Is your iPhone camera not working? Here's how to fix it

There’s no need to panic if your iPhone camera is not working. It is either a software issue or a hardware issue, and there are various possibilities you can methodically work through to isolate and solve the problem. Having a panic attack is not one of those possibilities! Scroll down below to start trying out different possible solutions. You may strike lucky and get it working again after the first try.

Read more: How to set a timer on your iPhone camera

Switch between the front and rear camera

If your iPhone camera is not working, then it is likely because the camera app has not loaded properly. One of the ways to unblock any bottlenecks is to flip between the front camera and back camera and back again. This will hopefully help to get things moving again.

The icon to press to flip between cameras is the two circular arrows next to the shutter button. Tap it a few times and see if the screen improves.

Restart the camera app

If switching between cameras didn’t work, then closing down and restarting the camera app is your next step. This is extremely easy to do. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen until you see smaller versions of each of your open apps. Then swipe up on the camera app window. This will close down the camera.

Of course, to open the camera app again, just tap the camera icon on your home screen.

Turn off VoiceOver

The next step is to see whether VoiceOver is on. VoiceOver is an Accessibility feature in iOS, and it may sometimes interfere with the running of your camera. So you need to disable VoiceOver and see if that makes a difference.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver. Toggle off VoiceOver if it’s on.

Restart your iPhone

Now it’s time to restart your iPhone. We very rarely restart our phones these days, so perhaps the old “have you tried turning it off and on again?” routine is merely all you need.

With the modern versions of iPhones, all you need to restart the device is to simultaneously hold the volume down button and the power button. When the slide to power off option appears on-screen, swipe right. Wait 15—20 seconds before restarting.

Update iOS

Is the camera still refusing to cooperate? Then check to see if you are running the latest version of iOS. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. If an update is waiting, download and install it.

Reset all iPhone settings

If you’ve got this far, then you’re heading into the nuclear options, as it’s time to start resetting things. The easiest reset option is to reset all the settings. This does not wipe your content, such as your photos and music. It merely resets things like your network settings, location and privacy settings, and so forth.

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone. Choose Reset, not Erase all Contents and Settings. Then choose either Reset All Settings or one of the others if you prefer to try individual things.

Factory reset the iPhone

Nobody wants things to get this far, as erasing the entire phone and going back to factory settings is a major pain in the rear. You have to make sure you have a viable backup and then sit and wait for the phone to do its thing. But if the previous tips haven’t worked to get your iPhone camera working again, then you likely have no choice.

We’ve done an in-depth tutorial on factory resetting an iPhone. We would refer you to that.

Contact Apple Support

If all of the above hasn’t worked, then it is likely time to contact Apple Support. You will most likely have a hardware issue that can only be fixed by Apple. If you still have a valid warranty on your phone, you may even be able to get the phone replaced if the camera problem is not fixable.

Read more: How to turn your iPhone camera night mode on and off

FAQs