Is there any possible way to recover permanently deleted photos?

I am actually fuming right now. I was just trying to clear out some useless screenshots, but my phone lagged for a second, and my thumb literally had a mind of its own—I hit "Select All" and "Delete Permanently" before I even realized what was happening.

By the time I processed it and checked the trash bin, it was completely empty. My heart seriously skipped a beat. I just sat there frozen. Three years of memories, random life updates, and a bunch of travel videos I hadn’t even synced yet... I felt like a total idiot.

I spent hours scouring the internet for a fix and tried a few "trash" apps that did absolutely nothing. As a last-ditch effort, I tried DroidKit. Honestly, I was skeptical because I’m usually not the type to pay for software, but they had this "Deep Recovery" mode that supposedly scans raw data from the storage. I held my breath the whole time it was scanning.

It wasn't a magic 100% fix, and it took forever, but it actually worked. I managed to claw back about 90% of my library. A few files were corrupted, but I got the important ones. I’m so relieved I could cry, though my wallet is a bit lighter now.I am never putting myself through this stress again. It was a total nightmare.

That being said, how do you guys handle your backups? Besides the usual Google Photos sync (which clearly failed me here), does anyone have a "bulletproof" setup? I'm officially traumatized and need a better plan! 🙏