iPhone SE 2020 making a clicking sound when opening Snapchat and camera app

So off the back of some responses where people woke up and it was fixed, I did a hard reset (vol up, vol down, hold power) and on reboot the noise is gone. This confirms to me that it is a fault in iOS 4.2 that is causing this to occur. It is not a mechanical failure, it seems to be iOS aggressively activating the OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) unit on camera launch, and it hits the boundary and springs back down thus the little spring “boink” we hear. I just hope it’s not ruining the OIS mechanism.

I believe the most popular / helpful answer is not correct. The clicking sound we hear when an app starts to use the camera, is not from the aperture adjustment.

This sound is very familiar to me with my pro Canon DSLR lenses. It sounds like an Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) starting up - which most latest generation iPhones have built into the cameras, including iPhone SE 2020.

I didn’t notice this on my wife’s SE 2020 until I ordered one for myself. My phone’s clicking sound is almost twice as loud as my wife’s. I will be contacting Apple to see if I should exchange it as it is quite noticeable.

Hey everyone,

This is actually due to the mechanics of the iPhone. Weird right? This is actually the aperture that is making the sound. The aperture is the mechanical part that opens the light sensor up to the incoming light. Any apps that use the camera will make this sound especially with the iPhone SE because this iPhone has a more pronounce sound to the aperture. Did you know that the camera sound was actually made because bigger cameras have the louder aperture.

Hope this helps,

CJM

Can confirm it’s absolutely not a software defect. You can turn the phone off and tap the top of the phone and it’ll make a similar noise due to some sort of loose aperture.

update: I contacted apple support, they think it is a hardware issue, suggested to go into store and get it checked out. I live no where near a store and won’t be able to get to one for a few months due to covid.. mailing is not an option apparently but they said it should be fine to keep using until I get it checked.. fingers crossed I don’t make the sound worse overtime somehow..

Same issue with my iphone. Went to a Apple Store and they told me it's either:

1) my fault, because I shaked / hit my iphone somewhere and then my stabilizer in the camera broke. And this one won't be changed with a camera change. Plus it's my own fault.

2) a software issue and I should restore my Iphone via Itunes, because then apparently it's whiped completely and not like when I restore it from the phone settings.

After I restore my phone and the problem persists I shall come back and they will see what they can do. Unfortunately I can't restore the phone because when I want to restore using Itunes it takes several hours and nothing happens. Maybe I have to let it run over the night or something.

I have had the exact same problem, and I hard reset it and it worked like a charm! Thank you so much for posting that!

As a follow up since my last post where the hard reset worked, uploading to YouTube triggered the problem to begin again and now it happens on any invocation of the camera.

100% software 100% fixable in a software update. I encourage those in this thread to submit feedback in a form of a bug report and reference this thread.

The work around is to do a hard reset.

up, down, hold power 10s

@apple.... weak sauce

I discovered the same problem on mine. I guess it's the sensor of the camera witch is kind off waking up. Every time I exit the camera or snapchat and then reenter again it doesn't appear, unless I wait a little longer or I turn off the display.

Anyway I'm disappointed, because I had phones at much lower prices, which never had such a problem!

ive only had my se for a week and noticed this sound half the time when I turn on my camera. From research online it would appear that it is common and a mechanicl sound that is normal. By the amount of people that are experiencing it as well, I would think it’s safe to say that it is a normal sound for this type of iPhone?

This sound occurs on my SE GEN2 as

well. It has a very mechanical noise to it.

It is likely hardware.

is it an issue?

Well that’s the bigger problem, more appropriately: is this a wear part in the design that will fail?

hey all I just want to tell you my experience regarding this :

1. I didn’t notice the sound until I started use the camera frequently mostly this happens to me when I open social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat

2.Secondly I thought this was a hardware issue but then after restarted by phone the sound goes away so my guess is it might software enabled hardware issue which i guess can be rectified (I hope apple does this soon)

3.Thirdly I noticed the sound comes back after two days each time I restart the phone it sounds like clock ticking slowly

4.This are my observations and I hope apple does the needful by rectifying this issue.

I too have this issue with my iPhone SE 2nd gen. There is a ticking or spring like sound emitted intermittently when an application requiring the camera is launched. Took my original phone to the Genius Bar and the rear camera and Taptic Engine were replaced. A few days later, the problem returned. Took the phone back and the Genius Bar replaced the entire device. The new phone now makes the same noise. Up to date and running 14.4.1, Apple, please resolve this.

I had an iPhone camera replaced.. still made the noise, got the entire phone replaced. New phone makes the same noise.

it’s absolutely a product design flaw.