Photos disappeared after an update: where they usually went

Usually the photos are not gone. An update changes states, not memories: the phone may be signed into a different account, iCloud Photos or a backup toggle may have switched off, the Hidden album may be hiding itself, or everything is sitting in a Recently Deleted or Trash folder with days left on its clock. Apple's own help page sends you to check those places before anything else, and Google's does the same for Google Photos. Work the checklist below, then read the how-to guide if a trash folder has your photos and you need the exact restore steps.^[1]

iPhone and iPad: Apple's checklist

Four checks cover most post-update scares on an iPhone. First, Recently Deleted: anything deleted in the shuffle waits there for 30 days, even if it vanished from an album it was in. Second, the Hidden album: hidden items live there, and the album itself can be set to not appear anywhere in the Photos app. Third, iCloud Photos: if the feature got switched off, Apple says photos taken while it was on may still be in iCloud, and turning Sync this Device back on brings the view back after a few minutes. Fourth, the account: every device must use the same Apple Account for the library to be the same library. On top of those, a Shared Photo Library can hold photos that only appear when the view is set to Both Libraries or Shared Library.^[1]

Android and Google Photos: Google's checklist

Google's version of the checklist starts with the account: photos can seem to disappear simply because the app is on a different Google account than the one that holds the backup. Then backup state: if Back up was off, pointed at the wrong account, or excluding device folders, photos that were never uploaded will not appear on a new phone or after a reset. Two quieter causes are worth knowing. Photos taken before 4 AM are sorted into the previous day, so a whole evening can look empty in the wrong date view. And deleting photos in a different gallery app can remove them before Google Photos ever backed them up.^[2]

The trash folders, and what happens after 30 days

Both ecosystems run deletion through a 30-day trash: Apple's Recently Deleted and Google's Trash. A photo that was truly deleted, rather than mis-filed, sits there until the clock runs out. If the album is empty and the checklist above found nothing, the photos have most likely been permanently deleted, and the honest next step is the deleted-photos how-to guide, which covers what still survives and where.^[3][1]

The how-to: recovering deleted photos, in the order that works

A factory reset is different: what happens to files then

Not sure which situation is yours? Guided help narrows it down