 
Barcelona said:
WAIT! WHAT!
Did I read that right?
I'm dumbfounded!
You've almost single handedly brought down the credibility of every "professional" on this forum!
Click to expand...

I think it's be best to always offer a virus scan in such a case at the bare minimum. Though, to be fair it could be just a popup window from a website giving that message and not actually a virus infection.
 
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