What to Do If Your IPhone Camera Is Broken
The camera is one of the best features of the iPhone. It takes great photos and shoots one of the best videos on any smartphone. That’s why when my iPhone’s camera broke, I was very upset, but I hoped that the Apple Store could fix me. Unfortunately, a broken iPhone camera isn’t like a broken screen, and fixing it probably isn’t as easy as you might think.
Not all broken iPhone cameras are the same
In my case, I worked with two broken cameras on my iPhone 12 Pro Max and both needed different solutions.
The first problem came when my iPhone flew out of my pocket and crashed into concrete, instantly cracking my wide-angle lens (the default 1x zoom camera). Luckily for me, the crack didn’t affect photos and videos unless there was a bright, intense light source directly above me, which usually only happened on particularly sunny days or in a room with strong light on the ceiling. These circumstances are so rare that I chose to live with broken glass, assuming that if it ever bothered me, I could take it to Apple to have it fixed. (Wrong, but more on that later.)
My camera problems just continued from there. Some time later, I opened the Camera app to take a picture and found it to be completely buggy. Confused, I checked the Settings app and found a warning that didn’t make any sense to me:
As far as I know, this “feature” exists to lock your iPhone’s camera if iOS detects a “non-genuine” Apple part in the device. The only problem is that this iPhone has never been opened, let alone replaced the camera.
At first, I assumed that this problem was somehow related to the previously hacked camera, although this incident happened about a year before this failure occurred. But my cracked wide-angle camera was still perfectly fine and still took pictures as well as before. The camera that didn’t work was actually my 2.5x telephoto lens. Despite no external damage, iOS no longer recognizes this lens as legitimate. After a warning, the camera app defaults to 2x digital zoom on the wide-angle camera; if i click on the zoom icon it tries to switch to 2.5x zoom, fails and then goes back to 1x zoom.
I can no longer use the ultra wide angle lens in the stock Camera app. To take ultra-wide shots, I need to resort to a third party camera app. But even apps like Halide or FiLMiC Pro can’t access the telephoto lens. For all intents and purposes, it’s just dead.
Troubleshooting iPhone camera issues requires different steps
At this point, my iPhone’s cameras were so messed up that they needed action. People with similar issues on the Reddit and Apple support forums have confirmed that I’m not alone and that other iPhones with no repair history have lost access to the camera due to this warning.
I made an appointment at a local Apple Store to see what I could do about it. Here’s the gist of what happened:
For a camera that fails without physical damage, say in the event of an unknown part error, simply replacing the camera is the fix. Apple will do it for you for $200 (at least for the 12 Pro Max), but you can buy the parts and fix them yourself for less. If you go to Apple’s official ” Self Repair Store ” or buy parts and tools from iFixit , you can save about $50. Of course, if you’re still under warranty, Apple should take care of the problem for free.
My Apple representative then pointed out my cracked lens. If I wanted to fix it, he said that I would have to change the whole phone for a new one… which, you know, is not ideal. I didn’t get it: why wouldn’t replacing a camera fix a cracked camera lens? Turns out the camera module doesn’t include the glass covering each lens. You can completely replace two or three cameras on the back of the camera without touching the glass itself. If I had decided to go for a $200 replacement, Apple would have returned my iPhone to me with the same cracked glass as before, but with a working telephoto lens.
Why resort to a complete device replacement instead of replacing a tiny piece of glass? Indeed, why. Apple isn’t clear about this, but I can bet. Replacing broken glass on an iPhone camera is a messy business. It is not designed for a smooth exit, especially after a breakdown. You need to break it further and remove it piece by piece, being very careful not to drop glass shards and keep dust from getting on the exposed lens. My guess is that Apple just doesn’t want to deal with complications, and therefore lets you choose between living with the damage or paying to have your phone replaced with a new one.
And this exchange can be expensive. If you have AppleCare+, a device replacement costs $99. If not, it depends on your iPhone. Based on Apple’s “Other Damage” rating, replacing my iPhone 12 Pro Max with a new 12 Pro Max will cost $599. That cost can go as high as $699 for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Yes.
How to fix a broken iPhone camera yourself
So what options do you have if you don’t want to pay $600 for the same phone you already own? The first (and most recommended) step is to take your iPhone to a third-party repair shop that operates outside of Apple’s strict guidelines. See if they are ready to take on glass replacement and how much they charge for it. The parts themselves aren’t overly expensive ( as you can see here , the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max camera lens kit costs $9 on Amazon).
And like any iPhone repair, you can do it yourself. The parts are cheap and it doesn’t require a lot of technical know-how – you just have to be careful with the glass around the camera itself. You can see the general steps related to this iPhone 11 Pro Max walkthrough here .
The more broken the lens is from the very beginning, the easier the repair will be. But if the lens only cracked, then it is definitely more difficult. Check out this JerryRigEverything video where he works on a cracked iPhone 7 camera: he heats up the glass and then gradually removes each shard. It’s a difficult, tedious process. If you want to go down this path, know what you are getting into first.