Having photos end up in Facebook’s recycle bin can be annoying and concerning, especially if they are photos you wanted to keep. The good news is that Facebook stores deleted photos in its recycle bin for a period of time before permanently deleting them, so you have a chance to recover and save photos before they are gone forever.
What is the Facebook recycle bin?
The Facebook recycle bin is a place where deleted photos, videos, posts, and other content goes before being permanently erased. When you delete something on Facebook, it gets stored in the recycle bin for 30 days before being deleted forever. This gives you a grace period to restore anything you may have accidentally or intentionally deleted.
Why does Facebook have a recycle bin?
The recycle bin exists to help prevent permanent deletion of content you wanted to keep. We all accidentally delete things from time to time, so the recycle bin acts as a safety net, catching any mistaken deletions and giving you a chance to undo them.
Facebook doesn’t want users to permanently lose special photos, videos, posts, and other memories if they can help it. The recycle bin protects your content from being erased right away in case of accidents or second thoughts.
What gets stored in the recycle bin?
The Facebook recycle bin stores any photos, videos, posts, or other content that you’ve deleted from your Facebook account. This includes:
- Deleted photos and videos
- Deleted posts and status updates
- Deleted Facebook stories
- Deleted comments
- Deleted reactions
- Deleted marketplace listings
Almost anything you remove from your Facebook account gets stored in the recycle bin folder for 30 days. The only exception is deleted messages, which don’t go to the recycle bin at all.
How to view and recover deleted Facebook photos from the recycle bin
If you find some treasured photos are missing from your Facebook account, they may have been accidentally deleted and stored in the recycle bin. Here is how to access the recycle bin and recover deleted Facebook photos:
Step 1: Go to the recycle bin page
To view your Facebook recycle bin, visit the recycle bin page at facebook.com/recycle_bin while logged into your Facebook account. This page shows all deleted content stored in your recycle bin.
Step 2: Search for and select the deleted photos
Once on the recycle bin page, you can browse and search for the deleted photos you want to recover. Check through the list of deleted content and tick the checkbox next to any photos you want to restore.
Step 3: Restore the photos
After selecting the photos, click on the “Restore” button to move them back to your account. The photos should now be recovered and visible again in your account.
Step 4: Confirm the photos are restored
To make sure the photos are back in your account, go to your profile, timeline, or photos page and verify the recovered images are there. If not, return to the recycle bin and try the restore process again.
What happens when photos are permanently deleted from the recycle bin?
Photos and other content stored in the Facebook recycle bin will only remain there for 30 days. After that point, any items still in the recycle bin are permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered.
Why does Facebook permanently delete recycle bin items after 30 days?
Keeping data like photos and posts in a recycle bin indefinitely would take up large amounts of storage space on Facebook’s servers. To limit this storage demand, there has to be a cutoff time for permanent deletion.
30 days provides a reasonable grace period for users to notice and recover any important deleted content before it goes away forever. But it doesn’t allow storing that data in the recycle bin perpetually.
What exactly happens when the 30 days are up?
When a photo, video, post or other content has been in the Facebook recycle bin for 30 days, the following happens:
- It is completely removed from Facebook’s servers
- No copies are stored anywhere on Facebook or associated apps like Instagram
- It cannot be recovered or restored by any means
So if you want to reclaim anything deleted from your account, be sure to check the recycle bin and restore it within 30 days. Otherwise, it will be permanently erased.
Tips for recovering deleted Facebook photos from recycle bin
To successfully recover photos from the Facebook recycle bin, follow these tips:
Check the recycle bin regularly
Make it a habit to check your Facebook recycle bin at least once a week. This will prevent any important deleted photos from sitting there too long before permanent removal.
Look soon after major deletions
If you know you just deleted a bunch of photos, check the recycle bin immediately in case they were removed by accident.
Search thoroughly
Carefully look through all the items in your recycle bin when searching for deleted photos. Sorting by date can help find recent deletions.
Restore in batches
If recovering many photos, restore them in batches of 50. Restoring too many at once can overload the system.
