Camera Remote App on Apple Watch Ultra leads to a black preview screen

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Camera Remote App on Apple Watch Ultra leads to a black preview screen

My Apple Ultra Watch (1) is running the latest OS (11.0.1 at time of writing) whilst my iPhone 16 Pro Max is - likewise - running the latest OS (18.0.1 at time of writing). When I open the Camera Remote app on the watch, a black screen appears rather than the expected feed from the iPhone's camera. I am able to trigger a snapshot (from watch) but not see it in the preview (which is the purpose of a Remote App). The matter is resolved when I restart watch and/or phone, but then the issue returns after a while.

The same issue occurred with my iPhone 14 Pro Max with identical behaviour indicating that this is not a hardware issue per se.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Apple Watch Ultra, watchOS 11

Posted on Oct 22, 2024 3:28 PM

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Answer 1

LakeTree Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 23, 2024 7:00 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Hi Jeff. Thank you so much for this response.

In my case I'm never in a WiFi environment when this issue occurs (eg. outdoors, hike etc). Thus the connection between watch and phone is established by Apple's Bluetooth service. Thus it's unlikely to be a WiFi latency issue/error. It seems to be either a connection (Bluetooth stability), or software/configuration issue.

I'm ruling out hardware as: (a) the same issue occurred with a previous iPhone (14), and (b) a restart resolves the issues for a few hours.

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Answer 2

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,562 points

Oct 23, 2024 7:14 AM in response to LakeTree

Hi, sorry, still working on my first cup of coffee and a 3 hour jet lag. I typed WiFi but meant Bluetooth. I suspect distance in some of my cases. I’ve walked a few feet and connection restores. In any event, a restart has always restored the proper connection for me.

I always suspected it was the Bluetooth antenna being embedded in the polymer layer in the Ultra.

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Answer 3

Jeff Donald

Level 8

44,562 points

Oct 23, 2024 6:46 AM in response to LakeTree

I think it’s just a WiFi connection issue. I’ve had it happen occasionally and I generally restart one or both devices and connection is restored.

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Camera Remote App on Apple Watch Ultra leads to a black preview screen

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