Where Deleted Photos Actually Go

Maybe you have deleted a photo, like an old selfie or a blurry photo. It feels good to clear your huge library of photos, and just thinking, okay, that's gone. But that raises the question, where did that photo go? Is it really gone, or does the phone just make it disappear from your view? I have thought this before, and you have probably too, so let’s get into it.

If you deleted something and wanted it back, you may have found there is a recently deleted folder that stores deleted photos up to 30-60 days before permanently deleting them. It is meant to help when people accidentally delete something, but it does mean that deleted photos still exist for weeks. It is kind of creepy to have a photo you deleted around for about a month!

There are also cloud providers like iCloud, Google Photos, and OneDrive that automatically back up most pictures without users realizing. Even after deleting them locally, they can remain stored in cloud backups or synced on other devices. Many users will often forget to remove them from both the phone and the cloud, too. It usually feels good to know that your photos are backed up, but it is a little weird when you delete them, and they could still exist online!

Now we need to get a little more technical. When you delete a photo, your phone actually doesn’t delete it; it simply marks the space as reusable. The file remains in the memory until new data comes and overrides it. According to How-To-Geek, deleting a file doesn’t remove it immediately; your operating system just marks the space as free, but the file still exists until new data replaces it. So, does this change how you think about the delete button, because it totally does for me. It is basically hiding the photo rather than deleting it.

That’s probably why you might have seen recovery apps and forensic tools that can bring back deleted photos, texts, and files easily. That’s how police or investigators can retrieve data from phones. That means that what you probably think is actually gone might still be accessible to someone else. I think we should be better at determining whether we actually want to delete a file or keep it, so we don’t have to have apps like these.

There are also some privacy concerns with deleted photos, because we all have to trust tech companies that store multiple backups or copies of deleted stuff. The hard thing is that when something enters the internet now, it’s basically impossible to erase it permanently. I do trust companies like Apple to keep my data safe with all their “Not even accessibility to Apple” sentence that they use a lot, but what happens if something like a data leak or hacking happens?

Other apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messages also create copies on other servers. Even deleting them later sometimes won’t completely remove those copied versions. This shows that data duplication is basically built into how the internet works! But maybe it’s just a part of modern life, and how easy it is to share things with others. But still, this kind of makes me rethink how I share stuff, and does it make you rethink it too?

You may not have seen this, but these rules are actually in the Terms of Service of these apps. But mostly nobody reads them, so that’s why you’ve probably never heard of this. They usually have a very vague line like: “data may be retained for a reasonable period.” This type of wording makes it hard for people to understand what it actually means. I have tried to read the Terms of Service page, but it has so much vague wording and weird sentences. So that makes me ask this question: Should companies make their Terms of Service and other documents simpler and easier to read?

The delete button gives a sense of power and control. But it’s actually like throwing away something in a trash can that never gets emptied. It is basically more about the feeling of cleanliness than actually throwing away things. Do you think the delete button is more about how we feel than what it actually does?

There are also steps you can do yourself, like turning off automatic cloud backups if you want control, using secure erase apps that override the files, and lastly, think twice before uploading or sharing photos. Total privacy is almost impossible in today’s connected world. So make sure to think before doing things. Deleting photos feels like you are actually deleting something, but your devices also remember everything, even the things you wish they didn’t. Deleting things in the year 2025 has a very different meaning than what a lot of people think it is. I believe learning all of this will make me rethink what the delete button actually is.

After reading this, do you think your deleted photos are ever really gone? Should companies make it easier to permanently erase data? Let us know in the comments!

Source: How To Geek Image:Squarespace