iPad Pro (11-inch WiFi) camera problems

The camera on my iPad Pro 11-inch does not work consistently. I first noticed the problem within the MyFitnessPal app. It has a feature to scan barcodes on food products in order to automatically download data from a product’s nutrition label. The feature works without problems on my iPhone X. But on my iPad, the camera never loads. It simply shows a gray screen with a “Searching...” message.

I’ve double-checked the app’s settings as well as camera use privileges in settings and everything is as it should be. I initially thought it was an app (MyFitnessPal) problem. However, even after soft and hard resets, the problem persists. For example, after restarting my iPad, I open the Camera app and all I see is black. I’ve read some suggestions online that this could be related to the magnets in the iPad cover, which I use (and was purchased from an Apple store). I’ve had mixed success with this approach. Sometimes, after a restart (with the cover removed) the camera works; other times, it doesn’t.

I did find a workaround: if I try to use the Camera app and get the black screen, if I switch to a different app that has permission to use the camera, the camera activates. If I then switch back to the Camera app, it works...sometimes.

What the heck?