Samsung Galaxy S20 Camera Not Working

First off, make sure that the blank camera screen you’re seeing isn’t just your finger or phone case obstructing the camera’s view. It’s happened to the best of us, so don’t feel bad if your problem was a rogue thumb or improperly installed phone case!

If your camera is producing blurry images, but seems to be functioning fine otherwise, it’s possible that the lens is just dirty from grease or Cheeto dust. Inspect your phone’s cameras for any cracks on the camera housing. Then, clean your camera glass thoroughly with a microfiber cloth.

If you are experiencing issues with your camera while using a third-party camera app, the issue may just be that the app isn’t optimized to use your smartphone’s camera. To rule out your problem just being with faulty software rather than an actual issue, open your phone’s default camera app (likely just called “Camera”) and see if the camera functions normally there.

If you continue having problems with your phone’s native camera app or are seeing a “Warning: camera failed” message when trying to use the camera, it could still simply be a software glitch within the camera app. So solve this problem:

1. Open the Camera app on your phone.
2. Tap the Gear icon in the top corner of the screen.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the camera settings menu and select Reset Settings.
4. Tap Reset on the prompt to confirm your choice.

If resetting your camera had no effect and you continue to experience problems, you should make sure that your camera app’s software is using the latest version available. To check for camera software updates:

1. Open the Camera app on your phone.
2. Tap the Gear icon in the top corner of the screen.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the camera settings menu and select About Camera.
4. Select the option to update your phone if one is available.
   • If your camera is up to date, a message will be displayed reading “The latest version is already installed.”

Some apps downloaded from the internet can affect camera functionality. To rule this out as a problem, you can boot your phone in Safe Mode, which disables all apps not included in the original software package that came preinstalled on your phone. To reboot your phone into Safe Mode to check:

1. Press and hold the Power button until the power options menu pops up.
2. Touch and hold the Power Off option until the Safe Mode icon appears.
3. Tap the Safe Mode option to restart your phone into Safe Mode.
4. Once your phone restarts, try using the Camera app.

If your camera problems cease, it means that the issue is coming from one of your downloaded apps. You can try uninstalling applications on your phone until the issue no longer persists out of Safe Mode.

Pro Tip: Start with the applications you downloaded right before you noticed the camera issues, as those are the most likely culprits!

If your camera problems started after your phone sustained a substantial impact, water ingress, or if you mounted your phone to your motorcycle without using a specially designed damping mount (the vibrations from motorcycles can kill your camera!), the likely culprit of your camera problems are a malfunctioning camera module. The camera module can break or become dislodged during big drops or sustained low-frequency vibrations, causing the intricate module to stop functioning. If this is the case, fear not, for you can replace your Galaxy S20 camera using one of our camera replacement guides!

Here’s a list of rear camera guides for the different Galaxy S20 models:

• Samsung Galaxy S20 Rear-Facing Camera Module Replacement
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus Rear-Facing Camera Module Replacement
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Rear-Facing Camera Module Replacement

And here’s all of our front camera guides:

• Samsung Galaxy S20 Front-Facing Camera Module Replacement
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus Front-Facing Camera Module Replacement
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Front-Facing Camera Module Replacement