iPhone camera not working after iOS 26 update

iphonewontring wrote:

Alex i tried everything asked by apple. Nothing works to solve the issue caused by IOS26 update. It's not hardware related. It is sad that the apple community site can't be honest with the apple customers. To many people with the issue after the update to be hardware. Just let's be honest. I traded in my 14 phone for the pro max 17. I am sure apple is happy they got a customer to upgrade.

You do realize this is a user to user only forum don't you?. Saying Apple Community is not being honest is simply wrong. We user's aren't with Apple. No one posting here is with Apple. Personally, my iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best camera system on any iPhone I've ever owned and I've owned every iPhone over the last 10 years. I'm currently on iOS 26.3 and it hasn't in any way degraded photos.

Darmok-N-Jalad wrote:

I just got a certified refurbished iPhone 15, and it's doing this exact same behavior. I also just did a full reset, not restoring from backup, same results. The native camera app does all the laggy stop-and-go stuff, and even will just freeze entirely. I can record videos sometimes, but it pretty much won't take pictures. It will often make all the indications that it did take a picture, but it never saves them. However, if I use another app, like Procam, all three cameras work correctly right out of the gate, and the pictures taken are stored to Photos. Maybe that's still a hardware problem, but it sure seems odd that a third-party camera app seems to do what the native app can't.

Certified refurbished from whom, exactly? There are many millions upon millions of users out there with iPhone 15 phones updated to iOS 26, who aren't having camera issues. Honestly, the ONLY refurbished iPhone I'd ever buy is one refurbished by Apple directly. It would come with a full one year warranty from Apple and it would be refurbished with ONLY authentic Apple Parts. If you didn't buy the phone from Apple, I'd return it.

In reply to Jeff Donald to my original post, No. No, I haven't filled out any feedback to apple for this specific problem, because I'm not a shareholder!! Haha, just kidding sorry.

But it is true, partly because apple loves to direct you to the community instead of an actual bug report/submission, it appears their ego and market value are too important to address quality of use concerns.

I was rather dismayed with the ANC quality of my brand new Airpod pro 2's, when I know my Airpod pro 1's originally handled server room noise without breaking a sweat. Now they (Both the 1's and 2's) freak out with a nail being dropped. With all this disappointment, with no matter how much complaining I did, never once did they direct me to a bug report or any form. I wish they'd drop a line to the engineers, but they have 5 customer service walls put up to stop us from ever reaching them.

If I did find a way to submit a claim, it'd likely be falling on deaf ears. Sad to say.

Thank you firemediclex for giving, what I'd say, the most helpful and insightful response.

1984.

This happens on my Iphone 13 on IOS 26.3 fairly often. Especially during music playback with airpods. They will begin to cut out, from one airpod to the other, pause, even leading to the airpods COMPLETELY disconnecting, all from the camera app. I do not use any other camera apps, only the primary app. Sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's readily apparent. One thing is certain, it gets worse the longer you go on.

I can take the first photos absolutely no problem, no playback issues, no lag on the camera. Then within 3-5 photos in, it starts lagging, the camera slows down, my music starts cutting out, then finally stops completely and my airpods disconnect. I then have to exit out of the camera, reconnect my airpods, resume music, and carry on.

I've never considered this to be hardware, especially since it takes a couple photos to manifest. As firemediclex mentioned, I suspect this to be a memory leak issue within the SOFTWARE not the hardware. As apple continues to neglect the entire backend, subsequently issues like these rear their ugly head.

When I bought brand new Airpod pro 2's to attempt to have better ANC than my what I thought were 'degraded' Airpod pro 1's. I was warmly greeted with the same (or even worse) ANC quality. This completely ruined the image of "It's old hardware, buy the newest!" Because clearly, thats not the case.

This one of many quick 'quirks' indicate a dire need of the backend requiring a tidy up.

*** This is simply an affirmation that no, it's not hardware. While I'm not denying on the fact that yes, sometimes it is hardware. It's simply brushed off as hardware far too often.

Thank you

[Edited by Moderator]

My camera does not work anymore! Since updating it to IOS26 it is black, doesn’t turn on now and when it does on occasions I cannot turn it around to take photos. What the **** Apple!!! This is ridiculous. If someone can fix this issue asap I would be one happy person. Thank you

My camera phone freezes shows pin purple green it won’t record it won’t show what I am supposed to take a picture of it I have restarted 6 plus times close out it won’t video record it’s worse that the other updates!!!! I am at Disney world spending a fortune and I 2 gibites

Front facing camera is the selfie camera and the 3 cameras/lenses are the rear cameras. Many users find this confusing and I just want to confirm you’re referring to the front facing (selfie) camera, correct?

IOS2.26.1

Same issue here once I use the zoom screen turns grey.

Magic trick! This worked, thank you so much!

awesome thanks worked

same, mine only work when i go to video & then it tries taking pictures using videos

[Edited by Moderator]

i’m using it with a different app & the camera won’t even flip

same my phone won’t even zoom in, using the telephoto camera

Thanks for the idea but unfortunately it didn’t work for my same issue.