What happens to the stuff I delete on my iPad Air? I see no trashcan.... Is it really gone for good?
Hi - well, as the other posters stated, deletion is 'permanent', so important to have an iPad backed up in some fashion, e.g. iTunes (cabled or wireless), in the cloud, or on external storage devices (for those interested in the latter option, check this
THREAD).
Now, 'permanent' means that there indeed is no trashcan and iOS no longer 'sees' the data, BUT like w/ a HDD, flash storage on the iPad (similar to a computer's SSD as in my MBPro) simply marks the file(s) as no longer being 'recognized' by the pertinent app(s) - once this information is 'over-written' which may take a while, especially w/ flash memory, the data remains intact (look
HERE, if curious).
As w/ HDD, there is also 'data recovery software' for SSDs, including the iPad - just google 'iPad data recovery' - a professional service would be quite expensive (and always has been!) and DIY software not cheap but available. I've never used any of these programs (nor had a need - knock on wood, I guess), but if I had 'precious' data on the iPad and did not do a proper backup, then possibly a solution. I don't know how well these programs work but would be curious if any of our many members have some personal experience - may help others. Dave

P.S. not talking about a jailbroken device - probably another 'kettle of fish'.