Photos missing from iPhone and iCloud after new iPhone transfer

PavanAmin wrote:

Dear Apple Support,

This is a user-to-user forum. Apple largely is not here, except to moderate it – and you are not talking to Apple Support.

I recently purchased a new iPhone and transferred all of my data from my previous phone. The photos were available on my phone after the transfer, but a few days later I noticed that many of them had disappeared. They are also no longer visible in iCloud Photos.

Did you check iCloud Photos on the Web? (Just in case the photos are still in iCloud Photos, but there hasn't been time for the new phone to fully synchronize against iCloud yet?)

I have already checked:

The Photos app on my iPhone

iCloud Photos

Recently Deleted

You might also want to check for Hidden photos. Seems unlikely the photos would be there, but you might as well check.

Hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Vision Pro with the Hidden album - Apple Support

These photos are very important to me, and I would like to know whether Apple can recover them or restore them from iCloud/device backups or another available recovery method.

Could you please investigate my iCloud account and advise me on the safest way to recover the missing photos? I do not want to accidentally overwrite or permanently delete any remaining copies of the photos.

I can provide my device information, Apple Account details, screenshots, and any other information required to investigate the issue.

You'll need to contact Apple Support directly if you want to ask them this. Your fellow users here on these forums have no access to your Apple Account or to anything of yours stored or backed up in Apple data centers.

That sounds awful! You can try calling Apple Support

Connect with live support

Crying might help. Yelling and complaining won't. They will probably tell you that you are expected to keep backups of your pictures, especially when doing major changes to your phone.

You can see this:

        If you're missing photos or videos in the Photos app

Basically the above says to look in Recently Deleted and in Hidden. Be sure to check your Library thoroughly. You can use the search field with the date or location—the pictures may not be where you expect, as dates may have changed. And remember, you can sort the Library by date captured or by date added. Also, your Library view now has filters, and you may not have your filter set to "All Items.”

Unfortunately, if you don't keep your own backups to an external drive, then there really isn't any place else to look. To back up your pictures you can just plug in an external drive, select the pictures, and use Share>Save to Files. Alternatively, you can backup to a computer:

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC

If you haven't done one of those backups, then your remaining pictures continue to be in peril. 

Hopefully, if you wiped the old phone, you followed the procedure outlined here:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

If you had permanently deleted all the photos on the old phone while it was connected to iCloud Photos, that action would have permanently deleted your photos everywhere.