How to Fix Camera Not Working on iOS 14

Find that your camera on your iPhone is not working properly after the iOS 14 update? 

Apple’s new iOS 14 update is making headlines with its new features. The operating system was released last September 16 and has received its fair share of popularity on Twitter and other social media. New features include widget customizations, better app libraries, a fresh new interface, and more.

camera error ios 14

But like all software updates, bugs that weren’t found in the beta tests will inevitably make it through and give you problems. In this case, your front camera not working is probably one of those glitches.

Here at Saint, we make sure to bring our readers quick and reliable information at its best quality. Here we’ve compiled a list of reliable methods that should fix your ‘camera not working on iOS 14’ issues.

Let’s get started!

 

1. Check Your Application’s Camera Permissions.

First, let’s quickly troubleshoot this before you continue any further.

Is your front camera working on your default Camera app but malfunctioning on Discord, Messenger, Twitter, or any other third-party application? Then chances are this should be the only method you need.

If your third-party app is not permitted to use your camera, then it won’t be able to photos for you. Let’s quickly resolve this by checking if that third-party app has permission for your camera.

Here’s how you can check your application’s camera permissions:

  1. First, open your Settings app through your Home Screen.
  2. Now, go ahead and look for Privacy and tap on it.

privacy iphone settings

  1. Then, look for and select Camera.

camera permission settings

  1. Finally, there should be a list of all the third-party applications installed on your iPhone. Look for the application you’re having a problem with and enable the switch to use your camera.

Now reopen your third-party application and see if the problem persists with your front camera. If the issue persists, you can try to restart your iPhone or proceed to the next methods.

 

2. Quick Fixes From The Apple Community.

You aren’t alone in experiencing camera problems (among others) in Apple’s recent iOS update. A lot of users on the Apple forums have also made several threads regarding this problem, luckily some users have found temporary solutions to help fix the camera.

These fixes aren’t, by any means, standardized but are simply weird techniques that worked and fixed the camera. Hopefully, as the iOS 14 gets patched and fixed, your iPhone problems and these quick fixes should be obsolete altogether. But until then, here’s a list of what you can do to fix your iPhone’s front camera.

  • Turn on your flashlight from the Control Center and open the camera app. Wait for 15 seconds or so, and the camera should begin to work. This will work for other third-party apps as well.
  • Repeatedly turn on and off the flashlight on your phone until your camera works.
  • Set your camera timer to 3 seconds and take a picture. Wait for around 30 seconds, and the camera should turn back on.
  • Turn off your NFC Tag Reader feature in your Settings. Go and navigate to Settings > Control Center > NFC Tag Reader. A small minus sign () should be there. Tap on it and press Remove. This will disable your ability to read NFC tags, just repeat the process and enable it if ever you need the feature again.

camera not working properly on ios 14

These fixes will only work for the instance that you’re using your camera. Unfortunately, these aren’t permanent fixes, so the next time you open your camera app chances are your problem may return.

 

3. Force Close Your Camera App.

Now, let’s completely terminate your Camera app’s running process on your iPhone. In this method, we will guide you to force close your Camera App, thereby completely eliminating it from your RAM.

The purpose of doing this is to terminate any bugs or glitches in your Camera app. When you reopen the camera the software running it should function and start like normal.

Here’s how you can force close your Camera App:

  1. Depending on the model of your iPhone, you will want to try either of these methods.
  • On older iPhone models, your mobile device should have a Home Button. Double-tap the Home Button to open a list of your Recently Used Applications.
  • Newer iPhone models will not have a Home Button because their screen encompasses the entire phone. That’s okay, for these models you can simply touch the bottom-middle part of your iPhone screen and swipe up slowly.

camera not working properly on ios 14

  1. Now, either of these steps should open a list of your recent applications. Look for your Camera App and swipe it up to remove it from the list. This will immediately clear it from your phone’s memory.
  2. Finally, check for other apps that are using your front camera and remove these apps as well.

Now you’ve essentially restarted your Camera App. Go ahead and reopen your front camera to see if this has fixed your problem.

 

4. Restart Your iPhone.

Software problems are usually resolved by merely restarting your device. This is because your iPhone terminates all existing software processes and reboots them upon restarting.

Although we’ve just restarted your Camera App, restarting your iPhone will resolve software issues throughout your entire iPhone and not just your camera.

This will eliminate any software bugs that are currently disrupting your iPhone. Since the Camera App not working is not an intended feature, the problem is probably due to a software bug. When your mobile device powers on, your programs should function again like normal without the bugs.

Here’s how you can restart your iPhone:

  1. Firstly, press and hold down the Power Button of your iPhone until a slider that says Slide to Power Off pops up. The button should be on the right side of your iPhone.

camera not working properly on ios 14

  1. Now, drag the Power Slider to the right to restart your iPhone.
  2. Wait for a couple of seconds and reboot your iPhone by holding down the Power Button again.

Your iPhone should be fully rebooted by now, open your Camera App, and see if the issue persists with your front camera. If the problem is still there, go ahead and proceed to the next methods.

 

5. Reset Your iPhone Settings.

When updating your iOS, your settings and preferences remain the same. This is actually a useful feature since more often than not, we don’t remember all the preferences we set. This makes updating your iOS all the more convenient.

However, this can often result in bugs in your iPhone because of mix-ups in your settings. This is unlikely but can happen. In cases like this, the best thing you can do is to reset all your iPhone’s settings. This should also be a good experience as going over your settings will help you familiarize yourself with new features in the iOS.

Here’s how you can reset your iPhone’s settings:

  1. Go ahead and open the Settings app on your iPhone. This should be on your Home Screen.
  2. Now, go to General and click on Reset.
  3. Next, a list of functions that you can reset should appear, for this method select Reset All Settings.

camera not working properly on ios 14

  1. You should be asked to input your Passcode. Go ahead and input your passcode and follow the prompts to start resetting your settings.
  2. Finally, your iPhone’s screen will turn black and restart until all your settings have been reset.

After resetting your iPhone’s settings, open up your Camera App, and test your front camera for any issues. Try taking a picture or using a third-party application like Messenger to access your camera.

Apple’s new iOS 14 is still a fresh operating system full of bugs like this. It’s not uncommon for this to happen. If you’re reading this article recently after its release, then you can rest assured that they’re working on these bugs.

Meanwhile, you can downgrade to iOS 13.7 from iOS 14 by following this link. You can also try contacting Apple’s Live Customer Support by following these steps. Rest assured though, if this issue only happened after upgrading to iOS 14 then the chances of it being a hardware problem are extremely low. Hopefully, this will all be fixed in the upcoming patches.

Now that you have reached the end of this article, we hope that this post helped you in fixing your ‘Camera not working properly on iOS 14’ issue. If you have other questions related to this article, please feel free to leave a comment below.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • Mako Young

    Mako is a staff writer at Saint. He's been writing about tech for more than a decade. When he isn't reading about the latest news on Apple, he's busy studying cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, cloud computing, and other IT-related sectors. His exceptional work graces technology and Apple-related blogs like How-To Geek, VEED.io, Macgasm, onMac, PhotoWorkout, GameRant, and many more. He also has a Bachelors in Computer Science and has been writing since 2018, with over 400 posts published. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

1 comment
  1. Resetting my settings worked!!! Nothing else did, so thanks so much for gathering all of the info here in one place!

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