iPhone 5 camera not working after ios 7 update

and now it doest..... 😟 didn't read your next post.....

Quick update:

My front-facing camera had been not working for at least a few weeks (invisible in Snapchat, freezing the Camera app when I flip to the front cam). Then yesterday, I received a FaceTime call and on the call lock screen I was surprised to see the front-facing camera on. I accepted the call and FaceTime worked fine, as expected.

After the call, I checked both the Camera app and Snapchat, and the front-facing camera is available and working in both. I'm not sure whether receiving a call "fixed" the front camera, or if it just randomly started working again, but both cameras are working for now.

Something to try if your front-facing camera isn't working: get someone to FaceTime you. If that actually works, then at least some of the reported issues may be software and not hardware problems.

I Cannot believe that Apple are not taking this on board. Like the majority my camera is now not working and I've been told that I shall have to send it away to get fixed - but will have to pay as now over a year old. Something very wrong here when it's obviously an ongoing fault !

My camera on my iPhone 5 has not worked for several months. I have tried all the suggestions on this board with no avail. I even went as far as replacing the camera module with a new one from iFixit. That still didn't fix the problem. I had resolved that the camera on my phone was forever broken till today. It was a sunny day outside today, so I decided to hold the sensor directly to the sun with the camera app open. My camera started working again. I am not sure how long it will last, but my camera on the back of my phone is working again, after months of the camera app freezing when I open it.

Now you have opened the iPhone which is NOT user serviceable You have voided any future support from Apple on that device including this Forum

It was out of warranty anyway. Thanks for your kind response.

I am new to this forum and I did not find anything in the description that says that people cannot use the forum for support if they have attempted to fix their own phone. Can you point me to that information? There are MANY people on this forum who are looking for help with the camera problem that mlwarren0 described, including me. Many have gone to Apple Care and genius bars for help. Those whose devices are out of warranty are told the only solution is to replace their device. I would think that the more people who contribute to this conversation, the better since it is such a widespread problem. But if there are rules for participation in this forum (other than the community etiquette guidelines) I would like to read them to be sure I don't unintentionally violate them.

I bought a used iPhone 5. Seems it's one of the first produced in late 2011.

The former owner tells me the the front camera freezes occurs after the iOS7 update.

I replaced the Front-Camera myself two times with a replacement bought on ebay - but no change.

So it could not be a direct front camera hardware issue! The front camera isn't broken - they would be working again on iOS 6!

The sad thing is, that the automatic brightness is not working due to this problem too (the auto brightness setting is no longer available)!

A little hope is maybe iOS 8 ... maybe it brings the front camera back to live!

Wondering if anyone has had any luck after updating to ios8?

unfortunately not (on my side) ... no changes ... imho is it an early hardware bad component (no the camera itself) in combination with new iOS7.

Imho the problem is too small or better: the number of "problem-phones" is to small and the warranty times for all "problem-phones" is now over too.

I don't think, that apple ever fix this.

I updated yesterday and my front facing camera which was not working at all started to work right away. But them later on when I restarted the phone to test it, it was black again and frozen.

all the suggestions worked a few times and then stopped working, Then after the camera stopped working yesterday again, all the suggestions worked again but just momentarily. This is definitely a software problem or the camera the iphone 5 was equipped with being incompatible with updates after 7.1.

I just updated to iOS 8.0.2 and now the cameras work again

I thought what a load of nonsense,,,how wrong I was, Instantly give it a tap with the heel of the palm and sure enough it started working. Thank you PenangGenius. I'm still concerned as to why it happened though but not complaining for now ;-))

Here all of a sudden after months using another phone, we decided to get the camera replaced, surpisingly finding out it was working again (did an update to 8.x) curious how long it will last but for now it is working. So it looks like a software issue after all (that is fixed with latest update)

so after updating to iOS 8.1.2 my rear camera stopped working after a few days. backed it up and restored it to factory both from the phone and through iTunes but no luck. brought it to Apple and they said it was a hardware issue and that the camera couldn't be replaced so i would have to buy a new phone if i wanted a working camera. i said the camera was working perfectly before the update and the reply was 'well the camera was probably having some issues before and with the new update that brought it to the forefront'. Um so doesn't that sound like a software issue??? why should i have to pay for a replacement when your update caused the problem? so disappointed in Apple, if i have to buy a new phone i'll switch to Android because of this. Apple seems to be slowly dying since Steve Jobs passed...

anyone have any further suggestions to try and fix this or just scrap it?