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AstroTater
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Missing photos after restoring iPhone backup with iCloud Photos off

Hello all, I recently updated my phone going from an iphone 15 pro max to iphone duo. my issue is this. before the switch i backed up my iphone 15 pro.(i had icloud photo sync turned off at the time of back up) which means all of my photos should have been loaded and saved to the back up that was created. The issue that I'm facing is upon loading up the new device I seem to be missing 4 total years worth of photos. all random years (I've had photos backing from 2017 up until now) and i'm missing years 21, 22, 24, and 25. I read that Icloud photos vs back ups are different and i know when i backed my phone up initially the icloud photos sync was turned off but cant seem to get my photos that were supposed to be saved on the back up to load in my library. Am i just screwed?

Posted on Oct 26, 2026 3:34 PM

4 replies

Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 10 (105,996 points)

Oct 26, 2026 3:53 PM in response to AstroTater

It takes quite a bit of time for the full photos to be downloaded from iCloud to your device after switching off iCloud Photos, and that would only be possible if you have the storage space on the phone to store all the photos. If the backup proceeded before your entire library was downloaded from iCloud, the backup would only contain the photos that had been downloaded so far.


Now that you have set up the Duo, turn iCloud Photos back on and you should see the message that asks if you want to merge your photos with iCloud.


The photos remain in iCloud for 30 days after iCloud Photos has been turned off on all devices that are using the service, so they should still be there even to view online and download to the duo.

View your photos and videos on iCloud.com - Apple Support


LD150
User level: Level 10 (107,674 points)

Oct 27, 2026 5:16 PM in response to KayIsabel

KayIsabel wrote:
The same thing has happened to me! I’ve lost over 40000 photos . I’m not happy with this Duo!

Maybe a lot of them were sync'd to your old phone from a computer. They will neither backup nor transfer. Not the fault of the Duo

AstroTater Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Oct 27, 2026 1:59 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

How much time are we talking? I've checked my icloud photos and even in icloud its missing about 4000+ photos. I was expecting the back up i did before hand to have saved my entire photo libarary. after doing research i read that it was dependent on wiether i had icloud photo sync turned on at the time of back up (which i did not have it on) so my photos should have been stored in the physical back up and not in icloud photo section at the time of the first back up. we are talking days since ive switched and the photos are still not popping.

KayIsabel
User level: Level 1 (8 points)

Oct 27, 2026 5:02 PM in response to AstroTater

The same thing has happened to me! I’ve lost over 40000 photos . I’m not happy with this Duo!

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256383563