Unknown Part Unable to determine if your iPhone camera is a genuine Apple part.

Update: went through the “process” which sent me to Best Buy first. They couldn’t fix it. Went to the Apple Store and worked with a tech - Apple wanted $200 to repair the camera. Since AT&T (our carrier) was in the same location as the Apple Store we went there. They gave us a pamphlet & we went through the claim process. I had a new phone in 2 days. CHECK through your carrier for assistance before throwing more money at Apple.

lolo14207 wrote:

I have a 13 Pro Max.

I had the same message pop up this morning.

The only things I noticed were: my camera lagged / froze last night while taking a video; this morning, I went to take a picture, and the screen was blank, but if I flipped the picture around (to take a selfie), it was ok.

I am up to date with updates - iOS 17.3.1

I reser all settings, and I powered the phone off for 5 minutes. When I turned the phone back on, the notification was gone.

You need to make an appointment to have your phone serviced:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

aerial225 wrote:

This same thing happened with my phone! Tried to take it in to Best Buy yesterday and they told me they don’t handle these type of error messages & my phone would need to be mailed in to Apple! I’ve NEVER had my phone repaired or anything.

The message can mean two things: 1) that you had the phone repaired by someone other than Apple or 2) that there is a hardware problem that NEEDS to be repaired. If number one is not applicable in your case, then the issue is probably number two. Send the phone to Apple for repair.

I hard reset my iPhone 13 without the case (that has a magnet charger), and THAT FIXED IT.

They released an update late yesterday and luckily it fixed mine. They would never admit it was a known problem though.

I will add my voice to the chorus in case it helps move the needle in any way. Same issues. Just leaving the Apple Store now. The representative I saw acknowledged their camera is faulty and that it was a fairly common problem, but "not enough people have experienced the problem to offer the repair at no cost." So I will have to pay $199+tax to replace the admittedly-faulty camera for my <2-yr-old phone.

Sbmote wrote:

So everyone here is having the same issue after an update,

No, everyone is not having this issue.

and Apple knows about the issue,

Apple will only know if you take your phone to them for evaluation.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

still does not want to acknowledge an issue and charge for the repair.

Apple doesn't make announcements about anything in this user-to-user forum.

Do you work for Apple or are you in the repair business.

No and no.

not a positive update: if you do a hard reset several times it will eventually get rid of that message and your camera will work again (meaning you did not destroy your camera!) if you open your camera more than once then it will come back. Basically you can erase the message and give your phone to them with no problems and they can deal with it after you leave.

This is an Apple forcing you to upgrade your device. If you’ve never had an unauthorized person open your phone that message clearly says one of the reasons is it could not be functioning properly. This is basically saying there’s likely a hardware issue that needs repaired.

You can do some basic troubleshooting to rule out a software issue first, tho. Forced restarts and reset all settings.

kelseyleanne wrote:

Is there a solution to this camera problem yet?! Mine just happened out of no where too. Just did the latest update and didn’t fix anything

Yes, there is! Have Apple fix what's wrong with your hardware:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Selk6807 wrote:

everyone’s phone can’t all break at same time, strange

"Everyone's" isn't breaking.

You should contact Apple and have them run diagnostics:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

B_ShRP wrote:

Update: after the 17.3 update the error for the “important camera message” went away and my phone took great pictures from what little I used it. But within 18 hours the camera portion of my phone is now either black or immediately freezes on an image as soon as you open the camera feature. This is actually worse now than before. Time lapse, slo-mo, video, portrait and pano all work great.

Your phone needs to be repaired:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

BriaWest wrote:

I’m having the same problem. My camera started acting up and is now giving me this error.

Contact Apple and arrange for them to run diagnostics:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

AlsoPrime wrote:

But also where do you go to reset all the settings ?

You can reset all the settings, but if there is a hardware problem, the notification will come back.

Settings>General>Transfer or Reset iPhone>Reset>Reset All Settings.

This happened to my iPhone 13 pro a while ago too. The settings said the camera was not a genuine part, the wide lens function was not working, and I can only zoom up to 5x. I thought it was a hardware problem so I went to a genius bar and they fixed the camera for me, which I paid a lot of money for. It was functional for about 4 months before it happened again. It’s so annoying when I have to spend extra money when it’s an issue created by Apple.