AnyRecover Review: How Well Does It Recover Your Data?

We continue our series of reviews dedicated to data recovery software – the kind of tools that often become a last resort when there are no backups left and files seem gone for good. Until now, we’ve mostly focused on the heavyweights of the market: Disk Drill, Stellar Data Recovery, and R-Studio. These are the names that come up most often in community discussions and appear at the top of Google search results for “best data recovery software.”

This time we stepped away from the usual big names and picked something less talked about – AnyRecover. It’s not as recognizable as its popular rivals, which actually made us more curious to see what it can really do. After all, marketing reach and recovery performance rarely go hand in hand. According to the official website, AnyRecover boasts more than 72 million installations and a large collection of positive user reviews across different platforms. We might have taken that at face value if we hadn’t already analyzed similar claims from more established brands. It’s hard to believe that a program rarely seen in Google results could have that kind of global footprint.

💬 So, we start our AnyRecover review with a mix of doubt and curiosity. Instead of trusting the shiny stats on its website, we wanted to see how it actually performs in real recovery tests.

Quick Overview of AnyRecover

Before start our detailed AnyRecover data recovery software review, we’d like to give a short summary for readers who just want the key facts and might skip the full post.

AnyRecover is a data recovery tool aimed at handling common recovery scenarios and basic file types. It works with a wide range of devices (from internal system drives and external disks to SD cards, as well as Android and iPhone devices). According to its website, the software can also repair corrupted files, including Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and other formats. However, during our testing, those repair functions didn’t seem to work as described.

The free version of AnyRecover lets you scan your device and preview found files, but to actually restore data, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version. The company offers both subscription-based and lifetime licenses, often with promotional discounts. So, if you’re ready to pay for recovery software, you’ll likely find a plan that fits. But if you’re looking for a truly free solution, this one isn’t it.

From what we’ve seen, many of the claims made on the developer’s website don’t match real performance. Most of them look more like marketing statements than actual capabilities. In reality, AnyRecover handles only basic recovery tasks, restoring standard file types like PNG, MP4, or audio files. For the price it asks, there are stronger competitors out there, and even some tools that deliver better results for free.

Technical Details About AnyRecover

AnyRecover is developed by iMyFone Technology Co., Ltd., a software company founded in 2015 and based in Shenzhen, China. Over the past few years, the brand has released a wide range of utilities focused on file recovery, repair, and device management for both Windows and macOS users.

The main version of AnyRecover runs on Windows (7, 8, 10, 11) and macOS, offering general-purpose data recovery across system drives, external disks, SD cards, USB flash drives, and mobile devices. Interestingly, the company also promotes several separate recovery programs, for example, AnyRecover SD Card Recovery and AnyRecover Hard Drive Recovery. Their functionality appears to overlap with the main edition, which already supports these types of media. The reason for separating them into different paid products isn’t entirely clear. In addition, the developer offers several standalone utilities: Video, Photo, File Repair & Enhancement Tool, Video Repair, File Repair, etc. All of these are marketed as companion tools for fixing damaged or partially recovered files. However, each requires a separate purchase or subscription.

Our AnyRecover for Windows review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the theoretical aspects highlighted on the official site (the promises that define user expectations before installation). By outlining what the developers claim versus what we actually observe in testing, we can form a more objective picture of the program’s real abilities. And to give a small spoiler, those claims don’t match the real recovery results, unfortunately.

Platform, File System, and File Type Support

AnyRecover is available for both Windows and macOS, though the Windows version receives updates more frequently and includes a few features not yet mirrored on macOS. There’s no support for Linux systems, which limits its use in professional or mixed-platform environments.

When it comes to file system compatibility, the program claims to support all major formats: NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, and APFS. In practice, our tests confirmed that drives using these structures are recognized and scanned correctly, but recovery success varies depending on file fragmentation and disk condition. The developer’s website also lists additional support for RAW partitions and unallocated space, allowing the program to detect recoverable files even when the partition table is lost.

