Conventional cameras are losing their popularity: the development of mobile gadgets and the regular reduction in pricing policy have practically equalized the cost with models of cameras in the budget and middle class.

Moreover, when buying a smartphone, the user gets a mini-computer with unlimited possibilities. But it happens that at the most inopportune moment the camera on the Android device does not work. Unlike a conventional camera, the list of problems and solutions when the camera is not working on a smartphone is quite extensive.

Causes of malfunction

Most experienced users can independently determine the nature of the breakdown. First of all, it is necessary to understand the details, preceding events and actions. This will help to identify one of two categories of breakdowns - physical or software.

To malfunctions physical (mechanical) character include falls, vibrations, shocks, shocks and so on. There are also more commonplace situations when dust and moisture gets into the camera sensor. In some cases, memory can be the culprit: both internal and microSD card. The outcome of such problems is often unpleasant for users, especially financially.

As for the category programmatic errors, everything is simpler here. These include the installation of an inappropriate or conflicting application with the camera, incorrect configuration of the operating system and related programs, as well as the installation of an incomplete update (including the official one).

More serious reasons: virus infection or improper flashing of the gadget.

To find a solution, it is necessary to act according to the rule "From simple to complex". There is no need to immediately disassemble the device and reflash it. You need to start with those actions that will definitely not bring collateral damage.

Software errors

• Virus infection... Much, which is growing in proportion to the popularity of Android. To solve it, you need to install an anti-virus program, scan the system and remove all threats. More process.
• Lack of memory... In the process of using a smartphone, the internal memory can be filled to capacity. In this case, the camera turns on, but video recording and photo capture will not be possible. Make sure there is enough free space to perform camera functions. This also applies to microSD cards, which are used to expand memory. We wrote about how to correctly free up memory.
• Clearing the cache. Temporary files are accumulated in the system and when using the camera. This leads to a cache overflow, so there are simply not enough resources to perform actions. Cleaning should be done periodically. To do this, go to Settings - Applications - Camera... At the bottom of the window that opens, the button "Clear cache" is available.
• Incorrect setting... The main problem is often the choice of where to save the recordings from the camera. If the option was set to a microSD card that was later removed, you need to adjust the settings.
• Application conflict... If problems with the camera started after installing an application, you need to uninstall it and check the operation of the device.
• Incorrect firmware... Sometimes you have to do the installation. It is very important to install the correct version of the software from the official website. Otherwise, some functions (camera, sound, screen rotation, Wi-Fi) may not work. In the worst case, the device will stop starting at all, so be careful.
• OS update. Standard settings imply automatic updating of the operating system to a new version. Despite the fact that the upgrade is provided by the manufacturer, related problems often occur, including with the camera. To fix the problem, you can roll back the system, i.e. install an older version of the platform, which ensured the operability of all modules. It is also recommended to disable subsequent automatic updates.

ATTENTION! If the gadget is under warranty service, then it is recommended to contact a service center or store to fix the problems. Most changes in the operating system or self-installation of the firmware are the reason for the termination of the warranty.

Physical malfunctions

Physical damage is the reason for contacting a service center for repair. But there are also simple solutions that can be effective. Such actions can be performed independently:

• Checking the performance and integrity of the memory card. When saving videos and pictures to a memory card, the camera may give an error. Flash memory has a limited life cycle, therefore it is recommended to test the storage medium for errors and "dead" memory cells. For a quick finding, you can install a verified memory card in the gadget and check the camera's performance.
• Cleaning the lens. The camera sensor is protected by special glass, which can get dust, moisture, etc. In this case, the device will not be able to focus, which will cause the operation to stop. It is necessary to carefully clean the glass using special products (microfiber, liquid for cleaning monitors).

If all of the above options did not solve the problem, then it is most likely associated with a critical breakdown. Such malfunctions are the result of prolonged contact with water, strong shocks, falls and other external influences. This leads to the failure of sensors, stabilizers, loops. The worst case is considered to be a violation of the integrity of the printed circuit board, which is responsible for the operation of all components of the device.

Complex damage is not always amenable to repair, even by specialists in service centers, so you need to be careful when using your mobile friend. To protect your smartphone from damage, you need to follow the following guidelines:

• Purchase equipment at trusted retail outlets that guarantee product quality and protection against counterfeiting.
• Buy products from trusted brands that have positive reviews.
• Choose a device for your own comfortable use. Weight and dimensions must fully satisfy the physical characteristics of each person. The choice is very large, you can always

Hello everyone, dear readers, in today's post we will try to figure out why the camera on the phone does not work. Many users of mobile gadgets on the Android operating system have a similar problem. There may be several reasons for this unpleasant incident. Below we will look at each of the reasons and try to fix this annoying error.

