iPhone 5 Camera Not Working? A Light Press May Fix It

Jun 22, 2014 - 163 Comments

iPhone Camera not working randomly My iPhone 5 camera completely stopped working recently, and appeared to stay that way despite forced resets, killing camera apps, and every other traditional troubleshooting trick in the book. What do I mean by stopped working? I mean the Camera app loads, but the camera viewfinder shows nothing at all just a black screen, and other apps that’d tap into the iPhone camera also fail to function entirely. Instagram throws an “Error: Error Launching the camera. Please try again.” alert message, while most other apps just show a blank screen.


Because the camera seemed unresponsive to software based intervention like quitting apps and rebooting, I started to suspect a physical hardware problem with the iPhone, perhaps with the actual connection of the camera hardware itself. This is where things get interesting; the iPhone 5 camera hardware on this particular device is a bit loose and can actually be physically depressed slightly by applying some light pressure against it… certainly not normal behavior of a properly functioning piece of hardware, and not what you want your camera to do. But guess what? Pressing against the physical hardware camera actually made the Camera app able to work again, as well as all the other camera apps in iOS. Curious.

The images below demonstrate what the physical rear camera hardware looks like on an iPhone 5 with a camera that is not working. Upon visual inspection it looks normal enough, there is no indication of loose hardware or any issues at all:

iPhone 5 camera not working possible fix by pressing

But by applying some *very* light pressure against the rear camera, the actual camera hardware depresses into the iPhone 5 enclosure, as shown here (to reiterate the obvious, this is not normal camera behavior, and this should not happen):

Fix a not working iPhone 5 camera with a light press

Admittedly it’s hard to see in photos, but these before and after pictures show the slight change if you look carefully. And more importantly, the Camera now works again after it was pressed lightly… hmm.

iPhone 5 camera loose causing malfunction

Why does this work? Maybe it reconnects a slightly off connection, who knows, but this is a pretty odd troubleshooting trick, and if you have this problem you should take your iPhone in for professional repairs. Doing this yourself could be risky depending on what’s going on behind the loose camera, so you’ll have to decide if it’s safe on your iPhone, you could easily make things worse. If you are going to try this yourself, it’s hard to overemphasize that light pressure is all that is required when applying a slight press against the camera. Too much pressure could easily break something and make things worse, so don’t do that. For the curious go-getters out there, here are the basic steps to take that worked for me:

  1. Quit out of any app that can access the iPhone camera – things like Camera, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Afterlight, etc
  2. Flip the iPhone over and apply very slight pressure against the physical camera hardware using a finger, it may depress slightly indicating this loose camera issue
  3. Now try to use the Camera app as usual (from lock screen access, or third party app is fine), it should work fine now and take pictures as usual

So, a malfunctioning camera, no camera apps are working, and loose physical camera hardware on the iPhone? That clearly indicates a hardware issue, and whether or not it impacts many iPhone 5 users is not entirely clear.

Wondering if I was alone in this camera failure, and if having a slightly loose piece of hardware is unusual, I discovered that other users on the official Apple Discussion Forums have the exact same problem and discovered the exact same solution of physically pressing against the camera to get it working again (some users report squeezing the Camera from both sides – front and back – worked for them). The cause of this is unknown, however. Perhaps a certain production run of iPhone 5’s are vulnerable to having the camera jiggle loose over time (I’ve owned my since it was released), or perhaps the camera gets loose due to user issues like dropping the iPhone or heavy device usage, this isn’t known, but it’s certainly an interesting observation that a fair amount of users are experiencing the same thing. So, if your iPhone 5 camera seems to stop working entirely out of the blue, basically a total failure of the camera and any apps that try to access the hardware, and you think it’s dead, try this weird press trick out, then either kill all camera apps or restart the phone and try to use the Camera app again… if it works you’re likely impacted by the same issue, whatever the cause.

If you do have this loose camera problem, or just a failing iPhone camera in general, you should try to get the phone looked at by Apple’s official support channels. That means either taking it into an Apple Store and letting a Genius look at it, or if you can somehow afford to go without your iPhone (and camera) for a week or so, you could even mail it in for repair and/or diagnosis. As long as the iPhone is still under warranty they should fix it for free, and Apple sometimes makes exceptions for out of warranty repairs as well, particularly if they think the problem is not cause by abuse or misuse.

