After a pet dies, their photos suddenly become some of the most precious files you own. They are also often the most scattered: a few thousand on your phone, more on a partner's phone, some in an old laptop, a video your sister took at Christmas, and a cloud account you have not opened in years.

This guide walks through saving them in a safe order. The short version: copy first, sort later, delete nothing for now. You can do the first step today in about half an hour and leave the rest for another week.

Step 1: Do not delete anything yet

When you are scrolling through photos in the first days, it is tempting to clear out blurry shots or duplicates. Wait. A blurry photo may be the only one of them asleep in a particular spot, and a ten-second video of nothing in particular may be the only recording of their bark.

If your phone or cloud service is nearly full and asking you to free up space, move files to another place rather than deleting them.

Step 2: Make a list of everywhere they might be

Write a quick list before you start copying. Most people find more places than they expected:

  • Your phone's camera roll, including hidden albums, screenshots and Live Photos (which include a few seconds of sound).
  • Cloud photo libraries, such as iCloud Photos or Google Photos, including older accounts.
  • Other phones in the household, including old phones in a drawer.
  • Computers and external drives, especially for pets who lived with you for ten years or more.
  • Messaging apps. Photos and videos you sent to family chats are often there even if you deleted them from your phone.
  • Social media, including posts, stories and photos other people tagged you in.
  • Other people: family, friends, pet sitters, groomers, daycare and the rescue or breeder they came from. Many have photos you have never seen.
  • Video and voice: doorbell and pet camera clips, voicemails, voice notes and videos where you can hear them in the background.

Step 3: Copy the original files into one folder

Make one folder on a computer or drive and name it clearly, for example Max photos and videos. Copy everything into it before you sort.

A few things to watch for:

  • Get the full files, not previews. Some phones keep only small previews when storage is low and download the original from the cloud when you open it. Check that videos actually play and photos open at full size in the new folder.
  • Download your data from accounts you rarely use. Most services offer an export: for example, Google Takeout for Google Photos, and "Download your information" in the settings of Facebook and Instagram. Exports can take hours or days to arrive, so start them early.
  • Save videos with sound. Recordings of their bark, purr or footsteps are often the files people are most glad to have later. Keep the original video file, not just a screenshot from it.
  • Save voicemails and voice notes to a file if your phone allows it, rather than relying on the app to keep them.

Step 4: Ask other people to send theirs

Most people are happy to help and simply do not know they have something you want. A short message works:

I'm putting together all the photos and videos of Max. If you have any, even blurry ones or short clips, could you send them to me? Originals are best if you can.

Ask them to send the original files, through a shared album, a file transfer or email, rather than screenshots or forwarded messages, which can shrink the quality. Some will reply weeks later. That is fine; add them to the folder when they arrive.

Step 5: Make a second copy somewhere else

One folder is still one place. The Library of Congress advice on keeping personal digital photos is to make at least two copies and keep them in different places, as far apart as practical.

In practice that might be:

  • one copy on your computer and one on an external drive kept somewhere else, or
  • one copy on an external drive and one in a cloud storage account you pay attention to.

An album inside the same cloud account is not a separate copy. If that account is lost, the album goes with it.

Step 6: Check that the copies work

A finished progress bar does not prove every file is usable. Open a few files from each copy: a recent photo, an old photo, and a long video. If they open and play, write down where each copy lives and the date you checked. Put a reminder in your calendar to check again in a year.

Step 7: Sort, slowly, when you are ready

Only once your copies are safe should you start choosing favorites. It can take weeks, and it is often emotional work, so it helps to do it in short sessions.

Some ideas that make it easier:

  • Make a small "favorites" folder rather than deleting the rest.
  • Rename a handful of files with a short note, such as 2019-06 first beach trip.jpg, so the story stays with the photo.
  • Pick one photo from each year of their life.
  • Write one sentence about each favorite while you still remember the details.

Before you share photos publicly

Photos taken on phones can include the location where they were taken, which may be your home. Before posting widely, check your sharing settings or remove location data. Also look for things you might not want to share: your address on a parcel, a car registration, or a phone number on an ID tag.

Where to put the favorites

Once you have chosen a few favorites, you may want somewhere to share them with the people who loved your pet too. An Everlit Pets memorial page lets you add photos and their story in one place and send a single link to family and friends; location data is removed from photos when you upload. It is a place to share and remember, not a backup, so keep your own two copies as well.