iphone 5 camera spots

I just noticed this on mine today. I've had the phone since the week it was released, and never had a spot before. Now it's in every photo/video taken with that back-facing camera. Shown here at 100%.

So it's that easy - show the phone to a genius, they swap it out with a new one?

I started with one purple speck on my iPhone 5 which I did not notice while my phone was under the 1 year warrantly. I confirmed this when I looked back at pictures I took in early October 2013. Well, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it has gotten much worse as I have over four purple specks/dots on the camera. Went to the Genius Bar and they said I am out of luck and for approximately $270 I would have to purchase a new phone. The tech who helped me mentioned that he has seen several iPhone 5s with this issue while the manager denied and said that he had never seen or heard of this issue.

At this time I am upset that Apple will not back up their product as I believe that they are aware with a sensor issue which causes this purple spots. I've been an Apple Customer for many years and have pretty much every one of their products that they offer. I'm very disappointed since the issue occured before my warranty was up although it was one dot so I didn't really notice it. Now there are over four dots and the camera *****. It's like a purple bug in my pictures. Very disappointed as I know Apple is aware of this issue, and in my opinion, should replace the phone.

I have had the same issue. I have called Apple Care a bunch of times to report the same issue. Even though, I can prove without a shadow of a doubt that the problem occurred while my phone was still under the warranty, Apple will NOT honor THEIR manufacturing defect. I am now stuck with a substandard camera (purple splotch on every single picture) unless I choose to spend 260+ dollars to replace the phone. What kind of service is this Apple? Why don't you fix your camera issues? If this issue is so rare, why isn't it recognized as a malfunction? The phone should be replaced at NO QUESTIONS ASKED due to Apple's manufacturing defect. I am so angry that Apple is not standing by their product.

I have the same problem just when I completed 2 good years with my iPhone5. And Genius Bar was not able to help me ; attached is picture showing the black spot on bottom right corner of photo.

It’s very annoying… the black spot appears on every photo and I started hating my phone.

As per Genius Bar – “There is a debris caught between camera-module and end-of-the-glass. There is no way for Apple to open up that outer glass… it may cause some other damage”.

I am very disappointed that they even didn’t want to open the phone to have a closer look. They simply don't have any solution to the problem.

Looks like going to Genius bar with phone which is out-of-warranty is of no use.

Now, I am on my own to fix this problem now. Does anyone has any better working solution? Kindly help. I can't live with this problem.

Regards, Ulhas

I am having the exact same purple spot issue on my iphone 5. Going to GB appointment today.

Call them, if you haven't already, I'm pretty sure they will send you one. Might have to pay for shipping or something but it's worth giving them a call to find out what they will do for you.

If its in bright conditions it looks like the light reflecting off maybe the lenses inside the unit, I get no spots in normal conditions and the spots go if I move the camera out of bright light. Have to say I wish I kept my 4S

I just noticed this started to occur a few days ago. I am very surprised. I not only have the weird red purple blotch in my iPhone 5 rear camera, but I also have these very odd circles showing up as well. This is the first ever iPhone that has gone bad on me. I have had a 3G, 4, 4S and now the 5. I'm quite surprised. I will make my genius bar appointment tomorrow. I'm expecting they'll replace it as well. Apple is very good about that and this is a clear-cut problem that seem sto be occurring all over. Has anyone figured out what this is??? It's very strange.

Bought my iPhone six months ago and I just noticed a white spot on every picture captured with the sunlight. I tried to restore, upgrade,, troubleshoot and all possible solutions to fix the problem but I failed. Since its under warranty, I logged a ticket to book me an appointment to the service provider. So I prepared a back up of files at night. The next day, at the service provider I informed them about the issue, gave them photo examples and told me that it needs to be check by their engineer.

After 4 days I received an email that my device is ready for pick up. So I went there and told me that my phone has been swapped to a new phone. Checked the IMEI to be sure before leaving the center. So when I reached home, I made the itunes restore for the new phone. Early in the morning, I tried taking pictures especially with light and found out that the same issue occurred. So I contacted the service provider again and told me to bring the phone. Since im working I can only deliver the phone when i am available or free from work. Same reason, they took the phone again for check up.

3 days have passed, another email arrived and went there to pick it up. This is my 2nd time. I did not do the itunes restore cause I want to try the camera asap. Unluckily, its still the same.