Reasons for a non-working camera

1. Mechanical is the most annoying reason for your camera not working. For example, if the camera stopped working as a result of dropping the phone. A similar reason for a non-working camera can only be corrected in a service center, I do not advise you to deal with this problem yourself, because you can only make things worse;
2. System error - in this case, the reason for the non-working camera is an error in the Android operating system. For example, an outdated bug. Below I will tell you how you can check and update the Android version;
3. Viruses - some viruses, once they get into your mobile device, disrupt and block the operation of the camera - both the front camera and the external camera. This problem can be solved by simply installing antivirus software and checking the operating system. Below I will provide a list of antiviruses that you can use.

System update

In order to check for the latest updates for your operating system, do the following:

1. First thing you need to do is launch the Settings app;
2. Now scroll to the bottom of the page and select "About phone", in this section you need to select "System update" and click on it;
3. If you did everything correctly, the system update process will begin.

Let's move on to the last reason for the inoperative camera, namely the presence of viruses in the phone.

A few simple tips on how to fix the problem with the camera not working on your smartphone. This is especially true for budget phone models. Just the other day, they brought me a DEXP phone, which, when the camera was started, showed only a black screen. In my case, unfortunately, the problem could not be solved and the client took it to the SC.

But, with a high degree of probability, you can bring the camera to life using a few simple methods. We will not touch upon the complex technical part, but will touch upon only those problems that can be solved on our own.

As a rule, if the camera of an Android smartphone fails, the following warning appears on the screen:

Unable to connect camera. Close other applications that might be using the camera or flash.

But the camera does not start even after the device is rebooted.

Below I offer you several methods that can help you solve your camera problem.

What to do if the camera does not work on Android:

Before proceeding, launch the camera app and if you see a black screen on the main camera, switch to the front selfie camera. If the front camera works, then the problem is directly in the main camera module itself and you cannot fix it on your own. But, in case the front camera does not show the image either, read below.

• Reset cache and camera app data

  Follow the path Settings => Apps => Camera and select the tab Memory

  

  

  

  

  Click first "Clear cache", Then "Clear data"

  Try to start the camera and, if it doesn't work, go to the next step

• Install a third party camera app

  Perhaps the standard camera application is so dumb that even resetting the cache and data does not help it. In this case, you can try installing a third-party camera app.
  Fortunately, there are a huge number of such programs in the Play Market and you can choose for every taste.
  
  You can install anything, but I recommend it as one of the most stable, besides, it is completely free.

• Perform hard reset

  If the previous methods did not help fix the problem with the camera, you can take drastic measures - reset the phone to factory settings.
  Go to the smartphone settings and find the item "Restore and reset" or "Archiving and restoring"... The name depends on the device model and Android version, but in any case, it will contain the word recovery or discharge
  
  
  Select "Factory data reset" and wait for the phone to reboot
  

  Please note that resetting data will result in the loss of all information stored in the internal memory of the phone. It should also be borne in mind that when reactivating, you may need the data of the Google account entered on the phone earlier.

Unfortunately, more serious camera breakdowns on Android cannot be fixed on their own. In this case, you should contact the service center for help.

Today's smartphones are high-tech devices that combine many different functions. Today, most smartphones from well-known manufacturers have two cameras at once, one of which is front-facing, as well as many other multimedia capabilities. Despite the usually high build quality of various models of multifunctional phones, during operation, the operation of one or another function may fail. Most often, smartphone owners are faced with such malfunctions as a broken charging connector and a malfunctioning front camera. If in the first case, repairing the iphone is not difficult and can be performed in any service, then if the front camera breaks down, you first need to find out the reasons for its malfunction.

The main reasons why the front camera may not work

The front or front camera is a function that people need to take pictures of themselves and to communicate via video communication. The lens of this unit is located on the front of the smartphone and can be damaged accidentally. In the event that for some reason the front camera does not start, you must first make sure that its lens is not damaged, that is, carefully examine it for scratches, chips and other defects.

If there are no obvious defects on the front camera lens, then a failure in its normal operation may be caused by such reasons as:
Smartphone software update. If your phone is configured with a default firmware update, downloading more recent software may cause some smartphone functions to malfunction, including the front camera.

Read also:

• What if the sensor on the phone does not work?
• What to do if the sound on the phone does not work?

The presence of viruses in the smartphone. If you actively use the Internet through your phone, you can also download a dangerous virus along with important data, which causes some functions to malfunction. In this case, it is recommended to take the phone to a virus removal service.

Damage to internal cables as a result of the phone falling from a height. If outwardly there is no damage to the front camera, then it is quite possible that the cause of the breakdown lies inside.

Front camera sensor dirty. Since the lens is located on the outside of the smartphone, dust can accumulate in it. To restore normal operation of the front camera, in this case, it is enough just to thoroughly clean the sensor with a cotton swab.

One of the easiest ways to get your front camera working is to factory reset your phone and then restart your device. If this measure did not help, then it is better to contact a specialized phone repair service, where they will not only be able to find out the cause of the camera malfunction, but also fix it in a short time. The cost of repairing such a breakdown depends on its cause and the degree of difficulty in troubleshooting.