If you’ve encountered this problem yourself, and if the weird press trick resolved it, or you took it in for repairs, chime in the comments with your own experience, we’d love to hear from you!

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in iPhone, Tips & Tricks, Troubleshooting

163 Comments

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  1. Rinz says:

    Wow it absolutely did the trick! Many thanks, I’d really got worried to the core.

  2. Drew says:

    Omg it fixed it thank you

  3. Caitlin says:

    I had tried everything to get my camera working again, and just as you said, lightly pressing on it is the only thing that worked! I would never have thought to try that if I hadn’t come across this article. Thank you so much!

  4. Edwin Jr. Engallado says:

    My camera moved backwards like the one in the image. I was wondering if by fixing it will the camera hardware get replaced or was it just loose and needs to be realigned? Hoping for a reply thanks.

  5. Marley says:

    This worked. I was stressing all day because my camera didn’t work. And all I kept finding on websites were to take them into the store. Although I was a little scared when my camera was pushed back in. The little pop noise scared me. But thank you!!!

  6. Michael says:

    This worked!! Thank you so so much!

  7. Jonah says:

    Very useful article! Fixed my phone instantly. I have been having this problem for a while now and it was great that I came across this article

  8. Margaret says:

    This advice STILL works! Thank you!!!

  9. Ab says:

    If this does not work, try holding the focus button when you open the camera.

    Hold it until an image appears.

    It worked for me.

  10. Roxanne says:

    It worked!! Thanks very much! :))))

  11. Ward says:

    This trick worked for me! I tried al the other tricks (resetting, rebooting etc), but none of them worked. When I pushed the camera (a little bit harder than just lightly), I felt a little click, and it sank half a millimeter down. Voila!

  12. Arun says:

    Visit to apple store to resolve the camera problem on my 5s was not at all encouraging. Kept on pressing at the rear camera area, rebooting and low n behold – after abt 20 min of trying , the camera came ALIVE!! Have patience and keep trying. In my case I had dropped my phone and this problem arose.

  13. Ashley says:

    This just worked instantly on my iPhone SIX. Who knew.

  14. Roxi says:

    OMG
    THANKYOU!
    It worked when i pressed lightly on camera part! i think there was a loose connection or something because I did drop my phone! Cheers again!
    Roxi 😊

  15. Devendra says:

    Perfect Solution.
    Worked brilliantly with me..
    Thank you so much.

  16. Rita says:

    Amazing! This did work when I squeezed front and back of 4 month old phone!

    • OTIN says:

      If you have a 4 month old iPhone that has a failing camera, you should have Apple replace the iPhone for free. It is obviously broken, and your warranty will cover the replacement. This is a hardware failure and the camera should work all the time, unequivocally.

  17. mfijaz says:

    When I first looked at this page, I didn’t believed it. I was wondering if it works? Will it damage my lenz? Are these comments true? Pressed my lenz with moderate force (it didn’t moved), pressed home and lock screen button till it shuts down and restarted it. Voila it works. Thanks a lot.

    Searched for iphone official forums for 6-8 months… the result… they are garbage… Only solution you find there is to claim warranty if you have one

    • PMS Warrior says:

      The problem is that if this trick works (pressing on the camera fixes it), then that means the iPhone camera is becoming faulty and it needs repair. So yes it works, but there is an underlying problem that Apple must fix and that if you can get it fixed under warranty you should.

      If you get the iPhone 5 battery fixed under warranty (this program: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/) they usually fix the camera at the same time.

      Anyway, I used the light-press on lens trick for a long time and it always worked until the iPhone went for a repair.

  18. Rebecca says:

    Unfortunately it didn’t work for me :(
    When I pressed on the camera it definitely clicked, then I tried restarting a few times but it still didn’t work…..have also already updated to 9.2….but maybe when 9.3 comes out it will do something miraculous!

