Camera app crashing on my iPhone 16 Pro Max

My camera is finally working !!

it was a magnetic interference on iPhone camera caused by the magnet on the back of my cover

This is a revised version regards this issue to try and comply with Apple regulations on this forum.

I simply want to help others who have suffered these problems....

Camera Crashing - Problems Solved!

My iphone 16 pro 256mb had the camera crashing problem...

Despaired of my Iphone 16 Pro 256mb, and after many hours ofer 2 weeks with Apple Support - Eventually got my 12 pro back ( I had sent it as trade in) and sent back the faulty 16pro to Apple. 

Replacement arrived last Friday. 

I have set it up as a brand new phone and DID NOT use any transfer of data facilities from old back ups from previous iphone devices.

The new 16pro has therefore been set up as a NEW Iphone.

Camera problem has not happened on the replacement device.

Yes I have downloaded ICloud data, but did not transfer anything else. 

I downloaded ALL non pre installed apps afresh, and went through signing into each and every one the slow and laborious way around.

I kept a careful step by step record of everything I did so I could be sure I was being very steady and footsure.

SO FAR ( 5.5 Days) The Camera is behaving well and NO CRASHING ( fingers crossed as I write this) the new Iphone 16 pro 256 mb is performing perfectly. 

My lesson from this is that only a new device and a completely fresh start worked. 

Who knows - maybe wiping a faulty 16 Pro and starting from scratch may have helped. I do not know and did not try as I did not want to invest more time in a device that could not be fixed by any other the suggestions on this forum. So having been through the pain and wait to get my trusty old 12 pro back ( that took two weeks with support from apple after sales support to achieve) and having that in hand as backup I was prepared to wait the (1 week) to get the replacement 16 pro.

I have benefitted a lot from hearing other peoples comments and advice on this thread so thank you to all those who suggested a "NEW DEVICE and a completely new and no transfers from back ups or devices set up" as the solution.

This is also what a advisor in an apple shop suggested. It is now 5 + days since my new 16pro arrived and the camera is working fine. It was a long journey but I wanted to share this positive story.

Good luck to you all.

After weeks of frustration - I gave up and arranged a replacement of my 16 pro 256.

It arrived in a week.

The new 16Pro (camera) worked perfectly on OS 18.01 and having updated to the latest 18.1 the camera is still operating perfectly.

I had set the new replacement 16pro up as a completely new device and downloaded all apps afresh I did not do any mac or old phone transfers at all. I did download icloud data.

I would avoid all device to device transfers.

I have noticed it hanging in whatsapp and possibly another couple of apps as well, but so far there is no pattern to the hanging. It resumes after a 30-60 seconds.

Otherwise so far the camera is behaving perfectly.

iOS 18.1 fixes this issue. I have had it since beta and it resolved it then, and the official release makes things even more stable. If you’re having this issue UPDATE IMMEDIATELY, that should solve the issue. Hope this helps!

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).

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.

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.

I worked with phone support and after a few hardware test they had me go to Camera in Settings and turn off "Macro Control" and then do a hard boot...Volume up, down and hold right button and it worked. Not the ultimate fix for what seems to be a software issue but works for now.

I had the same issue I swapped my phone in twice finally my third iPhone 16 Pro Max works as intended. It has been four days now and the camera app hasn’t crashed on the old phone. The camera app would crash almost every 48 hours.

I have replaced my iPhone 16 pro Max 2 times, original and first replacement had the same issue. Both were setup from my previous phone back up. Original was a phone to phone transfer. First replacement one was from iCloud backup. Then got the 2nd replacement set up as new phone. It’s been a week and camera works fine without any crash.

From

what I heard from Apple repair, it seems more likely to be a software problem. I had it replaced two days ago and the new phone still shows the same problem. The technician asks me to update iOS to 18.1. I will know in the next couple of days if the same problem continues.

I have a theory, which on one test has seemed to show some promise. I’ve been using a case with “precise” cutouts for each lens and sensor on the camera. I think that something about the way the case is designed may be interfering with the camera’s sensor and causing this crash loop. I started to have the issue once again a little while ago, and so I removed my case and tried again to launch the camera all using the side button. Voila. It worked fine. Curious if anyone else with this issue has a case with the individual lens cutouts instead of one big square?

18.0.1 here and it crashes still. Been on the text support with Apple; they ran remote diagnostics; declared it OK and sent me to the Apple store for hardware diagnostics. Went down there yesterday and they also declared it OK. Said the only thing I can do is to wipe the phone completely and start again, that it might be something in my backup that is causing it. I am going to soldier on for a bit in the hope they will release another update. It’s super annoying though. I take a lot of photos.

It's been 7 days since I wiped my iphone and rebuilt from scratch without restoring the backup. So far so good. The camera has not crashed. I did not lose everything, photos, messages, and other data was backed up to iCloud and brought back down to my phone. BUT, I had to reinstall all apps from the app store one at a time. I spent an hour before hand taking screenshots of everything on my phone to be sure I didn't miss any settings I'd had before. The only thing I forgot was to take screenshots of what was on my Apple Watch because that backup is tied to the phone's backup. So I had to restore my watch as a new watch in addition to the phone.

While the camera has not crashed, I will say the phone is not nearly as responsive as my 14 Pro Max was. Using the Camera Control button feels very sluggish, moreso than just using the Camera shortcut from the lock screen or control center.

Did this fix my issue? I haven't seen the crash since, but I've also seen maybe 2-3 others here posting this method did not work for them. Your mileage may vary. If 18.1 includes a fix for this, that would be great, but I wasn't waiting until the end of the month and I didn't want to install the beta. I'm not disappointed to wipe the phone, I think it's a good practice to do from time to time anyways, maybe every 3rd or 4th phone.