The iPhone is reputed to have one of the best selfie cameras in the world of mobile photography, but that only applies if you can use it. If your screen automatically turns black as soon as you open the camera app, you can’t possibly take excellent photos.
iPhone front camera not working, you’re not alone. This problem is usually the result of a software glitch that might stop the iPhone from correctly reading the camera. When this happens, you should try solving the problem as soon as possible.
In this article, you’ll learn some of the reasons your iPhone’s camera might be defective and some of the best ways to get it working again.
How to Fix iPhone Front Camera Not Working
There are two major reasons your iPhone’s camera might be acting up, and they require wildly different solutions. The problem is either from the software or from the camera hardware itself, and both of these happen commonly.
If your camera works with FaceTime, but not the Camera app, it’s likely a software problem. However, if you can’t get the camera to pick up any image at all, you’re dealing with a hardware problem that is a lot more difficult to solve.
Regardless of what the problem is, here are some potential solutions to try before sending your phone to Apple or a technician for repair.
- Close the camera app and restart your device
In most cases, the issue with your iPhone’s camera that you can solve easily by closing and reopening the camera app. You can also consider restarting your device to ensure that you clear any unwanted cache that might cause a repeat of the same action.
To close a malfunctioning camera, tap on your iPhone’s home button twice in succession to bring up a collection of your recently opened apps. On more recent iPhones, you can use the appropriate for getting to your recent apps screen since you can’t access any home button.
From your recent apps, swipe up the camera to close it completely and reopen it from the home screen to see if the problem is solved. If you have a few seconds to wait, you can also consider restarting your phone before reopening the camera app to ensure you’ve successfully gotten rid of the issue.
- Switch to the rear camera
If the front camera isn’t working on your iPhone, you may want to use the rear camera on your iPhone in the meantime as you solve the issue with the other camera. In some cases, switching to the rear camera and flipping back to the front camera may eventually solve the problem with your iPhone’s camera.
- Update your iOS version
If you’re running an outdated version of iOS, there’s a high possibility that Apple will ignore most issues on the device apart from security issues. You should be able to fix the problem by upgrading to a more recent and supported version of iOS, if it’s a software problem, that is.
If you use an iPhone model that doesn’t support the latest version of iOS, you may want to upgrade your iPhone to a more usable model. If upgrading your iOS version doesn’t fix the problem, you may want to try out some more complex solutions outlined below.
- Clean the camera lens
It might be unbelievable, but something might be physically blocking your iPhone’s camera lens. Try cleaning the visible part of your selfie camera to see if it solves the issue with the camera. This usually works if the camera is only blurry and not black.
If you use a screen protector, it may be obstructing the camera and preventing the lens from picking up light. Ideally, nothing should be covering the lens of your front camera, and if there’s anything there, you must get rid of it to fix the problem with your camera.
- Light up the room
Your camera is not as efficient as your eyes, and this is even truer if you use a pretty old iPhone. The fact that you can see something doesn’t mean your iPhone should be able to reproduce the same object as well as you did. If you’re trying to take pictures in a dimly lit room, you should consider lighting up the room to help the camera.
Also, you should ensure that you have the flash turned on in case the room is too dark to take a picture. If possible, try enabling night mode to help the camera learn how to reproduce your picture correctly. However, you should note that this will only work if the camera went black because the room was dark.
- Ensure your phone isn’t overheating
Your iPhone is bound to malfunction if it gets too hot, and one of the common signs of a malfunctioning iPhone is a camera app that doesn’t function properly. If you’ve been using your selfie camera excessively for over 30 minutes, you should expect it to suddenly stop working to cool down the iPhone.
If your phone pops up a message saying your iPhone needs to cool down, you may want to spare a couple of minutes needed to cool it down before using the camera again. Turning off your iPhone for 15 minutes before restarting your camera app is all you need to ensure your selfie camera starts working properly again.
Conclusion
The selfie camera is one of the most important parts of your iPhone since it’s responsible for too many functions. You use it to take photos, unlock your iPhone, make video calls, etc.; you can imagine how difficult it would be to try living without your selfie camera.
If your iPhone’s front camera stops working suddenly, you must try getting it to work as soon as possible. Some fixes include switching to your rear camera, restarting your iPhone, updating your device, and trying to cool it down.
If none of the above fixes work, it’s most likely a hardware problem. Since you can’t fix it yourself, you may have to return the device to Apple if it’s still under warranty protection, or to a technician for repair otherwise.