    Any further suggestions I’d be very interested :)

  19. Debbie says:

    Your solution worked!! Awesome! Thank you

  20. Debbie says:

    Your solution worked!! Awesome!

  21. Koos says:

    Hey my mate, it worked,
    Thankyou so much….
    All the best….

  22. FredJ says:

    Perfectly work for me.Thank you so much guys! (: 😃

  23. Kelly says:

    The squeezing thing worked! Omg I’m so happy I could cry haha.
    I went to the Apple Store and they could not fix it since I have an iPhone 5. They tried new software but that did not work. They told me I could buy a new iPhone but I An so glad I didn’t.
    Tried gently pushing it first but I only saw some purple spots. After squeezing it I heard a soft click and hip hip hooray, you just saved me money! :D

  24. Danny says:

    Stil ain’t working. 5s

  25. Anne says:

    Thought I had found the solution but stil ain’t working. I want to cry!!! I have the 5s, won’t work! HELP!!

  26. Marianne says:

    Thank you so much! It did work! :)))

  27. Stephen says:

    Top tip – it worked for me. Thanks!!!

  28. Jamie says:

    Great tip! Got my camera back!

  29. Bob says:

    Thanks a lot for your perfect solution. You’ve saved me from repair expenses.

  30. Lou says:

    OMG! I tried everything! Thank you!

  31. Sarah says:

    Worked for me! Thanks so much!!

  32. Reia says:

    Oh my gosh! I’m literally teary eyed!!! This article saved me! Thanks sooo much!!!! I was desperate that my camera wasn’t working!

  33. Gabrielle says:

    So I dropped my phone on its front and when I went to take a picture my back camera wouldn’t work. I’ve tried everything. Can someone help?

  34. Sean says:

    Thank you so much!!

  35. Sunny says:

    Woooooooow man that freakin’ worked!!!!!!

  36. Kevin J says:

    Suspect that there is a warranty on the replaced camera for at least 90 days, as that is typical industry standard for repairs? So if you get the camera replaced they will fix it later? or take it to a local independent repair dealer and see what they say they will do.

    Speculate that APPLE has a modified camera-flash repair that they sell the part for, but will refuse to admit it is a design flaw, else everyone and there brother will show up for a fix for free.

  37. Andrew Woods says:

    I had this exact problem.. Face camera would work but regular camera would freeze and everything was black. This trick worked! I pushed the camera lenses in and now my camera is working again! Thanks a lot lol

  38. Jill says:

    It worked!!!! Thank you!!!

  39. Naveen says:

    Mate you are the Gem. I got the same issue- resolved with your work around.

  40. aniket says:

    it worked for me
    thnxxx a lot

  41. Julianne says:

    This solved my issue! I spent ten long months asking friends to take photos and video for me or I would carry around my iPad to take them. Ten long months of everyone asking why I haven’t fixed my camera but everyone was patient and compliant. Thank you so much for posting this!

  42. zain says:

    Pushing the lens worked . TY TY TY

  43. Erik W. says:

    Worked for me too. I pushed down near the lens (lens didn’t move). Kinda squeezed the whole corner. Then rebooted. Now works. Wonder how long it will last.

    Geez…Thanks!

  44. John says:

    You’ve just solved my whole problem

    I am forced in your debt

  45. Robert says:

    it worked! First tried almost everything. Updates, downgrades, reboots, apps, even reseting from scratch.. But at last when a gave up i tried pushing the camera. (and don’t worry, the camera gets to its original position again. I was worried at first i had to live with a camera deep in my iphone case but it adjusts).

  46. Jasmine says:

    Thank you so much, it works!!

  47. Hannah says:

    HELP ME MY IPHONE 5C’s CAMERA IS STILL NOT WORKING AND I’M FREAKING OUT

  48. Ananya says:

    To my amusement. It did work.

  49. damien says:

    This worked for me what u can also do is after u send it back in get some silicone and slide it around the edge of the camera so it will stay in

  50. Theodoors says:

    Heey guys,

    Do you also have the problem with the flash not working together with a black screen on the rear camera? Did the press solve the flash-issue as well???? :) PEACE

  51. Suffian says:

    It works, I almost throw my phone away hahaha thanks :)

  52. Lara says:

    It worked! Thanks! :-)

    I have iPhone 5s.

