iPhone camera app keeps crashing after iOS 18 Update

Same problem iPhone 13 mini, upgraded to 18.0.1 in hope it would fix but didn’t. I’ve noted that camera works fine when using via another app (e.g. WhatsApp or Pro Camera).

As a possible temporary fix I’ve toggled the QR reading function off in Settings>Camera>Scan QR Codes and Show Detected Text and it seems to have worked…

Here's the fix! Go to Settings /Camera and turn off prioritize faster shooting. That did the trick. I also turned off Smart HDR so it might have been that too . Anyway, camera back to normal.

Here's the fix! Go to Settings /Camera and turn off prioritize faster shooting. That did the trick. I also turned off Smart HDR so it might have been that too . Anyway, camera back to normal.

Here's the fix! Go to Settings /Camera and turn off prioritize faster shooting. That did the trick. I also turned off Smart HDR so it might have been that too . Anyway, camera back to normal.

This issue disappeared when I upgraded to 18.1 - I suggest you all do that since the issue has been closed - anything still coming up again may require a fresh install but I am happy at least.

I found a solution with the help of the Apple support representative. The culprit is the metal stand on my iPhone case the metal part interferes with the phone after removing the metal the case and resetting the phone. The phone was operational again close the Camera app multiple times and open itwith no more crashing or freezing problem solved.

I have an iPhone 15 and we have similar issues after updating to iOS 18. Before that, I have no issues with my phone camera as a result, I contacted Apple online support and the result was not successful. Online support tried to do an online diagnostic, but cannot find a problem with my phone hardware. Online support said the problem was caused by the metal on my iPhone case which is interfering with the camera, but I don’t believe it. I was advised to go to the nearest Apple Store to have it seen which I did. they ran a diagnostic test and They found that my rear camera lens is defective.. The problem persist after replacing the camera. according to the technician, it’s not a software issue, but a hardware issue. Now they’re blaming on the chip. Who knows what was the real issue?I was so lucky that my phone was still under warranty and they replaced my phone with a new one and that solve the problem. My advice to you is to visit the nearest Apple store with a genius bar and have it check. Good luck. by the way, my new phone iPhone 15 has the latest iOS 18.0.1 and it is working perfect for now.

In the past few months, I thought my iPhone SE was too old that the camera keeps crashing, until I see you guys...

It has become more and more severe recently for me. Would love to see the solution in a timely manner.

Thanks for the suggestion from replies. I did several experiments. It does seem to be related to the QR code/ OCR in the camera for my case. If I take a random picture, it is fine; if I take a picture of a page full of text from a book, it will crash every single time. I guess the text number is so large and the CPU just refuses to work...

Ah, I see. One thing that might help is to screen record the issue as it happens and then share that directly through Apple’s Feedback app. This way, they can take a closer look at the specific behavior you're experiencing. It’s a good way to get the problem on their radar and hopefully speed up a bug fix. In the meantime, —fingers crossed they’ll roll out a patch soon!

I feel the same issues plague all vendors with initial major releases, especially after reviewing corporate security buying programs and seeing issues from that stance across multiple large deployments - but the camera issue has been resolved now in 18.1 and I am sure some happy iPhone user will appreciate your hand-me-down or used phone for many more years ^^.

As for being an issue to force upgrades - I know it wasn't that at least since if you read through the thread the issue impacted the latest iPhone 16 Pro as well.

I’ve got the exact same blank image camera problem on my 12 pro, and it’s definitely an iOS 18 issue. Restarting didn’t fix it. We need a bug fix.

Magnetic accessories might interfere with iPhone cameras - Apple Support

I have an iPhone 16 Pro and the factory camera app always crashes and I have to re-reset my phone by turning it off and turning it back on and then it’ll work for a while.

I truly hope that iOS 18.1 will fix this issue because I use my camera so much at my job.

Having this issue in my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I even updated to 18.1 and still didn’t touch the issue. If I restart my phone, I get a few moments of camera use until it shuts down or glitches the screen. I tried recording concert videos last night and was met with this issue. It is EXTREMELY irritating considering this has been an issue since September and yet nothing has been done to fix it. I no longer have the 0.5x option on my camera, and I cannot zoom more than 3x in video. It would be nice if this issue would actually be addressed instead of us all just having to deal with it.

I think there should be some camera hardware unstable/failure and iOS 18 is not handled it correctly.

My camera app returned to normal after I updated to 18.0.1 since my last post, I thought it was fixed by the new update, but few weeks later I drop my iPhone to the floor the camera start to freeze again, and it would totally freeze when I switch to 0.5 ultrawide camera. I tried to use 3rd party camara app it cannot use the 0.5 ultrawide wide lens, I think now it is totally broken and iOS has nothing to do with it.

You can use a third party app to test if the lenses are functional, e.g. Doule Take can switch each of those lenses, if they are working well then it maybe the software bugs, or maybe something wrong with your camera hardware.