In the modern world, a camera in a phone has become a thing, life without which it is almost impossible to imagine. Capture a particularly important moment, scan text, make a video call to loved ones. This is not a complete list of ways to use the camera on mobile devices. In many modern gadgets, manufacturers put two (or even three) cameras at once - front and rear. The first is mainly used for communication or taking selfies. The second is for shooting the surrounding world.

Although today's technologies make it possible to create high-quality, reliable "hardware" for smartphones, which should serve stably and for a long time, users can still encounter certain problems. When an ordinary user discovers that the camera of his device has stopped working, he, as a rule, does not know what to do. Honestly, there can be many options for a malfunction. With the help of this article, we will try to disassemble each.

Rebooting the equipment is the first thing to do when faced with camera malfunction. The gadget could simply crash or the application could freeze. Sometimes such errors are treated by simply turning the device on and off. After holding down the lock button, a context menu should appear, where you need to select "restart". If the usual reboot did not give any positive results, you should be patient and try other methods, which will be discussed below.

Memory card

If the shooting app won't launch, chances are that the problem isn't even on the phone itself. Check the integrity of the memory card to which the still images with movies are automatically saved. Be sure to try inserting another memory card and restarting the camera.

The second stage is to make sure that there is enough free space for recording in the internal or external storage, because modern smartphones create images of very high resolution, and this negatively affects the weight of media files.

Mechanical damage

There is always a possibility that the camera module itself has received mechanical damage (that is, a hardware problem). Objective lenses are the most vulnerable and fragile component of mobile devices. A mobile device may stop taking pictures after a fall - under such circumstances, a module usually breaks or a cable cracks, lenses break or light sensors are damaged.

But other mechanical damage is also possible: the cable connecting the lens module to the motherboard could burn out, moisture or dust could get into the lens, the gadget suffered significant physical damage, after which failures and errors begin one after another.

In such a situation, attempts to cope with the breakdown on their own can lead to new negative consequences for the device, thus, it remains only to contact a master or a company that carries out certified repair of mobile equipment. Fortunately, there are many of them today - in any large shopping centers you can find several “islets-workshops”, where in a matter of minutes the performance of your smartphone will be diagnosed.

Special programs

Of course, it's not worth rushing to mechanical repair right away, because the reason may still be software. First, you should try to install an alternative utility for the camera instead of the standard one in order to test the functionality of the old module on it. If everything works as it should in the new application, then the beginning of the inoperability, most likely, was the clogged cache memory of your device, to fix this, you just need to delete the old cache from the settings of your favorite application. To delete the cache you need

• go to "Settings";
• select "Memory";
• open "Application Data" and find the same utility for the camera among many others;
• now all that remains is to click on "Erase data";
• confirming your choice.

Return to factory settings

The second of the most common software malfunctions is an automatically installed update containing certain bugs that prevent the user from starting the camera for various reasons. In this case, we carry out a return to the factory settings.

• open "Settings";
• we are looking for the item "Restore and reset";
• leaf through the menu to the very bottom, then go to "Reset settings";
• choose "Erase everything".

Please note that after a factory reset, all files, passwords, contacts will be permanently deleted from your device, so make a backup copy of the stored important information first.

Viruses

Sometimes a faulty gadget should be checked for viruses. Perhaps they were the cause of all the troubles: the open source Android OS has its own vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals, for example, to block the operation of a mobile camera. There are many proven antivirus software on Google Play (by the way, there is plenty of free software too). Download the application you like, run the check, wait for the result.

It should be borne in mind that malicious files on the gadget itself have the ability to interfere with the correct operation of the security software, so it will be useful to connect the smartphone to a desktop or laptop in order to perform a more thorough scan for viruses using computer programs.

Flashing

The next method is a flashing of the device, which should help one hundred percent with the hardware failure of the smartphone. You can do it yourself, but you should be careful: a failure in data transfer or failure by the user to comply with all the points of this operation can completely disable the phone. You can download the firmware only from the official sites, only this guarantees the real signature of the license of the new software. Please note that after flashing your smartphone (even if it was bought just a few days ago), it loses the mandatory warranty service from the service center.

Service center

When none of the above tips has brought the desired effect, do not despair: contact a qualified specialist for help or return your phone under warranty to a service center, where a full diagnostics of the device will be carried out free of charge and, if a software malfunction is detected, it will be eliminated at the expense of the manufacturer.

Also, if the device is found to have a factory defect that interferes with the correct operation of the camera, the faulty device will be replaced with a new one. It is important to understand that the warranty does not apply to mechanical damage to the mobile device that occurred through the fault of the owner himself, that is, you have every right to refuse to repair or exchange.

Conclusion

So, in this article, we have listed all the possible causes of a phone camera malfunction. You should never despair and indulge in panic: as you could see for yourself, there are no hopeless situations - there is always a chance to return your favorite phone to full performance. We hope that for you this material will remain nothing more than informational and you will never personally encounter the problem of camera inoperability on your gadget. Happy shots!

Video