How do I recover recently deleted music on Android?

Accidentally deleting music files is common issue for Android phone and tablet users. According to research, 70% of smartphones run on Android. With so many Android devices in use, the chances of mistakenly losing files like music increases.

Music files can go missing through a variety of ways – uninstalling music apps, performing factory resets, or deleting the wrong folders. Once deleted, many users assume their music files are permanently gone. However, this is not necessarily the case.

While less likely in the age of streaming music, local music libraries may contain sentimental or hard to replace files. The good news is there are still possibilities for recovering accidentally deleted music from Android devices. A number of techniques and apps that can help restore that missing music to your device.

Check the Trash Folder

When files are deleted on Android, they are often moved to a special Trash folder before being permanently erased. This trash folder acts as a temporary holding place for deleted files, giving you a chance to recover them. As explained here, accessing this trash folder can allow you to find and restore recently deleted music files.

To access the trash folder on your Android device, first install a file manager app like CX File Explorer or Solid Explorer. Open the app and look for a “Trash” or “Recycle Bin” option in the menu or sidebar. Tapping this should open the trash folder containing any recently deleted files.

Once in the trash folder, browse through the various folders and storage locations to find deleted music files. You may find them in folders like Music, Ringtones, Notifications, etc. Tap and hold on any recoverable files to pull up an option to “Restore”. Restoring the files will move them back to their original location.

However, keep in mind that the trash folder is only a temporary location. Any files left in there too long may eventually be deleted permanently as space is needed on your phone. So act quickly if you need to restore recently deleted music.

Use a File Recovery App

One of the easiest ways to try recovering recently deleted music files on Android is by using a file recovery app. These apps can scan the phone’s internal storage and memory card to find deleted files that may still be recoverable.

Some top file recovery apps for Android include:

• DiskDigger – Scans memory thoroughly and has a high recoverability rate for images, videos, documents, and more.
• DigDeep Image Recovery – Specializes in recovering photos, but can restore some documents and audio files too.

The key advantage of using a file recovery app is convenience – you can scan for deleted files and restore them without connecting your device to a computer. However, the apps may not find all deleted files, so trying multiple methods can be helpful.

Connect Phone to PC

Connecting your Android device to a computer allows you direct access to the phone’s storage, including deleted files. To do this:

1. Use a USB cable to connect your Android phone to a Windows or Mac computer.
2. On the computer, the phone may show up as an external drive or device. Open the phone’s folder to browse the contents.
3. Navigate to the folder where your music files are normally stored, such as Music or Ringtones. There may be a Trash or Recycle Bin folder here containing recently deleted files.
4. You can also use the computer’s search function to scan all of the phone’s storage for specific music file types, like .mp3. This may locate deleted music files.
5. Copy any recovered deleted music files to your computer for backup before disconnecting your phone.

Connecting the Android phone directly via USB gives you full access to search for and recover recently deleted files (Wondershare, 2023). But it doesn’t work if your music was stored primarily online or you’ve performed a factory reset.

Check Online Sync Accounts

Many people sync their music libraries to online accounts like Google Drive or OneDrive. If you had music synced, deleted files may be recoverable from these cloud storage services.

To check if your deleted music is available in Google Drive:

• Open the Google Drive app on your Android device
• Tap on the hamburger menu icon and select “Trash”
• Look for your deleted music files here. Tap and hold to select them.
• Tap “Restore” to move the files back to your Drive storage.

You can also visit drive.google.com/drive/trash in a web browser to check your Google Drive trash folder. Files remain here for 30 days before permanent deletion.

For other cloud services like Dropbox, OneDrive or iCloud, check their respective apps or websites for deleted file restore options. But act quick, as they also delete data after 30 days.

Use Device Backup

One way to recover deleted music files is to restore them from a backup of your Android device. Many Android devices have a built-in backup option through Google services that saves data like photos, music, and app data to your Google Drive storage. Google Account.

You can restore music files from a Google backup by following these steps:

1. Open the Google Drive app on your Android device and tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
2. Tap “Backups” and select your device name.
3. Tap “Restore” and follow the instructions to restore your device backup. This will restore all deleted music files along with your other data. [1]

Alternatively, if your deleted music files were synced to a cloud service like Google Play Music or YouTube Music, you could reinstall the app and sign in to restore the music from the cloud. Simply reinstalling the app should resync the music files from the cloud service.

Reinstall the App

One solution that may restore your deleted music files is to reinstall the app that was used to play the music. According to Google Play Help, “Reinstalling an app can sometimes restore data that gets deleted when you uninstall an app.”

When you uninstall an app like a music player or streaming service, some associated files may get deleted as well. By reinstalling the app, there is a chance the music files will be restored from a cache or backup. However, success is not guaranteed.

To reinstall an app on Android:

1. Open the Google Play Store app
2. Tap the profile icon in the top right
3. Select “Manage apps & devices”
4. Under “Library”, find the app you want to reinstall
5. Tap “Install” to redownload the app and associated components

After the app finishes installing, check if your deleted music files are now available. This method works best if the files were deleted recently.

Factory Reset the Phone

Another option to recover recently deleted music is to factory reset the Android device. A factory reset wipes all data and settings and resets the device to its default configuration.

However, it’s important to exercise caution with this method. A factory reset will permanently delete all existing data and content on the device. So if you have other files or data you want to keep, it is best to try other data recovery methods first before resorting to a full reset.

In some cases, a factory reset can restore deleted files and data. This happens because while the reset deletes all user-generated data, it may not fully overwrite areas of internal storage where deleted files reside. So remnants of recently erased music files may surface again after the process completes.

However, there is no guarantee this method will recover the specific tracks you lost. The results tend to be random and incomplete. So a factory reset should only be tried if all other options have been exhausted and you have no need to preserve any data currently on your device.

Use Data Recovery Software

As a last resort, you can use professional data recovery software designed for Android. This specialized software scans the phone’s storage at a low level to find traces of deleted files and attempt to reconstruct them.

While free data recovery apps are limited in capabilities, commercial software like MiniTool Mobile Recovery and Recoverit offer more advanced recovery features to resurrect deleted music. Just connect your Android phone to a Windows PC, launch the recovery tool, and scan for lost media.

However, data recovery software tends to be expensive and results vary. Treat this as a last option before resetting your device. Also, don’t install or save new data after deletion as it may overwrite your erased music.

Prevent Future Music Loss

The best way to prevent losing music again in the future is to regularly back up your files and music libraries.

Consider setting up a weekly or monthly routine to copy your music files to a computer, external hard drive, or cloud storage service. Popular options for backing up Android files include services like Google Drive and Dropbox which offer free storage space. Just make sure to enable the option to automatically upload photos and videos from your device.

You should also check the settings in any apps or cloud accounts that store your music. Look for auto-delete options and disable those to prevent files from being removed without your knowledge. For example, streaming services like Spotify allow you to download songs for offline playback but may automatically remove older downloads after a certain time period or when storage space runs low.

Setting reminders to consistently back up your latest music can go a long way toward avoiding situations where files suddenly disappear from your device without an obvious cause or solution.