  53. Liliana villamizar says:

    It worked! And my camera didn’t even appeared to be loose or anything! Thanks you SO much!

  54. Herculaas says:

    Great work Man!! It worked

  55. Abby says:

    Omg thank you so much I’ve tried everything g and this worked

  56. Rocky says:

    I have the same issue however I’ve tried multiple times every suggestions you guys have and it work but for a limited time only whenever I stop pressing it would return to a black screen my back can doesn’t work but the front cam works fine so it must be a hardware issue since I had this after I carelessly dropped my phone. I’ll just have someone to preofessionaly check it. Thanks though.

    P.S I’m so jealous of those guys who brought their phones back with just the pressing method

    From philippines

  57. Zach says:

    Youre my hero

  58. mwiza says:

    I had put this post off but it seems to be the only fix that worked for me. Why isn’t this fix on the official apple site discussion forums

  59. Yanyan says:

    Thank you!! I did what you said to press it lightly. Restart it and it worked!! Yehey! Thanks

  60. Lynn says:

    Thank you for your sharing! Fix my camera in one press! I have a graduation to attend TOMORROW!

  61. Dena says:

    It worked after a few tries! I love you.

  62. Bagg It says:

    My 5s camera kept showing a black screen, but when I tapped the switch for a “selfie” it would work. When I tapped to switch it back is would freeze with a blur on the screen. Verizon suggested a hard reset, did that, no success.
    Reset, turn on and off, reset, etc, no success.
    After reading all the things on this page I did the following:
    First, did the “push” the camera in, and it did snap down into the phone. This did not fix the problem.
    Then I tapped it on the table a couple of times to try and move the lens around a little and this worked.
    Thanks for all the advice.

  63. ashok chavan says:

    my iphone 5 camera is not working properly. thank you for your trick it’s working. but need to restart my iphone once in 3 days..

  64. Caluless says:

    I’m so grateful I found this. I was so terrified that I would need a new phone. I pushed the little lens in, closed all the apps, & turned off my phone. I nearly cried tears of joy.

  65. Keith says:

    worked a treat, no discernible reason why it stopped working, took pics yesterday, no drops since??

    BUT the solution worked perfectly, but did have to restart the phone before the camera started working
    ta

  66. Sammy says:

    Thank you so much! Saved me a lot of money :)

  67. Nic says:

    Thanks, this did the trick for my iPhone 5 camera which was not working (I had tried hard reboots, etc… with no luck).
    A few presses across the whole lens, at first with no luck, then finally, success.
    Thanks a lot for posting this!

  68. Faiza says:

    This totally works!!!!

  69. Sandeep says:

    OMG…It Worked !!!!! Thank you so much…pressed the cam , restarted the phone…and it works….

  70. Zain says:

    i have the same camera black screen issue. but my camera working on retrica app. can anyone help me to resolve this issue. my iphone 5 iOS 8.3.

  71. sp singh says:

    I was really struggling with the camera black screen since the last couple of days………. the warranty for my 5s is over and I was having nightmares around this issue…

    THE TRICK WORKED IN AN INSTANT……… STILL CANT BELIEVE IT… Will observe for few days.

    Thanks for the tip.

  72. IRAQ says:

    Thanks , worked for me
    I kept wondering if it was software issue but after reading this article and pressing the camera gently it is working now

  73. AKoZ says:

    Well it work for me, but I had to use way more than light pressure. Also visually looks the same as before doing that trick, it sits flush with the iPhone. Probably had this problem since I dropped my phone a million times. Thanks for the tip!

  74. royc says:

    This worked on mine. Thanks!!!

  75. Pete says:

    This worked for me – though it took a few trys to get it finally. At first i couldnt get it to go in, so i pressed hard, still nothing. The solution was lightly pressing on it and wiggling it around a little bit until it finally pressed in. Maybe this will help someone out!

  76. MnM says:

    Thanks!!!!! It worked.