In terms of file type coverage, AnyRecover presents a broad claim: the software can restore over 1000 formats, including documents, photos, videos, archives, emails, and audio files. However, there’s no detailed master list of these formats. Based on our own testing, the program handles common extensions like JPEG, PNG, MP4, MP3, WAV, DOCX, XLSX, and ZIP with reasonable accuracy, but struggles with less typical or proprietary formats.

Overall, AnyRecover offers a decent range of system and file support for everyday recovery tasks, but it’s not ideal for complex or professional use cases where metadata, directory structure, and file integrity are crucial.

Supported Devices and Recovery Capabilities

According to the official website, AnyRecover supports a wide range of devices: internal hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, memory cards, cameras, and even mobile phones. In reality, its functionality depends on whether the operating system can recognize the device as a standard storage volume. If the drive mounts and appears in the system, AnyRecover can scan it. If it connects through MTP mode (as most Android devices do), the program won’t detect it.

The developer promotes additional scan modes such as Search in Recycle Bin, Scan Desktop, or Select a Folder. In practice, these options don’t work as described. No recovery software can truly limit a deep scan to a specific folder because deleted data fragments can be stored anywhere on the disk. These presets only filter results by file path after the full scan completes, which means the feature is more of a marketing shortcut than an actual technical function.

When it comes to mobile recovery, AnyRecover includes separate modules for Android and iOS. These components are marketed as part of the same family of products, but in practice, they function as standalone applications that must be installed separately. The iOS version connects via iTunes backups, while the Android version relies on system permissions, limiting recovery from a locked or damaged phone.

Overall, the program performs adequately when dealing with accessible storage devices, such as USB drives, SD cards, or secondary partitions, but its handling of damaged, encrypted, or system-level media remains inconsistent. For those cases, its recovery range is narrower than that of professional tools like Disk Drill or R-Studio.

Key Features

The main function of AnyRecover is, of course, data recovery. The program is designed to restore deleted or lost files from a wide range of devices, including internal drives, external hard disks, USB flash drives, and memory cards. It can handle typical data loss scenarios such as accidental deletion, formatting, partition loss, or corruption, offering both quick and deep scan modes.

One feature that stands out is the ability to create a bootable USB flash drive to recover data from a computer that no longer starts. This tool allows you to boot into a lightweight recovery environment without loading the operating system, making it possible to access the internal drive and extract files safely before reinstalling Windows.

Beyond that, AnyRecover doesn’t include many of the advanced utilities found in competing recovery suites. There’s no option to create a byte-to-byte backup of a disk (a key function for safely working with unstable or physically damaged drives). You also won’t find S.M.A.R.T. data monitoring, hexadecimal viewing, or a built-in sector editor, which are often available in professional-grade tools.

User Interface

At first glance, AnyRecover looks impressive. The interface is modern, clean, and visually appealing, especially when compared to older, utilitarian tools like R-Studio, where the difference in design feels immediate. The layout is intuitive, and the entire recovery process is guided step by step, making it easy even for first-time users to understand what to do.

When you launch the program for the first time, it offers short on-screen hints explaining each step of the workflow. In practice, all the user needs to do is select the drive or location to scan and start the process. There are no confusing menus or unnecessary configuration screens, which makes the experience straightforward and beginner-friendly.

That said, the performance isn’t always as smooth as the interface suggests. When connecting external devices (whether a USB stick, memory card, or external HDD), the program often takes several minutes to recognize them. This delay can be frustrating, especially if you frequently switch between drives.

Another weak point we noticed is how the software handles unexpected disconnections. If a drive being scanned is accidentally unplugged (for example, by bumping the cable), the scan immediately stops and cannot be resumed once the device is reconnected. The only option is to restart the scan from the beginning. While this isn’t a major issue for small USB drives, it becomes a serious inconvenience when working with multi-terabyte hard drives or SSDs, as a single interruption can mean losing hours of scanning progress.

Pricing and Editions

Like most of the tools we review, AnyRecover is a commercial product. It offers several license types depending on how long you plan to use it and on how many computers. The pricing structure is fairly standard: there’s a free trial, a 1-month plan, a 1-year plan, a lifetime license, and a Business license for corporate use.

