iPhone 5 camera not working after ios 7 update

I am just curious, but under UK consumer law (EU directive 1999/44/EC, the UK implementation of) you can make a claim for up to 6 years after the date of purchase against goods sold that develop a fault. I dug this out and will be giving it a go...

EU directive 1999/44/EC states that: "A two-year guarantee applies for the sale of all consumer goods everywhere in the EU. In some countries, this may be more, and some manufacturers also choose to offer a longer warranty period."

Crucially a key point in this directive is that it doesn’t require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product and not down to their actions, unlike the Sale of Goods Act. There is more info here, plus Which? has loads of information about what to do if you want to return faulty goods.

Bad news guys. After getting both cameras to work for 24h, issue just came back today. Bummer.

At least, it is proven that IT IS A SOFTWARE ISSUE. A bug. A very serious bug.

Apple will fix it eventually... I guess.

Just been to the apple store, complete waste of time, they say it must be a hardware fault and not software. Seems it's just a coincidence my camera stopped working at exactly the same time as I updated. As I'm out of warranty they won't do anything. Next stop is Three where I purchased the phone and I will try and go down the uk consumer rights route. Apple really need to sort out their shocking customer service.

I had the same problem with my camera. I was also out of the warranty and apple refused to change it. I came home and rang the manager of the store the next day explained what had happened and he changed phone free of charge even though it was out of warranty. My advice to you is phone the store and speak with the manager. I haven't uploaded iOS 7 on my new one I've kept iOS 6 just in case it goes wrong again.

I am having the same problem with a iPhone 4S. This cannot be a hardware issue there are way too many complaints online to justify that.

I am on a iPhone 5 16GB btw, forgot to post that. And it is a replacement from Apple, as my original phone somehow got a spec of dirt on the main camera CCD. So mine is at most three months old now. One would think a hardware problem would happen to phones from the same batch 😉.

I have this issue , back camera doesn't work at all. Front camera works when it wants , but most time it doesn't . What do I bring to the GENIOUS bar? Cords or just phone?

Just the iPhone.

try a camara app in appel strore if not

it is a hardware problem

It's called planned obsolescence. Remember the iPhone 4 power button fiasco? And the battery fiasco? And the antenna fiasco? Apple is fully aware this is a software bug but they will do nothing until they are forced to en mass.

Update: After a second visit to the Genius Bar, they told me to call Apple Care. When I did, they promptly waived the $19.99 charge because it was an issue related to iOS7. This tells me that they have much larger problems than just this isolated issue. After talking telling the tech at Apple everything that they had done at the Genius Bar, he said that there wasn't much more that he could do aside from offer me a new phone for $269. When I stated my case that I had a hard time accepting that this was a user-error or hardware issue, I cited this thread on Apple Support. He told me about the place on Apple's site where complaints could be logged that would go directly to their developers. But he also quickly offered to let me speak with a Senior Advisor. I'm guessing that they've heard about this particular problem more than even the number of posts in this thread would assume. The Senior Advisor was very nice, and said that she had the authority to authorize a replacement outside of warranty for me. She even contacted my local store so that I could pick it up there rather than having it shipped. I went yesterday and had a replacement in 45 minutes. And, my camera works.

Hopefully that's encouraging for others. Call Apple Care. Be kind, explain the problem, and ask to talk to a Senior Advisor if they don't offer. They do have the authority to get you a replacement device. Hopefully everyone will have the same experience that I did.

Nice to see someone with an iPhone out of warranty getting a new one, that's great!!

I restored my iPhone 5S numerous times.....waste of time!!

But this worked for me:

1. If restrictions are enable, go to Settings>general>restrictions and turn off the Camera(it will also disable the FaceTime!)
2. Turn off the iPhone
3. Turn on the iPhone
4. Go to Settings>General>Restrictions and turn on the Camera

After that you can launch the Camera App and the application will work without problems.

I had same problem with iphone 4 after updating latest software. Front camera wasn't working at all. So made the apps wobble, apparently gives something a nudge and bingo, front camera working again. So thank you so much for that helpful information. You are a champion.

Fabio, great find. This was the fix, haven't had issues with camera app crashing since I followed your instructions.

It would appear to be something related to restriction preferences or a conflict in those apps after the latest update. Resetting them exactly like you said seems to correct this.