Camera app crashing on my iPhone 16 Pro Max

Try a force reset ⇢

• Press and quickly release the volume up button.
• Press and quickly release the volume down button.
• Press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo (this takes around 10 seconds).

PeteD1957 wrote:

I am experiencing the same issue with a host of other issues. My touchscreen freezes where I can't get anything to work. I have to restart my iPhone at least seven times a day because the voice to text stops working. And the battery life is worse than my iPhone 15 Pro Max that I had for a year. This is disappointing. I've had every model of iPhone since the first one came out.

You are still within the exchange/return window. If you are truly having as many issues as you suggest and have tried working with Apple directly to diagnose and determine the best solution (replacement for example) then it would be in your best interest to utilize the return option. If you have not contacted Apple directly for help or visited your nearest Apple Store or authorized repair facility then you need to do so before the window closes if you fear the issue isn’t something that will be addressed via a future iOS update (or you don’t feel comfortable waiting an unknown amount of time for an update to possibly address it).

I think there’s an issue with setting up the new phone from an old profile. I used one of ChatGPT’s suggestions and it worked on my 16 Pro: Reset All Settings

• Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. This won't erase your data but will reset system settings.

I did one more backup before this:

iCloud Keychain

If you were using iCloud Keychain to store your passwords, they should automatically sync back to your device after the reset. Make sure iCloud Keychain is turned on:

• Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Keychain.

• Make sure iCloud Keychain is toggled

ON.

This will restore your saved Wi-Fi passwords, website logins, and other credentials.

Good luck. This helped me avoid a replacement, but I had to restore a lot of settings to apps not backed up to iCloud even my Apple Wallet.

Please report this to the Apple Customer Service. I experience the same on my 16 Pro. When I first called a week ago they weren’t aware of the problem as it hadn’t been reported much yet. A few days later the agent had more reports and we spent about 2 hours performing several actions and gathering log files. He told me his colleagues were doing the same to get as much data as possible, as they apparently didn’t have a clue yet what causes this.

Ridiculous as it may be that we are doing the QA for them, please report it. The bigger and widespread as the issue proves to be, the sooner we will get a fix for this.

Worked with Apple Support. We tried reapplying the latest upgrade via my Mac and the phone in restore mode. Problem persisted a couple days later. I was advised the next step was to completely wipe the phone and reinstall everything from scratch, not from backup, as the culprit is likely somewhere in my backup. I did that over the weekend, took about 8 hours. It's been two days without the issue returning. I will continue to monitor.

I restarted the phone 6 days prior. That resolved the issue for 6 days. After 6 days the issue returned. That's when I contacted Apple support. They had me connect it to my Mac and then start the phone in recovery mode. We reinstalled the latest update (18.0 on that day) over top of what was there (this made it so I did not lose anything). This method helped for a day and then the issue returned. I upgraded to iOS 18.0.1, but that did not help, either. Apple Support told me all hardware sensors were fine when we ran diagnostics, so the issue must lie somewhere with something in my backup that I restored to the phone. My only recourse after that was to wipe the phone, reinstall iOS from scratch, and NOT restore a backup, but rather restore every app individually. It took around 8 hours to do, but I finished that 3 days ago. I have not had an issue since doing that, but then again, my phone went 6 days in between restarts without an issue, so who knows. BUT, the Apple Tech said since the diagnostics all passed it was NOT a hardware issue.

Friends ... issue resolved ...

1. As per my last update here as guided by Apple Support ... I had placed my 16 pro max in recovery mode ... done a clean install of iOS 18.0.1 and restored my phone from backup made on Mac. Camera crashing issue reappeared after one day.
2. Did a complete erase of contents and settings on the iPhone on version iOS 18.0.1 the next day and DID NOT RESTORE FROM BACKUP ... set it up as new iPhone ... was cumbersome to download everything again but camera app is not crashing since. It's been more than 36 hours and I've used the camera app several times without issue. ISSUE RESOLVED SO FAR.

Summary - As per Apple Support ... Do a clean install from recovery mode of iOS 18.0.1 from your Mac or PC and set it up as new iPhone. DO NOT RESTORE FROM BACKUP.

Hi,

Have you tried completely reinstalling the iOS software via the Mac or PC? This helped me and I can take photos again.

However, the app crashes here and there, especially if you try to access the camera with another app. Then restarting the iPhone helps.

Please also note that you should make a backup before and that functions, e.g. for banking apps, have to be set up again after the backup has been installed.

