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My iPhone camera is not working: what’s wrong?

When your iPhone camera isn’t working, it’s super annoying. After reading this blog, are you unable to fix your faulty iPhone camera? If so, it may be necessary to stop by a professional repair shop (e.g.. at ThePhoneLab, see our locations here) to replace your iPhone camera.

Possible causes of an iPhone camera not working

When you want to capture your Insta-worthy meal, your iPhone camera suddenly stops working. Irritating! In this blog, we address the issues below:

  • Does the image have blurry spots when you use the camera?
  • Is the entire image black in your camera app?
  • Does the camera give some kind of wavy motion when you want to take a picture?
  • Do you have purple spots in the screen when taking photos and videos?
  • Does your iPhone camera app crash all the time?
  • Is your iPhone flash no longer working?

Does the image have blurry spots when you use the camera?

Annoying! You can investigate the following things:

  • Look carefully for any scratches on the lens. Is this even the case? Then only the camera glass needs to be replaced and not the camera itself.
  • Are there no scratches on it? Then you can try cleaning your lens with a microfiber or eyeglass cloth. In fact, dust or dirt on the lens can cause spots in the camera image.
  • There may be dirt or dust behind the lens (on the inside of your iPhone) and this may be the reason why your iPhone camera stops working. In this case, stop by one of our branches where we can help you with this. If the dust is not burned into the lens, we can remove it with a free cleaning. TIP: You can test if the dirt has burned into your camera by pointing the camera at a white background with lots of light. Do you see black hazy spots? Then there is a very good chance that dirt has burned into the camera and then an iPhone camera repair is the only solution. Want to learn more about what dust can do to your iPhone? Read about it in our blog on fabric.

Did the above steps not help? Then chances are your iPhone camera needs to be replaced. We always recommend stopping by one of our branches where our specialists will perform a free diagnosis to see why the iPhone camera has stopped working.

Is the entire picture black?

Then first of all, check that there is nothing in front of the lens, such as your iPhone case. If not, try closing the camera app completely. You do this on iPhones with a home button by pressing it twice quickly and on an iPhone without a home button by swiping up from the bottom of the access screen, then swiping left or right to search for the camera app among the applications and swiping up to exit.

Is your iPhone camera still not working? We then recommend visiting a professional, he or she will do a diagnosis and explain why the iPhone camera is not working.

Does the camera give some kind of wavy motion when you want to take a picture?

In this case the stabilization of your iPhone camera no longer works, the only way to solve this problem is to replace your iPhone camera.

Do you have purple spots in the screen when taking photos and videos?

If you suffer from purple spots in the screen when taking photos, then your camera sensor is broken. This can only be repaired with an iPhone camera repair.

Does your iPhone camera app crash all the time?

Every time you want to take a picture, the app crashes and closes itself. There are several solutions to this:

  • First, try closing all applications (including the camera app) as explained above at Is the entire picture black.
  • Doesn’t this work? Then see if your iPhone’s storage isn’t full. Go to Settings > General > iPhone storage. When the storage is (almost) full, it can prevent you from taking pictures. Try freeing up some extra storage and hopefully your iPhone camera will work again!
  • Do you still have enough storage free and so the problem can’t lie there? If so, try a hard reset. Always make a backup first though, how to do this read here.

How to do a hard reset:

    • iPhone 4 through iPhone 6S and iPads: press and hold the home and lock buttons simultaneously for 15 seconds until the Apple logo becomes visible.
    • iPhone 7/7 Plus: Press and hold the lock and volume down buttons simultaneously for 15 seconds until the Apple logo becomes visible.
    • iPhone 8/8 Plus and all models without a home button: briefly press the volume up button. Press the volume down button briefly. Then press and hold the lock button until the Apple logo becomes visible.

Is your iPhone flash no longer working?

We wrote a blog about this: iPhone flash no longer works. Is your camera app still crashing? Then stop by one of our branches where we will perform a free diagnostic to see why your camera is not working.

Do you still run into something after this explanation?

No problem, we are happy to help you in one of our branches. Make an appointment online or walk into our office at your convenience.