For the 3rd time I made a contact with them again and do the same thing. When I received an email after 4 days, I directly head to the place after work. I even asked the staff if the phone is a refurb one and told me that it is a new swapped different from the first and second one. There is a remark from the Engineer that states "Tested and found NO issue with the camera - No replacement will be provided". Now I reached home and tried it in a hurry to found out that the problem is still not fixed...

I am really frustrated that after 3 times of swapping, the problem has not been resolve at all. I am very tired going back and forth to their office and really wanted to use my phone and enjoy it very well without any issue...

Maybe this is really a problem of iPhone 5 as I have read complaints regarding the camera. I dont know what I'll do next... 😟

I am taking my iPhone in today because I have 4 or 5 gray spots in camera mode that show up on photos. I have cleaned the lens so I know that it isn't any dirt on the exterior. I also restored the phone to make sure it wasn't software related....I'll report about whether they replace it or not.

I came across this thread when looking for help with the problem I'm having with my iPhone 5 camera. There is a tiny purple digital circle (with a white center) appearing in all my photos and videos. It is fixed and gets bigger when I zoom.

I brought it to the Apple store and within 1 minute of me explaining and showing him, the genius told me it was a dust issue and attempted to clean it out with compressed air. This didn't work. Since I was 3 weeks out of my 1 year warranty coverage, he told me it would cost $269 to have the phone replaced with the same model. At this point I was kicking myself for not buying applecare, this is the first time I haven't after 10+ years of buying Apple products w/ Applecare and never having any issues. Go figure something like this has to happen the one time I don't buy it...

The thing that is bugging me is, I don't think it's dust. It is a perfect tiny little circle. Every dust issue I've seen online seems to be blob or smudge like when zoomed in. I'm going back for a second opinion at a different Apple store this Saturday, hoping for a better outcome.

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem? I've tried restoring firmware and nothing seems to work. This has only happened since the iOS7 update btw. Spot the dot in the images below (3rd image is zoomed in)...

I have the same purple fleck problem with the rear camera. I visited the Apple Store in Escondido, CA two days in a row (yesterday and the day before). The first day, I was told that since the phone is out of warranty (~45 days), they can only offer the $270 replacement - this is not something I can explore. I went back home and looked carefully at my older photos, and sure enough, the problem had indeed started well within the warrranty period, so I went back to the (same) store to try and present my case in a slightly different light.

I'm afraid I did not have the same great luck as some others. Even though I showed them my older images in the photostream, they were polite but firm in their stance - no (free) replacement was offered. The problem had started off being minor and has only grown worse over time, so this really annoys me.

I'm happy for the handful of others that had better outcomes even while they were out of warranty, but I have no choice but to slightly downgrade Apple's reputation in my mind, and in all my future recommendations to friends and family. I've got loads of Apple products (been a fan since way before it was "cool" to be one) and have helped pull more than a handful of folks into the Apple club over the years.

If someone is within warranty (original or extended AppleCare), and they get a problem addressed, that is NO reason to praise the company - they are only doing what they should be doing anyway! For me, they did not go the extra mile, and stuck to their black-and-white official policy, so I'm not going to go the extra mile for them by endorsing them by default in future.

I have had the same issue. I have called Apple Care a bunch of times to report the same issue. Even though, I can prove without a shadow of a doubt that the problem occured while my phone was still under the warranty, Apple will NOT honor THEIR manufacturing defect. I am now stuck with a substandard camera (purple splotch on every single picture) unless I choose to spend 260+ dollars to replace the phone. What kind of service is this Apple? Why don't you fix your camera issues? If this issue is so rare, why isn't it recognized as a malfunction? The phone should be replaced at NO QUESTIONS ASKED due to Apple's manufacturing defect. I am so angry that Apple is not standing by their product.

Hey Peter,

Thank you soooo much for your reply!!!

I did see your previous reply, it was actually on my email. I bought the camera and tools from the link that the video provided. I received them today and just got done replacing the camera on my wife's iphone 5. The difference is night and day! The new camera fixed the problem of dark spots on her photos. I spent $37 to fix the phone by myself, a very significant saving compare to getting a new phone. She's impressed that I was able to fix it, I did it while she was cooking dinner and got done before she did. Thank you so much for the tutorial that provided and for replying to my previous post.

Best regards!