iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera Lag

I just went out for a shoot with my dog in the sunshine and experienced really bad lag with the camera app on iPhone 11 Pro Max (iOS 13.1.2)


  • Switching between photo and video lags
  • Switching between tele and zoom on video mode lags
  • 'Quick recording' a video from photo mode lagged for many seconds after the shot while the app processed the video
  • The worst of all - switching between video back to photo froze the entire app for several seconds.


Mainly posting this so Apple will push a fix in a point release soon, I hope.



iPhone 11 Pro Max

Posted on Oct 9, 2019 4:01 AM

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30 replies

Dec 5, 2019 6:22 AM in response to iPhoneUser-NL

I purchased my iPhone 11 Max Pro in October, everything was fine until a recent update. Turns out that the front facing camera had a hardware failure. They replaced the camera and works fine. Take your phone into an apple store or schedule a online appointment and they can run the diagnostic to rule out a hardware problem.


The issues I was experiences was the zoom x2 option would not work, the 1x would not focus or it would freeze, video would work but not consistently. First time I have every had a hardware issue on an iPhone.

Feb 14, 2020 4:44 AM in response to D3vious

i have purchased a phone almost every year since the iPhone came out and I always transfer or restore from a backup. As you can imagine I had a lot of apps on the phone. When purchasing the 11 pro max, the zoom lens hardware had an issue and was replaced. I recently had issues with missing calls and ring volume, and the person on the other side couldn’t hear me clearly. I always just used the same SIM card from phone to phone. I decided to take the pain and replace the SIM card with a new one from AT&T (free and simple swap with phone call to AT&T). Then I restored my phone as a new phone and logged in to my iCloud account and I have had no issues. It took a bit of time to just re download my apps that I wanted which was straight forward since all apps I have ever downloaded is available - just scroll and click.


i believe most of peoples issues are software and with a new phone restore will fix them all other than hardware and bugs that are part of iOS.

May 26, 2020 7:54 AM in response to evilswan

If you use a metal case for your iPhone, it may degrade the performance of your phone’s camera.


I bought a new iPhone last February and slapped on a rugged case with a metal bumper. Immediately after taking a Live Photo, my iPhone would stutter for a moment or two before proceeding smoothly with the video capture. This stuttering would result in dropped frames noticeable when viewing the Live Photo. It also sometimes took worse photos than my older iPhone 8.


This was disappointing for so expensive a phone, especially since my older iPhone took Live Photos flawlessly. But the issue disappeared after I replaced my heavy, metal-bumpered case with an all-silicone one! See this article for an explanation.


My unit is an iPhone 11 Pro Max.



Dec 5, 2019 5:42 AM in response to evilswan

wow. never had such slow opening of an camera feature. It takes 5 to sometimes 30 seconds...


This iphone 11 pro max device brand new and the full specs. Few apps and little data.


this is really malfunction. I did buy this phone For > 1500 euro..... expecting extremely fast, and real snappy device. It’s slower then the old windows pocket pcs.


yes I have latest updates and yes I did reboot several times....


Apple fix this or recall this iPhone 11 pro max. It’s really, really slow and annoying.

Feb 14, 2020 1:12 AM in response to evilswan

This seems to be general Problem 11Pro. What infuriates me is that Apple does not address any of the issues. All this fuzz about how great new 11Pro is with it's lenses, but in reality it's crap.


  1. Camera gets Laggy continuously and let's be honest it's anyong to force restart device every time.
  2. The "Beauty" smoothing is overboard and makes Videos look like NOKIA 6650 quality. It smooths everything, not just faces.
  3. Switching between lenses is random, sometimes it's smooth, most of time it's horrible.


I upgrade my device every 2 years and this was year when I was thinking to go non Apple device ( As X screen scratched like no other phone ), but tought I give it a shot with 1300 EUR one last time. As an result I feel that Apple has scammed/mislead me. With their false promises and hype. Camera does not work like it's promised and screen scratching issue still not fixed or worked out. Phone is a phone and every other functionality is irrelevant as 300 EUR phone performs those same functions. It's the functions you pay extra and are advertised I care. It's either time to sue Apple or Apple starts publicly address and admit these issues and changes something at their Testing program before release every device. Otherwise I dare to claim that Apple deliberately misleads their consumer just to keep client for one more year. At the moment I feel I should have gone with S20 Ultra with same money... I have 3 family members who I keep in Apple ecosystem, but I feel Apple really doesn't care and seriously to consider swapping ecosystems and get done with this and leave these issues behind.

May 23, 2020 1:42 PM in response to diegoinos

Hi I didn’t do a backup at all as o had other things going on my life at that time. I thought the issues fixed itself as I had started to use the camera less but a couple days ago same thing happened again.... I have paid for iCloud storage Just need to back up and restore then we will see what happens. I will try update you if I get time to actually do the backup and restore. Funny thing is I never got a follow up call from Apple at all...

Jun 17, 2020 10:19 PM in response to evilswan

I have an iPhone 8 and an 11 Pro. Intermittently on both phones running 13.5.1, I will select video in the camera app and the camera view freezes in what looks like mid-focus until I kill the app. This also occurs on Photo and Slo-mo. The problem persists until reboot and will work fine for a few days until, of course, I need to take video. I’ve already restored both as new phones via iTunes but the problem persists. So, Apple is sending me another 11 Pro. Hopefully this phone doesn’t do the same thing.

Dec 15, 2019 3:50 AM in response to evilswan

First the battery health, and Now This!

I’m on 11 pro, there’s a huge lag when zooming. I thought may be that’s a problem displaying the zoom but the same lag is there in the recorded video when i play it back. Now I regret updating my phone. Pretty soon I’ll regret buying apple. The only reason why we pay so much for a mobile is to not to have these Oppo-class issues. Apple, you’re disappointing so many customers this year in so many ways. Oh I almost forgot that i have a funny calculator where decimal point and the comma is swapped. Reinstalled, Reported but still got no response nor fix.

Jan 31, 2020 5:43 AM in response to iPhoneUser-NL

I bought this same phone (Iphone 11 pro Max - no improvement with iOS update) for $1200 and I’m having same issues. Camera lag. No other apps open. I’m constantly dropping Bluetooth and 5g calls drop all the fricken time. At least once every 20 mins. I’m EXTREMELY disappointed in this phone and actually have Samsung envy. Nothing about this phone is PRO. Apple RECALL THIS CRAPPY PHONE!

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iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera Lag

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