Fix your camera: Common troubleshooting techniques

Given that our smartphones are more camera than phone these days, it can be immensely frustrating when our camera app stops working. Maybe we missed a chance to grab that crucial selfie, or perhaps we couldn’t capture that perfect coffee shot. Whatever the case, a misbehaving camera is not a problem we’d like to deal with.

If your phone camera starts acting up, here are some steps you can take to get it working again!

Restart the camera app

Given that we control our smartphone cameras via an app, it’s possible that you’re not able to access your camera because your app is frozen. To fix this, simply open the multitasking menu and close the app. Tap on the camera to open the app again.

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You could also forcibly ‘stop’ the camera app by going to Settings > Apps > tap the camera app > Tap ‘Force Stop’ > Tap ‘OK’ to confirm.

Restart the phone

If that doesn’t work, you can try restarting the phone. This process varies from phone to phone, but can generally be accomplished by pressing and holding the power button on an Android device, or pressing and holding the power and volume down buttons. Restarting the phone resets the camera app completely and this should resolve your camera issues in a very large number of cases.

Check for updates

It’s possible that a pending app or OS update is preventing you from using the camera. Your smartphone will usually notify you when an update is pending, or you could check manually.

To check for a system update, do the following: navigate to Settings > Software update and follow on-screen instructions to look for and install any pending updates. 

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To check for an app update, do the following: Open the Play Store > Tap the profile icon > Tap Manage > Tap Check for Updates and install any pending updates.

Your phone may reboot after installing the updates.

Overheating

Another likely cause for an unresponsive camera is simply an overheating phone or camera module. Cameras these days shoot very high resolution video and images – which involves a lot of processing – which can cause the sensor or processor to overheat and shutdown for protection. This can also happen when there’s damage to the camera module, or when there’s some damage to the phone itself. 

A bad battery could also cause severe overheating. To diagnose the issue, check the temperature of your phone when the camera app is not responding. If an area is too hot to touch, or simply unusually hot, contact your nearest service centre and get your phone tested.

Factory reset

In the worst case, a situation where nothing you’re trying is working, you could try factory resetting the phone. You will lose all unsaved data if you do this, so do not resort to this step until you’ve tried everything else and backed up your data.

To reset an Android phone: go to Settings > System > Advanced > Reset Options > Erase all data.

On an iPhone, you can head to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

If these steps fail to restore your camera function, it’s possible that you’re dealing with a deeper, systemic issue or some kind of physical damage to your phone. Your best bet in such a scenario would be to head to a service centre or mobile repair shop to get your phone inspected.