The free trial allows scanning and previewing lost data but doesn’t actually let you recover files (it serves only to show what the program can find). Paid versions differ mainly in duration and cost, while the recovery functionality itself remains the same across editions.

The prices shown above reflect the standard rates listed on the developer’s website, without any promotional reductions. In practice, the site frequently offers discounts and bundle deals, where you can save anywhere from $20 to $200, depending on the selected license type.

Customer Support

AnyRecover provides user assistance through two main channels: an online contact form and email support. There’s no direct phone line, and live chat isn’t available. The response time through email was about one working day, and the reply addressed basic activation and installation questions accurately, though in a rather template-like manner. For more technical inquiries, such as recovery errors or failed scans, the responses often redirected us to FAQ pages instead of offering personalized troubleshooting steps.

Customer support is one of the more controversial aspects of AnyRecover. Some users report that the assistance team responds quickly and provides clear, helpful guidance — especially for license activation or installation issues. Others, however, describe the experience as slow or unhelpful, particularly when dealing with refund requests or technical recovery questions. We’ll examine these contrasting opinions in more detail later in the User Feedback section, where this topic often comes up in real customer reviews.

How We Measure AnyRecover in Our Tests

Now that we’ve gone over what the developers promise on their website, it’s time to see how AnyRecover performs in practice. Since this isn’t the first or last recovery tool our team has tested, we rely on a set of standardized test scenarios that mirror real data loss situations users commonly face.

For this review, we selected two typical cases involving everyday storage media – a USB flash drive and an SD card:

• A USB flash drive deliberately damaged to a RAW state, containing a mix of files (photos, videos, Word and Excel documents, and several MP3 tracks). The goal was to see how well AnyRecover could rebuild data from a drive without a recognizable file system.
• An SD card used in a digital camera, filled with photos and videos, then formatted on a Windows PC. This setup allowed us to test how effectively the program restores data after a format, including larger media files.

To keep our reviews consistent and comparable, we apply the same evaluation framework to every recovery product (except for tools where recovery is not the main function, such as TestDisk):

By following this structure, we guarantee that AnyRecover, just like Disk Drill, Stellar, and R-Studio in our previous tests, is evaluated under equal and transparent conditions, allowing for a fair comparison of real-world performance.

Recovery Process with AnyRecover

We want this AnyRecover review to serve not only as an evaluation but also as a practical reference for readers who haven’t yet tried the program or are planning to use it for the first time. That’s why, in addition to performance metrics and test results, we’ve included this section – a step-by-step walkthrough of the recovery workflow. It shows exactly how the program operates in real conditions and can also be used as a basic guide for restoring files with AnyRecover.

1. Installation

To get started with AnyRecover, you need to download the program from the official website. The download button is visible right on the homepage. Clicking it starts the download of the installer file. Once it’s downloaded, open the file and follow the standard installation prompts: choose the installation path, accept the license agreement, and confirm the setup.

However, there’s an important detail the website does not mention anywhere, neither during download nor installation: you should not install AnyRecover on the same drive where data loss occurred. Doing so risks overwriting the deleted files you’re trying to recover, as the installer itself may write new data onto the affected disk.

The installation itself is straightforward and fast. The setup file is lightweight, and the entire process takes just a few minutes. After installation, the program launches automatically and displays the main interface with all connected drives.

It’s also worth noting that the free version of AnyRecover doesn’t allow actual data recovery, it only performs a scan. Because of this, when you open the program for the first time, you’ll see several pop-up windows prompting you to buy the Pro version or offering a limited-time discount. If you’re planning to use AnyRecover and don’t want to deal with constant upsell messages, it’s better to purchase the full license right away before starting your first scan.

2. Disk Selection

When you open AnyRecover for the first time, the program shows a main dashboard with several recovery categories. To start the actual recovery process, you need to choose the Data Recovery option. After that, the software displays a list of all available drives and storage devices connected to your computer, including internal disks, external hard drives, USB flash drives, and memory cards.

The disk selection process is straightforward. Simply hover your cursor over the drive or device you want to scan, then click it. The program immediately begins scanning that location for recoverable files, no additional setup or confirmation steps are required.

