iPhone Camera Not Working After Drop (What to Do?)

As a frustrated iPhone owner who recently experienced my phone’s camera not working after a drop, I’m here to share what I discovered in my research and testing to get it working again. I’ll also share other potential solutions I found that may help you if you’re experiencing the same issue. So, if you’ve recently dropped your iPhone and your camera has stopped working, this blog post is for you!

Luckily, unless the iPhone camera is visibly broken, it’s likely that it’s a simple software malfunction. It can be really hard for the camera to break internally from a drop, especially if the rest of the phone is unharmed and still functioning. So, simply restarting the camera app or the phone itself should do the trick.

Solution	How to do it
Clean the camera	Use a fiber cloth to clean the camera lens; inspect for dirt or debris
Reopen the camera app	Close and then reopen the camera app
Switch the camera	Switch between the front and rear camera
Force restart your phone	Press and quickly release volume up button, press and quickly release volume down button, then press and hold the power button until the Apple logo appears
Switch off voice over	Access Settings > General > Accessibility > Turn Off Voice Over
Update iOS	Access Settings > General > Software Update
Fix the flash	Clear data from the camera app by accessing Settings > Application Manager > All > Camera > Clear Data; or send the phone to Apple for repair if the flash won’t work at all.

What to Do If iPhone Camera Isn’t Working After Drop

Dropping your phone can be a scary experience, especially if the apps won’t function properly afterward. Most commonly, the camera might not work after dropping your phone.

However, if you first inspect your phone after a drop and it isn’t scratched or broken, then the camera hardware should be fine. After all, it’s hard for the interior camera to break without any damage to the outside of your iPhone.

Usually, the camera screen turns black. This could be in the camera app itself or any other app that uses the camera, such as Snapchat or Instagram. On the other hand, the photos might end up blurry, or the flash wouldn’t work.

There are many fixes to your problem, though. These include:

Clean the Camera

Since this is an obvious solution, most people overlook it, especially with the panic of dropping the phone. Your camera might simply be dirty! So, the photos might appear blurry.

All you have to do is clean the camera with a fiber cloth. However, make sure it’s dry and clean. You should also check the camera closely to inspect if any dirt or debris is lodged within the lens. In this case, you might need to contact Apple support for a professional inspection.

Reopen the Camera App

The fastest and simplest solution to repair the black screen on the camera app is to simply close it, then open it again. The reason this trick works is that the app might not have loaded properly.

By reopening the camera app, you’re basically refreshing it so the app can function again. This should take no time at all!

Switch the Camera

Instead of completely refreshing your camera app, you can nudge it to work by switching the front camera to the rear camera. Once you switch the camera, you might find them to work just as normal.

Force Restart Your Phone

If the above tricks don’t work, you can restart your iPhone to reset all software functions. You can either reboot your phone by holding down the power button, or force restart. This can be done by following the next steps:

Press then quickly release the volume up button.
Press then quickly release the volume down button.
Press the power button until the Apple logo shows on the screen.

Switch Off Voice Over

Though this might seem like a random solution, it actually works! Somehow, even if you didn’t drop your phone, the camera can turn black when the voice over feature is on.

To switch the voiceover off, all you have to do is access Settings → General → Accessibility → Turn Off Voice Over.

When you open the camera app again, it should be working properly.

Update iOS

Outdated software can cause many bugs in all apps, even the camera. iPhone no longer automatically updates your phone with the latest iOS version. So, you have to approve the update beforehand.

To do this, simply access Settings → General → Software Update. That said, your battery must be over 50%, or your phone should be plugged in and charging so the update can take place.

Fix the Flash

Sometimes, the issue wouldn’t be with the camera app but with the flash. To confirm this, turn off the flash feature of the camera and try taking a picture. Alternatively, you can test the phone’s flashlight instead of the camera.

If the problem seems to be the camera flash only, you can fix this by clearing the data from the camera app by accessing Settings → Application Manager → All → Camera → Clear Data.

If the flash won’t work at all, then the issue would be with the hardware. In this case, you’ll need to send your phone to Apple for repair.

Conclusion

Most iPhone users experience malfunctions with their camera if they drop their phone, even if the phone itself is unharmed! This might be a software issue and has many easy fixes.

First, you can simply exit the camera app and then reopen it. Alternatively, you can restart your iPhone.

You might need to check the latest iOS updates or turn off the voice-over feature. Though, some people might overlook cleaning their camera lens and mistake it for a malfunction!