  77. Sonia Malebranche says:

    Oh my God you have saved me from having to buy a new phone. I’ve had my iPhone 5 for a little over
    A year and a half maybe two years and all of a sudden the camera stop working. I rarely drop my phone and I found it hard to believe that the camera would stop working like that. I tested it pretty much with different methods online and common sens and found nothing. Today I woke up and said that I will find info and fix my phone. And thanks to you I did fix it. When you said light pressure I did it with my finger and the common sens hit me to do with a the back of a pen. And my God it works. I am a photographer so you can imagine the craziness for me not to be able to take pictures. It’s fixed and thank you very very very very (infinitely) thank you.
    Coming from Haiti.
    Sonia Malebranche.

  78. Jon says:

    Your fix worked. After weeks of software troubleshooting, “the squeeze” worked and back to taking photos.

    Thank you.

  79. Jay says:

    Thanks a lot, after hours of depressed moans your blog helped it solve.

  80. step says:

    It worked! Genius!!
    Thanks a lot, God bless you!

  81. Ant says:

    Worked a treat thx!

  82. Kevin says:

    My camera iCon disappeared right before christmas. I barely touched the camera and the iCon reappeared, thanks for the tip.

    OUTSTANDING!

  83. Bill from Canada says:

    This doesn’t make any sense… but it worked on my iPhone 5C… weird…

    Thanks for this post.

  84. Tanya says:

    Thank you!!!! Very weird but great results!!!!!

  85. Murillo says:

    Thanks man! It worked!!

  86. Rhys says:

    IT WORKED you man are a genius! Thankyou :)

  87. Zahir says:

    I love you is daily .. It’s work for me

  88. david Amburgey says:

    Worked for me too!

  89. Sumi says:

    I have the same issue. Tried everything possible, hard reset, factory reset but nothing works. Any help will be really appreciated.
    Will Apply be able to fix it free as my phone is still under warranty.

  90. AJ says:

    I dont normally comment, but have to say i have been struggling with the camera freezing for weeks. Finally found this page! Took the fone out of case, gave the camera a ‘squeeze’ and it now works perfectly. Thank you so much!!!!

  91. John B says:

    Worked for me. Hate this phone

  92. Noemi says:

    This doesn’t work for mine.. My screen is still black & that pressing the camera thing didn’t work… I need help:( my camera isn’t lose either

  93. ricardo says:

    haha it’s really funny but it worked for me, i pushed the camera and it got exactly how the photo in the forum shows, i tryed once but it didnt workout… so i have to press the screen against the camera, and open the camera app while tighten the top side of the mobile, and it works.
    its like a contact error. try it!!

    THANKS A LOT

  94. Alex says:

    THANK YOU!!!!!

  95. Ree says:

    It worked!! Yes!! Missed using my camera!

  96. Dr Fever says:

    Now why didn’t I think of this? Worked great for me! Here’s how:

    I pressed in many places(carefully, having lots of hardware tweaking in a lifetime of professional puttering), finding various results in various spots, and, finally, a positive result.

    I also found that it can be broken again, and that the second fix may not necessarily be in the exact same spot as the first.

    All the while, interesting app switches would be triggered while searching for the good spot.

    Judging by input from folks who already keep their iPhones in cases, getting a hard case does not prevent this flaw from surfacing.

    Rant section: All in all, the iPhone is increasingly becoming a symbol of waste at the cost of sustainable progress. Ah well, we just have to make sure to save humanity from mindless consumption before this stuff gets worse!

    Thanks for posting this helpful fix!

  97. franco says:

    i used the light press technique just now and my iphone 5camera is up and running. genuis! hope this flaw was fixes in the ip6+

  98. matt says:

    wow amazing thank you so much

    problem solved

  99. Julie says:

    Thank you so much! This worked for me, I’ve had this problem for weeks! so happy i didn’t do the reset.

  100. Ruby says:

    Im having a black screen on my FRONT camera? any suggestions, won’t work at all and been like this for a week and really really need help???

  101. KC says:

    Dude, this totally worked! Awesome Sauce!