It’s worth mentioning that AnyRecover also offers several “quick-access” recovery shortcuts, such as Desktop, Recycle Bin, and Select Folder. However, these options are mostly cosmetic. No recovery software can truly scan just one folder, because deleted files can be physically stored anywhere on the disk. In practice, AnyRecover performs a full-disk scan first and only filters the results by path afterward.

3. Scanning and Viewing Results

In our tests, the scanning process ran smoothly and quite fast. Both of our test cases (the RAW USB flash drive and the formatted SD card) were completed in under 10 minutes each. At the bottom of the program window, AnyRecover shows a progress bar that tracks both the percentage of scanned space and the elapsed time, which helps monitor how far along the scan is. Naturally, scans on larger-capacity drives will take longer, depending on the disk’s condition and connection speed.

Once the scan finishes, the program displays a summary screen showing the number of files found and their total size. From there, you can browse the results in two different ways: by file type (images, videos, documents, etc.), or by original file path, in a tree-style folder view.

The interface also offers two display modes: a simple list view or a thumbnail grid, which makes browsing through images or videos more convenient. You can also apply filters by file status (existing, deleted) or by modification date to narrow down the results.

Although file preview is listed as one of the main features, it didn’t work during our tests. We were unable to open even a single JPEG file in the preview window, which was surprising given that image recovery is one of the program’s advertised strengths.

4. Recovery

After the scan completes, the final stage is very straightforward. You simply place checkmarks next to the files or folders you want to restore and click the “Recover” button. A dialog window will then appear, asking you to choose a destination folder where the recovered data should be saved.

It’s important that you should always save recovered files to a different drive than the one being scanned. Writing new data to the same disk can overwrite the remaining recoverable fragments, reducing your chances of successful recovery.

Once you confirm the destination, AnyRecover begins copying the files. When the process finishes, the program displays a message confirming that the recovery was completed successfully. After that, you can safely close the software and check the output folder to verify the restored files.

5. Evaluation of Results

Now to the most important part – the test results. And to be honest, they didn’t impress us.

• Between our two test scenarios, AnyRecover performed noticeably better on the RAW USB flash drive, managing to recover about 70% of the test files across various formats. However, after checking the restored data, we found that several files were corrupted, including not only images but also basic documents such as Word and Excel files.
• The situation with the SD card was similar. The program successfully brought back around 80% of the photo files, but a portion of them wouldn’t open properly. AnyRecover also detected and recovered all four of our test videos, yet none of them could be played (neither in Windows’ built-in player nor in third-party ones). We attribute this to how our camera stores video data, it tends to fragment large video files, which makes them far harder to reconstruct.

To be fair, this is a challenge that most recovery tools still struggle with. The only software in our tests that managed to rebuild fragmented video files correctly was Disk Drill, and even then, only with its Advanced Camera Recovery module, which the developers added relatively recently. That’s the direction more data recovery companies will likely have to follow to stay competitive, because, for now, AnyRecover clearly falls behind in this area.

Below, we’ve summarized the rest of the results according to our evaluation metrics:

Value per Dollar in AnyRecover

We should start by noting that this metric is relative, not absolute. The cost-effectiveness of any data recovery program varies depending on the specific case, the larger the amount of data successfully recovered, the lower the resulting price per megabyte.

In our test scenario, we used a total of 4 GB of test data, from which 2 GB were successfully restored. Using the monthly plan ($79.99), the cost came out to roughly $0.039 per MB. If we apply the same logic to the lifetime plan ($159.99), the cost would be approximately $0.078 per MB, since you pay once, but if you only use the program once, the effective price doubles. However, for users who plan to recover data repeatedly, the lifetime license becomes more reasonable over time.

To illustrate how this scales, imagine recovering 1 TB (1,024,000 MB) of data under the same monthly plan. In that case, the cost per megabyte would drop dramatically to around $0.000078 per MB, showing how strongly this figure depends on the total recovery volume.

For comparison, in our other tests with similar evaluation methods, both Stellar Data Recovery and Disk Drill produced an average cost of about $0.04 per MB, placing AnyRecover within the same general range, though its recovery quality didn’t match those tools.

