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Repair information and guides for the Apple iPhone 5s that was announced on September 10, 2013. Model: A1533, A1453, A1457, A1528, A1530, A1518

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Rear camera and flash don't work

Greetings! First post here.

Recently, while in the dark, I noticed that my flashlight (camera flash) on my iPhone 5S was no longer working when activated from the control center. I then began to debug it by rebooting, resetting and then finally by upgrading from iOS8 to iOS9. None of these fixed my problems but during the investigation, I noticed that the rear camera was no longer working as well. After some internet searching I do not really have a clear idea of whats wrong, as such, is why I am here.

This is something that I would like to try and fix myself if possible but would like some ideas of what else could be wrong here and if there are any additional debug steps. After hopefully identifying the problem, I will likely need to purchase the part(s) and doing the repair... so any thoughts or advice here would be welcome as well.

Thanks in Advance.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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I have also problem with my camera the flash is not working although u can used the flash but the result is bkurry but if u dont used the flash the capture picture was very good wht is the problem of this please help me

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What should i do please help me and how much do i spend when it comes of the labor and all the accessories need please statemated

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Flash is disabled iPhone needs cool down like that it was displayed

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My iPhone camera flash not working & the rear camera not capturing; what is the solution or the cause of the malfunction?

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My iPhone 5 camera not capturing but the video calls are working. Can you give tips to correct the anomaly?

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8 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Quit out of any app that can access the iPhone camera – things like Camera, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Afterlight, etc

Flip the iPhone over and apply very slight pressure against the physical camera hardware using a finger, it may depress slightly indicating this loose camera issue

Now try to use the Camera app as usual (from lock screen access, or third party app is fine), it should work fine now and take pictures as usual

So, a malfunctioning camera, no camera apps are working, and loose physical camera hardware on the iPhone? That clearly indicates a hardware issue, and whether or not it impacts many iPhone 5 users is not entirely clear.

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3 Comments:

Was very helpful!! Worked like magic. Instantly! Tnx a lot

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woh great ..working excellent

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The first time this happened I tried this and it worked fine. However my camera went back to being unfocused and the flash didn't work again the next day and I tried this and it hasn't worked?

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If you have already tried to update the software and this did not work, you will most likely need to replace the camera unit, follow this guide for the Rear Camera Unit

Not particularly a hard repair to do, just be careful when pulling it apart

Best of luck

Regards

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5 Comments:

I had a similar problem with my i5S. The flashlight stopped working. The camera was fine. But, I still don't know why my flashlight stopped working

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My understanding is that the camera and the flash LED are not in the same part/cable on the 5s as they were with the iPhone 5... If this is the case, it's not clear to me how fixing the camera will fix the flash.

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The iPhone 5S camera can some times cause the Flash to not work, after a replacement camera the flash should work with it

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This is awesome information. I will be ordering a camera asap and will report back.

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I had to replace the main ribbon cable (difficult project) in the top of the phone that connects motherboard to pwr button, volume buttons, flash led, silence ringer switch.

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I have the exact same problem recently. It started on snapchat so I deleted then redone loaded it but it still didn't work. Then I tried my camera and it worked facing my way but shots in front of me seemed to stop and the screen was black. Just now I discovered the flash doesn't work either and I don't know what to do.

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i have the same issue.

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yeh same, the options won't even come up to flip my camera to the rear section? my flash won't even work??

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i had mine replaced and it worked for three days.. now its black again and i have no clue what to do. Did check cables and reconnect it.. still nothing.. and i also did a software reset.. not working :-( Anyone has a clue??? The shop told me that the motherboard was damaged and it couldn't be fixed... but then it worked for three days after that.. now its not working again...

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I think I had some water trouble but the only effect is the rear camera worked intermittently and the flash stopped altogether. However, I replaced the camera and the entire ribbon assembly that has the flash, and there was no improvement. Is there a certain chip on the logic board that is focused on the camera and flash control?

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I have the same problem. The rear camera and the flashlight of my iphone5s is not working. When I open it its just black and has yellow triangle on far left corner saying "flash is disabled, the iPhone needs to cool down before you can use the flash" I tried series of suggested solution but still doesn't work. It's been almost a month now. What should I do?? Please. Help!!!!

Update (03/24/2017)

Need help someone please

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This solution worked for me, press the camera with your fingers hard enough that you will not break the screen, close the camera app, restart or reset all settings. I open an iPhone once and camera is plugged with a notch so it could perfectly unplug or near to it.

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I need the flashback camera ,please can you fix it ?

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Please help me

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Elena,

iFixit is a large community of: users who want to fix their own devices, semi-professional and professional technicians who come here offering advice and sometimes seeking it, and a small core of employees who keep the site up and running, do the tear-downs and run the store, etc.

It’s not intended as a place to find a repair technician to fix your phone (although many of us probably could) but rather as a resource if you want to fix it yourself.

If if you are seeking advice, please provide more information. What type of phone? How long have you had it? What is the problem, exactly? How did the problem first arise? Was it dropped, exposed to water, or anything else that might have triggered the issue? Did it stop working all at once, or gradually over time?

If you’re looking for someone else to fix it, you’re better off searching for a local repair shop or a mail-in provider (they’ll want the above information.) Be sure to ask questions before handing over your phone, and to do a complete backup of everything on it. Questions to ask include: have you fixed my phone type before? How many times? How often have customers come back with more problems after a repair? What kind of warranty do you offer? Do you have past customers I can talk to? What kind of repairs do you do? (e.g. Some people can fix almost any problem, including problems with the circuit board. Others mostly replace broken parts. Both can be excellent; it depends on what you need). And finally, what happens if you can’t fix my phone?

Best wishes and good luck!

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Garrett Cooper will be eternally grateful.
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