  102. Mt Ni Lathaigh says:

    Have 3 month old 5s. Exact same problem. Tried fix, it moved in a little but hasn’t fixed the problem yet (I’m still trying). Always in case. There’s a very tiny rattle in this area of the phone when I shake it and it did get a bump on that corner (albeit while in a a case).

    I’m thinking maybe because of the rattle, my fix will need a little more than the depression fix above.

    Apple support for me would be the week without a phone scenario. There’s a phone shop nearer that previously fixed a broken screen for me. I’m thinking of going to them as I think they’ll be able to put the rattling piece back in place.

    Anybody with similar experience please? Thanks

  103. AD17 says:

    I had my iphone 4 front camera not working from the past few days. I applied some light pressure on it and it works! Thank you for the awesome trick.

  104. Alistair says:

    That really worked …thanks

  105. Lindsay says:

    I could not believe that this actually worked! Mine is an iphone 4, but it has never been dropped.

  106. Jakob says:

    Hi!

    just got my dad’s old iPhone 5 as he got the new 6.
    But it had the camera problem as well.
    I made the trick in this description, and I noticed that the physical camera-part in the iPhone actually got forced back. I was really worried if it would start again – and it did!

    Great success! thank you!
    Jakob

  107. jim errthum says:

    thanks worked great

  108. Fang says:

    It’s work!!!!! Super surprise how easily my 5’s camera can fix like this. I almost go to Apple store.
    Thank you very much.

  109. GG says:

    Thanks a lot! I did this the way you showed and it really did help!!!!

  110. RB says:

    It took me several attempts but my camera now works!! I was wondering how I would survive without it.

    First I pressed in and the camera did click in, but no change. I continued to gently press in on the lens, plus on both sides of the lens, check camera screen, close & repeat. I just kept trying and voila! Thank you!!

  111. RickC says:

    Tried all methods mentioned here and other forums but no luck. I did notice that the camera ring is slightly mis-aligned, unfortunately putting pressure on it did not work. Sucks after 7.2 this happened and hoped that upgrading to 8 would resolve it but it did not.

  112. Brooklyn says:

    I’m so glad to have come across this article! I had te same problem. Mine is in a protective case/wallet ALL the time. I never dropped my phone without it being in my protective case/wallet and out of no where the camera stopped working. I refuse to upgrade and really started to feel like these phones are built to last for 24 months only! That’s the way they continue to make money, by forced upgrades! I was really considering a iPhone 6 but thanks to you I can stay happy with my iPhone 5! The battery life sucks but everything else work perfect.
    Thanks!

  113. Liaysha says:

    The *light press* and restart worked like a charm for me. Thankfully I didn’t have to press too much in order to reseat the camera lens. Hope this repair won’t affect the trade in value when I upgrade to the 6.

  114. Danik says:

    Its still doesnt work, any suggestions?
    its not hardware problem. black screen as many users described the issue, thanks

  115. Hydro Thunder says:

    Whereas I tried the “press on the camera” trick and had no luck, and honestly didn’t like messing with my hardware that way. Went to another forum and they recommended holding the lock button and home button for several seconds. It rebooted, and it worked just like that! Even after I’d shut it off, closed all apps, tried all those other workarounds. So again, for me, just hold the lock button and the home button, let it reset…voila!

    • FishOyl says:

      Well golly, this worked for me as well. Thanks Hydro Thunder for your post. I no longer need to take that long drive to the apple store (or squeeze my hardware). Yea!

  116. cheryl says:

    Even after applying a slight pressure to both my back AND front camera, it still doesnt work! Went to check it out at an apple store and they helped me backed up my phone to clear some memory but nothing works. Tried to restart and hard reset it too. It does occasionally come back but it turns into a black screen again if i wanted to change to the back or front camera. All my camera related apps aren’t working: snapchat, vine, instagram, even the camera app itself. HELP!

  117. Paul Collins says:

    Oh my god!! Thank you, it’s totally sorted out my phone :-)

  118. Ben says:

    Just wanted to say thanks for the tips and saving me a trip to the apple store! Really helpful : )

  119. catarina soares says:

    Thank you, it worked!! It’s still on and off, not a permanent fix, and I think it must have started once that it fell, but I really needed to film something today and you saved me. Thanks!!

