Ways to Retrieve Deleted Videos from iPad With & Without Backup

When the Apple iPad first came out back in 2012, it wasn’t meant to be just a personal tablet, but a piece of personal tech that was designed for everyone. Whether you use the iPad as your virtual sous chef in the kitchen to help you with the latest recipes, or bought the iPad as a convenient way for your elderly parents to navigate the web – the uses of the iPad are limitless.

The combination of a high-quality camera, along with the sharp Retina HD display on the iPad and iPad Pro, makes it ideal for capturing memories too. Your iPad can be the perfect device to host a library of personal videos, some of which are too precious to ever be lost. However, you always have to expect the unexpected when it comes down to digital memories, some of which may inadvertently be deleted at times.

If you ended up trying to spring clean your iPad, and ended up deleting important videos instead, nothing could be worst. However, don’t lose all hope just yet, as there are a few tricks you can pull off to reclaim those essential videos from the trash void.

Recover deleted videos on iPad without any backup

The most common scenario when trying to recover lost videos or other data on the iPad happens when you’ve been attempting the native ways to retrieve it, without any luck. We start off the guide with a third-party solution from iMyFone D-Back to effortlessly recover deleted videos and other media in an instant.

iMyFone D-Back recovery tool is not a magic wand, nor is it a tool to bypass the iPadOS system, and entirely safe for use. Simply put, D-Back is a third-party Apple iTunes that is focused on data protection and recovery, without any bells and whistles to keep things simple for the end-user.

To get started with recovering your deleted videos with D-Back, here’s what you need to do:

1. Download and install the iMyFone D-Back app for Windows and Mac systems (Download Link).
2. If you’re using the recovery tool for the first time and not sure how to retrieve the deleted videos, start off by selecting the Smart Recovery option on the sidebar.
3. From the next screen, select “Lost or deleted data by accident” and continue.
4. You will be asked to connect your iPad to the computer with a USB cable.
5. Once your iPad is recognized by the D-Back tool, press Next to continue.
6. From the list of available data you can recover, select Video or App Video on the screen and press the Scan button.
7. The recovery tool will begin scanning the iPad, and after a few moments, display all of the deleted videos on a single screen.
8. To reclaim these lost videos, select the videos and press the Recover button.
9. Choose the location on your computer where you want to save these videos, and wait as they’re recovered.

Apart from being able to quickly reclaim your deleted videos with D-Back Smart Recovery mode, you also have the ability to recover from iCloud Backup and recover from iTunes Backup too. All of these factors make iMyFone D-Back the perfect third-party solution that works with the iPadOS and secures your data.

Recover deleted videos on iPad via iTunes backup

Before the wonder of cloud storage came along, backing up your iPhone and iPad involved the extensive use of iTunes. Although iCloud Backup has made iTunes obsolete to an extent, many among us still feel the need to create physical backups on the computer. If you end up deleting an essential video on your iPad, but habitually create backups on your computer with iTunes, the exercise will finally come in handy.

1. On the system running macOS Catalina 10.15 or newer, open the Finder window. On a Mac system with macOS Mojave 10.14 or older, or on a Windows PC, launch iTunes.
2. Connect the iPad to the computer with the help of a USB cable. You may be asked to enter the device passcode or “Trust this Computer” on the iPad screen.
3. Select the iPad on the iTunes screen and click on the Restore Backup button.
4. From the pop-up window, you will be able to browse through the available backup files, so make you select the most recent one.
5. Press the Restore button to begin the process, and wait as it is completed.
6. The iPad may ask you to enter the security passcode again, and will reboot before being restored to the previously backed up version.

The only reason we don’t wholly approve of this method, is because it forces you to return the iPad to the state when the backup was made. This essentially means, you will end up losing all of the content that was excluded from the version of the backup file saved on iTunes.

Hence, we recommend D-Back recovery tool at the top of the list, since it allows you to manually view the contents of an iTunes backup, without restoring everything.

Recover deleted videos from iPad with iCloud backup

Ever since Apple introduced iCloud with iOS 7 years ago, it changed the game for data storage and backups. Keeping your iPad storage light, while still giving you easy access to files online is what iCloud does best. But it is also the most seamless way to backup content wirelessly.

As long as you have iCloud Backup turned on from the Settings, you can rest assured that your deleted videos will most probably be safe on the iCloud server. However, similar to iTunes, you can’t individually restore files from an iCloud backup, which means you will need to restore the backup entirely (and factory reset the iPad first).

1. You will first need to reset the iPhone by heading to Settings – General – Reset – Erase All Content and Settings.
2. Once the reset is completed and the iPad boots up, select Restore from iCloud Backup on the Apps & Data screen.
3. Log in with your Apple ID and password, and choose to Restore from iCloud Backup when you’re prompted to.

Remember, iCloud will only restore the photos and videos which are synced with it before you accidentally deleted them. If you don’t want to factory reset your iPad just to find out the videos synced with iCloud, there is a way around this.

Apple also lets you use a web browser to access the web version of iCloud and view the content synced with your account:

1. Open a web browser on your computer and visit Apple iCloud web client.
2. Log into your account with the Apple ID and password.
3. Click on the Photos icon from the main screen.
4. On the sidebar, navigate to Albums – Media Types and then select Videosfrom the drop-down menu.
5. All of the videos synced with iCloud will be displayed in a grid here.

Bonus: recover videos on iPad from the recently deleted section

Released with the iOS 8 and newer versions, Apple introduced a lightweight version of the Recycle Bin for iPhone and iPad in the form of the “Recently Deleted” section. To see if the precious videos that you deleted are somehow bagged by this recovery feature, here’s what you need to do:

1. Launch the Photos app on your iPad.
2. Open the Albums section and select Recently Deleted under Other Albums.
3. Select the images or videos you want to take out of the deleted bin and press the Recover button.

Conclusion

It wouldn’t be the first time you’re looking to recover important media files that you lost accidentally, or deleted without actually knowing what you’re deleting. But it could certainly be the last time you ever have to worry about losing precious media, as long as you stick to the guide above. If you are looking for a way to clean out the trash the safe and easy way, without losing your videos in the process, we have a guide dedicated to you.

More: How to Empty Trash on iPad – An In-Depth Guide

The reason we recommend you to pick the third-party solution of iMyFone D-Back app above the rest, is because the features it offers. It allows you to Recover from iTunes Backup previously saved on your computer, along with the option to Recover from iCloud Backup, which saves you the time you would otherwise spend filtering through the iCloud backup online.

FAQs

How long are files stored in the Recently Deleted folder?

The media files you delete from the Photos app are usually stored here for around 30 days, from where you can recover them. However, after 30 days, the files are permanently deleted from the iPad.

Can I recover deleted media I purchased from iTunes?

Apple not only allows you to redownload the apps, books, and music you have purchased with your Apple ID, but also lets you re-download movies and TV show videos. All you need to do is sign into the iTunes Store, click on the Purchases and press the Cloud icon under the video files to download them again. Moreover, if you have Family Sharing enabled, you can download items and media files purchased by other members of your family.

How do I recover iPad videos without a backup?

If you are like a majority of iPad users who don’t physically back up their devices with iTunes, iCloud is your default option, which backs up data automatically. However, if you did not have iCloud Backup turned on, the video files you deleted, may not have synced online. Hence, we recommend using 3rd-party desktop iPad data recovery tool, which offers multiple ways to get back your precious video files.