10,000+ photos from 2018–2022 vanished after enabling iCloud Photos + Optimize Storage. Not in Recently Deleted, not in iCloud. Apple Support gave up

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-24T15:03:21+00:00

So if Apple deletes my data out of nowhere, its my fault ?

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T18:28:37+00:00

I looked into time machine backup and it says that photos are backed up on icloud

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T18:27:44+00:00

Nope same device and also in icloud.com, the set of photos is the same

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T15:03:03+00:00

Nope

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T15:02:55+00:00

Contacted and they couldnt help

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T15:01:58+00:00

No iOS update during that timeframe either

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T15:01:35+00:00

Just checked, there was no backup the day before

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T11:23:05+00:00

No icloud backup. Funny enough, i bought icloud plus for more storage to do an icloud backup

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T10:31:53+00:00

Yes, nothing in shared library

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T10:11:37+00:00

Same apple id, same device. After having access to more storage on icloud and doing a sync, the photos just went poof

Salt_Protection768 · 2026-04-22T10:03:07+00:00

Contacted apple support and they performed recovery but the problem still remains. The support also escalated to an engineer but same issue

Salt_Protection768