Users’ Feedback

As always, in addition to presenting our own tests, we include real user feedback on AnyRecover. And to be honest, the situation appears odd and somewhat contradictory.

On the official website, there are 815 reviews, all positive, with no negative or even neutral entries noted. Yet interestingly, the most recent publication date for those reviews is July 2024, if the software is truly flawless, why hasn’t it received any new reviews in 2025?

On Trustpilot alone there are 381 reviews (as of our check) with an average rating around 4.7. That number of reviews is surprisingly high for a software of its relative market profile (less widely known than major competitors). Such volume raises concerns about review authenticity or review-generation practices.

Filtering through Reddit threads and Trustpilot comments reveals a diverging user experience. Many users express frustration or outright disappointment:

• “This software is horrible. I purchased the software and it is miserable to deal with. It takes forever to even get through searching a drive.” (Reddit)
• “I purchased the lifetime, one payment deal and it was a complete waste of my money.”(Reddit)

On the flip side, some users report positive experiences, especially when it comes to support:

• “Your customer service was very efficient at processing a refund…” (Trustpilot)
• “I had a wonderful experience with the IT support … She exceeded my expectations by resolving my issue quickly and efficiently…”(Trustpilot)

In our view, the user-feedback picture is mixed, not universally negative, but not uniformly positive either. For a software that makes bold recovery claims, the gap between marketing and real-world user experience appears fairly wide.

Competitors vs AnyRecover

The results of our testing and the range of user feedback naturally invite a comparison with other major players in the data recovery field. To save you the time of gathering this information yourself, we’ve prepared a compact reference table outlining how AnyRecover stacks up against its main competitors.

If you’d like to explore each tool in more detail, we recommend checking our full reviews on our website or verified evaluations on independent platforms.

As you can see, even though we compared AnyRecover with only three other programs, the picture is quite clear. At this stage, AnyRecover is not the strongest option. When looking at pricing alone, Disk Drill offers a far better deal (a lifetime license for $89, compared to AnyRecover’s $159.99). On top of that, Disk Drill provides a small free recovery limit (up to 100 MB) that lets users test the full workflow before purchasing, while AnyRecover only allows file previews. And if price is the deciding factor, there’s also PhotoRec, a completely free, open-source alternative that delivers comparable or even better recovery results for typical data loss scenarios. It may not have a fancy interface, but in terms of real performance, it easily outperforms AnyRecover.

Verdict

And here we are, the final section of our AnyRecover review, where it’s time to sum everything up.

If we judge the program purely by the technical results of our tests, then yes, AnyRecover works. It successfully restores basic file types in simple recovery scenarios. For deleted photos, small documents, or files from a flash drive, it can get the job done. But considering the price tag, there are clearly better options available on the market.

However, when we take into account our overall experience using the program, we wouldn’t personally recommend AnyRecover. The reason goes beyond its limited capabilities and overpriced plans, it’s also about how the company presents itself. Compared to its competitors, AnyRecover doesn’t stand out in Google rankings or in most “best recovery software” lists. Yet on its own website, it claims over 72 million downloads, a number that’s several times higher than that of far more popular tools like Disk Drill. Every listed review on their site is positive, and the sheer volume of testimonials looks unrealistic.

We also found multiple reports about refund issues, where users claimed that refund requests were delayed, questioned, or rejected. Combined with the exaggerated marketing claims, this creates an impression of limited transparency, which we can’t overlook. To truly compete with leading recovery software, the developers behind AnyRecover would need to improve both the technical side (recovery algorithms, preview reliability) and the honesty of their public communication.

The final choice, of course, is yours, but based on our tests and broader research, we would recommend considering more established and transparent solutions such as Disk Drill, which we have mentioned multiple times throughout this post. If you’d like to better understand what we mean and compare these tools yourself, we have a Disk Drill review that you can check out.

📌 Final Rating: 5 / 10 (★★★☆☆)

📌 Best for: restoring common file types like photos and documents.

📌 Avoid if: you expect consistent results, plan to recover large video files, or value transparency and fair pricing.