iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) bug? "Flash is Disabled"

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Level 1

60 points

iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) bug? "Flash is Disabled"

I bet you thought I meant Adobe Flash, huh? Well that a whole other discussion.

I think I found a bug in the firmware, that involved the camera flash. Overall, I really don't think it is significant... more interesting.

Repeatable steps to make the iPhone think that the phone is overheated:

1. Start camera
2. Change to front facing camera by tapping the flip button (top right corner)
3. Take a photo or two of your beautiful mug!
4. Go to photo gallery to look at your beautiful mug
5. Tap the Done button
6. Tap the flip button to go back to the main (back) camera
7. You should now see a warning on the flash control
If you try to take a photo with flash, this warning dialog will appear:
"Flash is Disabled... The iPhone needs to cool down before you can use the flash."
8. Press the Home button
9. tap the camera... problem solved. The flash is now enabled.

This was tested while the phone was at a ambient temperature of 24 degrees Celsius.

Curious to determine if this is just my phone or others.

Various, iOS 4

Posted on Apr 15, 2011 6:55 PM

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Answer 1

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Apr 15, 2011 7:28 PM in response to sdc01

Same down to step 7, did get the warning icon but was able to take a picture with the flash with no warning, did get the warning if you touch that icon. It does go away if you tap home and come back.

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Answer 2

sdc01 Author

Level 1

60 points

Apr 15, 2011 8:40 PM in response to deggie

Same down to step 7, did get the warning icon but was able to take a
picture with the flash with no warning, did get the warning if you touch
that icon. It does go away if you tap home and come back.

My bad.

Step 7 should read:

7. You should now see a warning on the flash control
Tap the flash control (to attempt to enable the flash)
The following warning dialog will appear:
"Flash is Disabled... The iPhone needs to cool down before you can use the flash."

So, I am not the only one after all.

Which iOS version are you on?

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Answer 3

sdc01 Author

Level 1

60 points

Apr 16, 2011 6:33 PM in response to sdc01

Huh? No one else?

I can also confirm that this 'problem' is evident in iOS 4.3.2 as well.

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Answer 4

Smudgy

Level 1

45 points

Apr 17, 2011 1:30 AM in response to sdc01

I have had the same problem. Actually got my phone replaced cause of it . It is present in 4.3.2 as well. I reported the bug to apple and they responded saying engineers were asking for the log file and pictures. They have not responded back after that point. I believe that they know about it and are fixing it.

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Answer 5

Smudgy

Level 1

45 points

Apr 17, 2011 1:34 AM in response to Smudgy

By the way the brand new iPhone I got has the same problem so it is defiantly a bug and not just your phone.

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Answer 6

sdc01 Author

Level 1

60 points

Apr 17, 2011 4:38 AM in response to sdc01

Of course, on a scale of severity, I would register this bug at a near zero.

It doesn't take much to find this one, so I am a bit surprized that I am [apparently] the first to report it.

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Answer 7

Smudgy

Level 1

45 points

Apr 17, 2011 9:42 AM in response to sdc01

This was probably a month ago that I reported it. I fugured 4.3.2 would fix it but they didn't.

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Answer 8

m_hamm

Level 1

58 points

Apr 17, 2011 10:45 AM in response to sdc01

Hello, if you check my old posts I discovered this glitch/bug on my iPhone 4, and reported to Apple a month ago. But eventhough Apple hasn't fixed this bug I reported in iOS 4.3.2

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Answer 9

sdc01 Author

Level 1

60 points

Apr 17, 2011 10:49 AM in response to Smudgy

Did you delete your other post about reporting this a month ago?

Anyhow, I never received any response from Apple when I reported this on March 30.

It is odd that they would ask you for a screen capture and a log file considering that the problem is easy to reproduce.

Again, I do not consider this a big enough problem worthy of distracting the Apple engineers from other more important issues.

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Answer 10

Smudgy

Level 1

45 points

Apr 17, 2011 11:28 AM in response to sdc01

Yeah I replied before remembering I already said that. The only reason I reported it, is because the first time it happened I got my phone replaced not knowing it was a bug.

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Answer 11

Apr 23, 2011 11:20 AM in response to sdc01

I just bought a new iPhone 4 from my local Apple store and I'm having the same issue. I'm new to all this so am a bit clueless. I'm hoping it is just a bug as mentioned above, because personally I had only been using the phone for about 5 mins and surely it couldn't have became too hot.

After activating my iPhone in itunes I saw something about downloading an update? I didn't do it though and can't remember exactly what it said (I'm currently away from my person computer), but I'm assuming it was a firmware update... should the newbie (me) do the update?

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Answer 12

Smudgy

Level 1

45 points

Apr 23, 2011 12:24 PM in response to KittyKat25

Go ahead with the update. The bug is still present in 4.3.2 which is what you will be upgrading to.

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Answer 13

Apr 23, 2011 2:01 PM in response to sdc01

As anyone who has tried can reproduce this I think you have found a bug, although, as I think you said elswehere, not a critical one. One of the places I worked years ago had a 4 level scale for bugs: Critical, Severe, Annoying and Interesting. I think this is one of the last two 🙂

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Answer 14

Hen295

Level 1

0 points

Feb 29, 2016 6:19 AM in response to sdc01

ios 9.2.1 - issue still present. Is there any available solution???

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Answer 15

Mar 9, 2016 11:14 AM in response to Hen295

Same here! The flash does not work so as the back camera. Shows - Flash disabled! The iPhone needs to cool down before you can use the flash. Well I tried to make it cold, threw it into snow for a half an hour but it still does not work.

Would be nice to have some solution for this one.

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