  120. William Mclaughlan says:

    Upload the new iOS 8 & if you had a black screen it will now be fixed. 😊

  121. Felix says:

    Wow . This was really helpful. Saved me a lot of money on repairs . This fault should be corrected in newer models . Thanks blogger for this .

  122. anne says:

    thank you..:)

  123. Shuwan says:

    It works like magic!!! My rear camera is not function out of sudden since last evening and I was clueless what happened to it. Just tried to press the camera lightly while I was reading this post and the camera is working again! Thanks so much for posting the solution.

  124. Ana says:

    Omg! Thank you so much!!! =))

  125. Tenoch says:

    Pressing on the rear camera solve the issue for me.
    3 days ago I was going to take a picture and all i got was a black screen whenever I switched to the back camera and also navigating within the photo app was super slow. I just pressed the camera lens slightly and it works now. Thanks for the info!

  126. Brad says:

    It also worked for me and I couldn’t believe it.
    However I didn’t see a visual difference on the camera lens. I pressed it together restarted the phone and the camera is working fine. Hasn’t worked in three days until I read this.

  127. Melissa says:

    Worked instantly! I used the back of a ball point pen so there would be equal pressure. It didn’t look like anything at all moved but it sure fixed the camera! Thank you!

  128. Helenanne says:

    You are my hero! This totally worked! I’ve tried everything else to no avail. Thanks so much!

  129. Bo says:

    This is genius and completely works!
    My camera on my iPhone suddenly stopped working- I tried everything- hard and soft resets, and even went to Verizon. Verizon said nothing could be done and I needed to buy a new phone. I came across this article and it worked instantly. THANK YOU!

  130. Danii says:

    I did the suggestions Above and non have worked, I went to Apple and they said to back up the phone and do a factory reset which still didn’t work, any help please, is Apply able to fix it free if it’s a software issue?

  131. Jason says:

    Awesome. Camera malfunctioned today as per your issue. Depressed the lens and viola fixed it! Excellent thanks for the great info

  132. DeanCSmith says:

    I Tried everything… hard reboot, uninstall, reinstall, GeniusBar finally. I Live Tweeted the experience & informed them too!
    Apple FAIL.
    Despite my warranty expiration, Apple should have replaced this phone.
    Obviously it is an issue.

    https://twitter.com/DeanCSmith/status/505808275875442688

  133. David says:

    This DID work. I’ve been trying to get a resolution for a couple days now. Good work!

  134. Simon Jap McClelland says:

    Mate,
    You are a star, just done this with mine, the camera does not move in like yours, but after a few taps and presses (and on and off) my camera works again.
    I suspect there is a loose conection as before I did this my torch light was intermittent.
    Ps always kept in case but a few drops now and again.

  135. Deeney says:

    Great advice, works perfectly now, cheers

  136. Jodi says:

    This actually worked! Wow.

  137. Daniel says:

    I have the exact same problem with my 5s and went to the genius(not so much) bar and they told me that i need to kill the background apps and reboot the phone every time i want to use the camera.
    What a brilliant solution!!

  138. Elaine says:

    I have to wonder if the author of this article kept his iPhone 5 in a protective case? These tech devices are very sensitive to being dropped or used hard (stuffed in a purse, being sat on when put in a back pocket, thrown down on a desk, etc.), and a protective case really helps. I have mine in an Otter case. When I first purchased my iPhone 3G, I put it in a rather bulky protective case (Otter). My kids referred to it as my “bumper phone” (reference to bumper cars). However, almost the first day I bought it, I dropped it, and it was just fine. Now I have a iPhone 5, but with a nice protective case that isn’t quite so bulky, but still protective. That should really be your first line of defense against a malfunctioning iPhone – a protective case.

    • Paul says:

      For the first 5 months of use the iPhone had no case, since then it has been in a fairly slim case which has definitely saved it from damage during some tumbles (there’s a small chip in the case corner due to a fall, for example). Generally I’d consider the usage heavy but in the realm of normal wear and tear for an iPhone that gets carried every day and used as a primary camera, there’s no chips in the glass and there aren’t many scuffs on the device. One of my friends recently remarked that it’s actually in remarkably good shape given the age, at least compared to his iPhone 5 which has a cracked screen and a variety of dings and dents.