Double check restores
After restoring photos from the recycle bin, verify they are actually back in your account before that 30-day window closes.
Can you recover photos after 30 days?
Unfortunately, there is no way to recover permanently deleted photos from Facebook after they have been erased from the recycle bin. After 30 days, the photos are gone for good.
Why can’t you recover photos after 30 days?
When the 30 day period expires, the photos are completely wiped from Facebook’s servers. There are no backups or copies stored anywhere that could be used to restore them.
Facebook likely takes measures to prevent recovering data like photos after this deletion deadline. So there is no technical way around the limit.
Are any third party solutions able to recover old photos?
Some shady software claims it can recover deleted Facebook photos and data even after 30 days. But in reality, this is essentially impossible. Once permanently erased by Facebook, photos can’t be obtained again through any normal means.
Don’t waste money on software that promises otherwise – there is no method to reliably recover permanently deleted Facebook photos.
How can I download photos to avoid losing them?
To make sure you have copies of your Facebook photos and never permanently lose them, download your photos regularly.
Download photos to your computer
Facebook allows you to download your photos to store on your computer. This gives you an offline backup in case of deletion.
On your Facebook profile, go to Photos > Albums > Select an album > Options > Download.
Use third party apps to save photos
Services like Backupify and SaveMyPictures can automatically backup your Facebook photos online or to external storage. This prevents loss from accidental deletion.
Print out special photos
For extra important photos like weddings, graduations, etc., print some copies to have physical photo backups protected from digital deletion.
Share photos to other services
Upload or share your Facebook photos to sites like Google Photos, Dropbox or Shutterfly. Having them on other services protects against losing them on Facebook.
Sync Facebook photos to your phone
Connect your Facebook account to your smartphone and enable photo syncing. Having the photos on your mobile device creates another backup.
How can I avoid photos being deleted in the future?
Practice these habits to avoid mistakenly deleting important Facebook photos in the future:
Be careful when bulk selecting photos
When selecting multiple photos to move or delete at once, double check you didn’t accidentally include any you want to keep.
Watch for stray clicks when on mobile
It’s easy to tap the wrong photo on a small screen. Zoom in when managing photos on your phone to avoid mishaps.
Disable automatic photo cleanup
Turn off Facebook’s facial recognition based cleanup tool if you don’t want old untagged photos being flagged for removal.
Favor archive over delete
Archive unused photos you may want later rather than deleting. Archived items won’t end up in the recycle bin.
Create albums for special events
Organize important photos into albums so they aren’t mixed in with ones you may delete.
| Mistake | Prevention Tips |
|---|---|
| Accidental bulk deletion | Double check selections before deleting |
| Errant taps on mobile | Zoom in on phone screen when managing photos |
| Auto cleanup tool deletes photos you want | Disable Facebook’s facial recognition photo cleanup |
| Deleting by mistake when meaning to archive | Use archive feature instead of delete for photos you may want later |
| Special photos mixed with ones you delete | Put important photos in separate albums |
What to do if you can’t recover deleted Facebook photos
If you’ve missed the 30 day window and can no longer recover deleted Facebook photos from the recycle bin, there are still a few things you can try:
Ask friends if they have any copies
Friends who you were tagged in photos with or who liked/commented on posts may have copies saved that they could send you.
Check archives and backups
Look for any external backups, downloads, or archives of your Facebook photos you may have forgotten about.
See if you posted them anywhere else
You may have also shared the deleted photos on other social sites where they still exist.
Accept the loss
If all else fails, remember photos are memories that live on regardless of physical copies. Accept the loss and consider printing out more photos in the future.
Conclusion
Regaining deleted Facebook photos from the recycle bin is possible if you act within 30 days. Use the restore function to move photos back to your account. Set reminders to check the recycle bin weekly so you have time to recover anything you want to keep.
Once the 30 day window ends, deleted photos are permanently gone. Make sure to backup and download your favorite shots. Enabling downloads and offline backups can protect irreplaceable photos if they ever get removed from Facebook.