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Quick ways to troubleshoot your front camera on an iPhone
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Is your iPhone's front camera showing a black screen? If you can't take any photos or start the Camera app at all, there are a few fixes you can try. Here's how to fix your iPhone front camera when it's not working.

Things You Should Know

  • Your iPhone's front camera may not work if your software is outdated, your storage is full, or you have changed some accessibility settings.
  • Force-close and open the Camera app to restart it, or switch between front and back camera view.
  • Restart your iPhone, free up some storage, update your iPhone, or reset all settings.
1

Restart the Camera app.

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  1. If you have a Home button, double-click it. If you don't have a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Swipe up on the Camera app to close it, and then open it again.
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2

Switch the Camera view.

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  1. Switch to selfie mode, and then switch back. Changing the camera mode from back-facing to front-facing to back-facing again may get it to work again.
    • To change the camera, tap the overlapping circle icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen. On older iOS versions, this icon may be in the top-right corner instead.
3

Restart your iPhone.

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  1. A quick restart can fix common issues. Do the following:
    • On iPhones without a Home button, press and hold the Power and Volume Up buttons until the Power slider appears.
      • On iPhones with a Home button, press and hold the side button until the slider appears.
    • Slide the slider with your finger and wait for your iPhone to turn off.
    • Wait 30 seconds, and then turn it back on.
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4

Clear up storage space.

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  1. If you can't get the camera to work, it may lock itself due to lack of storage space. You can use a cloud service such as iCloud or Google Drive to transfer and save photos off your device. To check your current storage information, do the following:
    • Go to Settings .
    • Tap General .
    • Tap iPhone Storage .
5

Update your iPhone.

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  1. Similar to when your iPhone blinks, flickers , or keeps refocusing , you may be due for a software update . Do the following:
    • Go to Settings .
    • Tap General .
    • Tap Software Update .
    • Tap Download and Install .
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6

Disable VoiceOver.

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  1. If you have this accessibility feature turned on, it may make the camera go black. To disable it, do the following:
    • Go to Settings .
    • Tap Accessibility .
    • Tap VoiceOver .
    • Toggle off VoiceOver .
7

Reset All Settings.

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  1. This includes network settings, privacy settings, location settings, and more. You can do this without erasing your data, but be sure to backup your iPhone just in case. [1] Do the following:
    • Go to Settings .
    • Tap General .
    • Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone .
    • Tap Reset .
    • Tap Reset All Settings .
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8

Contact Apple.

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  1. Contact Apple for help. This may be a hardware issue, and you may still be covered by Apple's warranty. [2]

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