      But yes I tend to agree for some iPhone models a case can make a substantial difference in defending the phone.

  139. Joseph says:

    I have the same experience before, I have tired to install Sys-Activity to release the memory, and reset the iphone 5 to system default few time. After that the Iphone5 camera can only success to work few times and go back to same symptom. Finally, I need to carry my iphone to my service provider. Lucky my iphone’s warranty is not yet expiry, so my service provider replace a new iphone to me and it is working fine up to now. If your iphone is still under warranty, don’t wait to carry it to your service provider.

  140. Agneta says:

    At this occasion I would like to mention another hardware problem I have encountered: the vibration just stopped working.
    Solution: shake your iPhone for a while vigorously!!!

  141. InTheory says:

    I notice the finish isn’t in the best of shape. Has this phone been dropped often? What about the phones of the others reporting this problem? Did any keep their phones in protective cases?

    • Paul says:

      Yes the iPhone here has had heavy use, with occasional drops that are probably in the level of normal wear and tear. That could be a factor, certainly.

  142. Will Chao says:

    This happened to me but I just took it to apple store and they replaced it for free

  143. Chris Cheng says:

    Yea that’s not normal. Take it for repair. Should not move at all

  144. AJ says:

    This is clearly a hardware malfunction that needs to be repaired or swapped out. The fact that many iPhone users on that Discussion board thread have experienced the same problem is suspicious, indicating a hardware flaw.

    You may recall that some early iPhone 5 models also had loose batteries that would jiggle around in the iPhone enclosure and make noise… so it would not surprise me if a camera was also loose on some models. Millions of these things get produced, a few thousand will surely have flaws.

    http://gizmodo.com/5945818/what-is-the-weird-rattle-in-these-brand-new-iphone-5s

    I would say call Apple, but sending an iPhone in for repair is a major inconvenience as very few of us can go without having a phone for a few hours, let alone days or longer. For those who are not near Apple Store locations, this is a tough one to resolve… maybe just upgrade when the new model comes out…

    • Zoe says:

      try the new update. Had this problem till I updated.

      • NW says:

        I had the exact same problem – I tried pressing down firmly on the camera and restarting (as suggested in case it was a hardware problem) but it didn’t work.

        I just tried updating my software (to iOS 9.2) – and voila…! it worked!! Camera is back in action! Thanks!

        • Sienna says:

          I have a 5c and i try’d everything, pushing down the back camera, i reset it twice, i updated it, nothing, i’ve been looking for something specific to 5c so if anyone has any tips for that model please tell.

          • tin says:

            Return it to Apple to have them fix your camera if it is broken

          • Anna says:

            I have the same problem with my 5c and we don’t have an apple around here! My screen is dark and laggy and it’s awful!

        • Hana says:

          I had a problem in flashlight a year ago after I update my iPhone. The camera and flashlight was not working and I was only able to use the front camera. I did all the mentioned methods but did not work. Suddenly my mobile fell down and the screen was broken. I took it to be fixed and the guy who fixed it found my battery in its worse situation and it’s good I broke the screen otherwise I could not be able to know there is a serious problem in the battery. When he changed both I was shocked the flashlight and camera back normal and working again after one year!!!

    • michelle says:

      Thank God you have mentioned this! I’ve had my iphone 5c in an excellent Ottercase from day 1 and almost within a month, the camera just DOES NOT WORK.

      While all the other products I bought at Apple are spectacular, I am extremely frustrated that that each time I went to Genius Bar and called support, it seemed to be fixed by removing data or apps and then it would not work again.
      The store really did not want to replace it for me saying it was my fault for having too many apps.

      My husband has the same phone with just as many apps…not problem.

      solution? Im definitely upgrading this Holiday Season.

    • Wes says:

      So same issue came to this page obviously pushed camera like you did no dice, so I tried pushing in on both sides of phone then going to spotlight closing all apps thats use the camera etc, powered device off/on and viola working perfectly.

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