photo recovery

We understand the importance of being able to recover old photos, @nobrats12. 

Your options may be limited since your screen doesn't work, but you're not out of luck!

Our first suggestion would be to remove the SIM card and insert it into a compatible working device or an SD card reader. Then, transfer the info from the SIM card to a computer. 

If you backed up your data on a cloud, like AT&T's Personal Cloud, then follow the steps listed below to restore your photos: 

1. Open the AT&T Personal Cloud app.
2. Tap the menu (3 lines), then choose Settings.
3. Choose Tools, then Content Restore.
4. Tap the Photo category to restore. 
5. Select Restore.

Google Cloud also allows you to restore backed up content: 

1. Turn on your new device.
2. Tap Start.
3. To set up your device without an old device, follow the prompts.
4. When prompted, sign in with your Google Account.

Important: Since you're unable to access the information on your old device, you need to know your Google Account and password to restore data. Google provides sign-in help if needed. 

If you're transferring the data over to a new Samsung device, then Smart Switch may be another option available for you. Smart Switch allows you to make a device-to-device connection wirelessly or with the USB-OTG adapter provided in-box, or use a backup file from external storage.

For more information, check out our article on how to transfer content between devices. 

Thanks for visiting our Community Forums! We're here if you have any additional questions. 

Sydne, AT&T Community Specialist

You can disregard ATTHelp’s first suggestion. There is nothing on your SIM card to transfer, perhaps they meant SD card. In any event, if you have an SD card and photos are saved there, just remove the SD card. You can recover directly from the SD card. If photos are saved to the phone’s internal storage, try connecting the phone to a computer. Even with a black screen, if the phone powers on, you should be able to access that internal storage.

If you have backed them up to cloud storage, recover from the backup files is the easiest way. If not, try broken Samsung data recovery program, it has method to detect the internal storage of your device.