Apple Will Fix Your IPhone 14 Plus Camera for Free
Has this ever happened to you? You take out your iPhone to take a photo or video of something, but when you open the Camera app, nothing appears on the screen. The rear camera displays a black screen, but if you press the “switch camera” button and switch to the selfie camera, your face will appear in the preview without any problem.
The problem is most likely related to your iPhone’s rear camera, which for some reason is not showing a preview in the Camera app when it is active. There is often little you can do yourself to fix it. Force quitting the Camera app, restarting your iPhone , or tapping the back of the camera to shake something out may not work. The good news is that Apple will happily fix the problem for you free of charge – as long as your device meets the iPhone 14 Plus requirements.
There is an issue with some iPhone 14 Plus phones.
According to Apple’s new support page , the company has identified an issue with the rear camera on “a very small percentage of iPhone 14 Plus devices.” Affected devices won’t display anything when you have the rear camera active, so if your 14 Plus’s camera behaves this way, it’s probably Apple’s fault.
Just because you have an iPhone 14 Plus with this problem doesn’t mean it’s automatically eligible for repair: Apple says the affected devices were manufactured between April 10, 2023, and April 28, 2024. If you purchased your iPhone 14 Plus on launch day in 2022, for example, this will not apply. You will need to enter your serial number into the text field on the support page to confirm whether your device is covered by this program.
If your eligible 14 Plus has this problem, you have several options to resolve it. First, you can simply bring your iPhone to the Apple Store : make an appointment, bring your iPhone, and they’ll get your camera working again for free. You can also go to an Apple Authorized Service Provider , a repair facility officially approved by Apple to provide service. Finally, you can mail your iPhone if you set up a solution with Apple Support first.
If you previously fixed your iPhone 14 Plus’s camera and paid for it, Apple says you can ask them for a refund .
One final caveat: this program is limited in time. Apple says it will only repair your camera within three years of the device’s “first retail sale.” This means that if you bought a used device six months ago, you’ll still have to go back to when the device was originally sold at retail to find out when that three-year period expires. However, since the first affected devices weren’t manufactured until April 10, 2023, the oldest devices in the program are no more than a year and a half old, so you have until at least April 2026 until the first batch of 14 Plus is released. models will not be covered.