I am having the same problem with my 16 pro. I have followed all the directions given and have restored the device from back up which appears to clear the problem and within 24 to 48 hours later the camera app crashes and screen goes to black and back to home screen.

Absolutely fed up to the back teeth with this and the amount of hours I’ve now wasted talking to Apple support. Apparently, my device is from a bad batch. I have this officially from apple they have confirmed there is a bad batch of devices. They refused to send a new phone to replace my current one, but because I cannot afford to be without a phone, I have been forced into the only solution that I can find which is to buy and completely new device. I will set this up and see if the problem happens on the new one. In the meantime, I will return the current 16 pro as faulty.

This is led to considerable difficulty, anxiety and waste of time. Very shoddy performance from apple up to this point.

Wishing ever everyone else with this problem more or better luck.

My iPhone 16 Pro was behaving the same way and I made an appointment at my local Apple Store. The tech scanned my phone for any hardware issues and found none. He then suggested that when I setup my new phone from my old iPhone 12 Pro backup, the system files from that phone weren’t playing nicely with the new phone. He suggested that we restore the phone to the factory settings and then install all of my apps manually and setup the phone from scratch. Sounds like a pain but everything saved to iCloud (Photos, Passwords, Mail, etc.)transferred flawlessly. I can happily say that it worked and now the camera works perfectly! I hope that this helps!

I have no further issues and would update here if anything pops up. You just reset, keep your e-sim(s), then after restart don’t pick another device to restore and just log into your iTunes account. This allows you to restore messages, photos etc. Then you have to manually redownload all your apps. That’s it! Took me <2 hours this morning - I’m on a 1Gbps connection here, so able to download everything pretty quick.

Figured out an (apparent) fix for this problem:

1. Wipe the device and restore from an iCloud backup of whatever phone you used before the 16. Alternatively, use QuickStart and set up your wiped 16 using the older device directly (if you still have it.) Frustrating I know, but bear with me.
2. Once restoration is complete, the most important step you need to follow is DO NOT open the camera app. I cannot emphasise this enough. Your first instinct will be to open the app and check that all is well. DO NOT DO THIS. Doing so will put you right back to square one, and you’ll have to restart the entire process all over again.
3. Instead, head directly to settings > camera > (scroll down) > macro control and turn it OFF. You MUST do this before opening the camera app for the first time.

For whatever reason, entering the camera app with the macro control toggle enabled even once seems to be akin to opening a Pandora’s box of errors and crashes. From there, turning the option off after the fact does absolutely nothing to stop the issue.

I did this last week and haven’t had any problems since, though I will update if the issue rears its head again. I only figured this fix out after telling my dad to disable the macro mode toggle shortly after he’d set up his new 16 for the first time, in light of all the issues people (including myself) were dealing with. He went on to not experience any of the camera issues I had, at which point it occurred to me that he had never opened the camera app in the first place before disabling the macro toggle.

Really hope this turns out to be a reliable fix.

I’ve been experiencing a frustrating issue with my iPhone 16 Pro Max, which I pre-ordered and was among the first to receive. After setting it up with an iCloud restore from my iPhone 15 Pro Max—which had worked perfectly for a year—I encountered problems just a day or two into using the new phone. The camera began crashing, and the only solution was to restart the device.

Despite speaking with multiple Apple Support technicians and supervisors, collecting logs, and allowing them to remotely access my phone, no solution was found. They recommended waiting for the next iOS update. Unfortunately, when iOS 18.01 was released, the issue worsened. Frustrated, I requested a replacement phone within my 30-day return window. However, the new device exhibited the same problem after just one day of use.

After researching online, I discovered a recommended solution: resetting all settings. This option does not result in data loss, although it does remove Apple Pay cards from your Wallet, as well as location settings for all apps and some preferences. As of now, about 36 hours later, it seems to be working.

So someone mentioned earlier that turning off Sound Recognition solved the issue for them. I’ve tried this and so far after a couple of days, the camera app isn’t crashing and remarkably my battery life has improved dramatically too. Go figure. Doesn’t remove the fact that Apple need to sort this issue as a priority. Turning off one iPhone feature to ensure another one doesn’t crash isn’t exactly a great fix.

Ended up going to the Apple store, and they tech mentioned to me that so far the only solution that he knows would work was to reset the phone, and start from scratch. That was 5 days ago and so far the issue hasn't reappear. if you are planning to reset your phone and start from scratch, make sure you have a backup of your photos and text messages. I had issues with restoring text messages, thankfully I still had my old iPhone, sync up the Messages and downloaded them to the new phone. I hope this helps someone out there. Good luck.