iPhone 12 Pro iOS 14 Frequent Camera Crash Problem (Cause found but no fix - related to wallpapers?)

[joeblow7777]

Thanks, wish I didn't have to though. So we now have 11 Pro Maxes, iPhone 12's, 12 Pro Maxes, XS's Max, surely can't be hardware. Bad news is we are in the minority and Apple will probably ignore/pass on this and we'll have to wait until the iOS 15 and or some update that has ram manangement enhancements.

I downloaded some app from the store that tells me the available RAM, so far noticed that when using the camera and actually taking a picture it usually clears about 1.2 gigs of ram or so, but when the issue happens it can't clear more than 800 mbs or so.

I am now always closing every app to see what happens in a day or two.

Some things that I think may be fueling this or maybe just wishful thinking on my side: changing light/dark mode while having many apps in the background, using apps that require a lot of browsing such as facebook (almost always killed when using the camera), pinterest, the official reddit app, changing wallpapers many times through the day while having many background apps open.

Not everyone will get this issue but I am 90% sure it can be reproduced on all the models from the XS upwards, most likely the combination of apps used and usage leads to this, which obviously is still far from ok.

I'll probably reach the point of just using the phone with 2-3 must need apps, system apps and camera, just to see if this still happens.

I'll keep posting when I come across interesting things, as long as I still have the device.

Your analysis is very insightful and touches on many points that I had also been considering.

I do use dark mode almost all of the time, and I do tend to change my wallpaper frequently, often multiple times a day (I get bored of it quickly! ? ).

I don't really see what dark mode chould have to do with anything but as silly as it sounds I had wondered if the changing wallpapers could be related for two reasons:

First, it's one of the few things I can think of that I do on my phone more than most users probably do. Second, changing my wallpaper would sometimes trigger a very minor glitch on my 8 Plus where the phone would sometimes undergo a small crash. Not as bad as this whole camera thing as it never required me to restart my phone and everything was back to normal after just a couple of seconds, but now I'm starting to wonder if there is a connection.

 

[spksys]

Not sure how dark mode may affect this at a functional level but I noticed this problem happens more often while using dark mode, maybe it was just in my head and trying to blame it on something, but most of the videos I saw with this camera crash also had dark mode, judging by the dock's colour.

I also change my wallpapers alot throughout the day too, sometimes along with light/dark mode to match it.

I just stopped doing that today to see how it affects the problem..if it does.

 

[cubanovsky]

Your analysis is very insightful and touches on many points that I had also been considering.

I do use dark mode almost all of the time, and I do tend to change my wallpaper frequently, often multiple times a day (I get bored of it quickly! ? ).

I don't really see what dark mode chould have to do with anything but as silly as it sounds I had wondered if the changing wallpapers could be related for two reasons:

First, it's one of the few things I can think of that I do on my phone more than most users probably do. Second, changing my wallpaper would sometimes trigger a very minor glitch on my 8 Plus where the phone would sometimes undergo a small crash. Not as bad as this whole camera thing as it never required me to restart my phone and everything was back to normal after just a couple of seconds, but now I'm starting to wonder if there is a connection.

OMG I do also change my wallpaper few times everyday and between dark/light mode. Maybe that is the case ?

 

[joeblow7777]

Okay guys, sounds like we might have a lead to follow! I'm going to keep my phone in dark mode but resist the urge to change my wallpaper. I will also stop preemptively restarting my phone every morning as I have been doing to avoid crashes for the past few days.

Also, do you guys think that I should rename this thread, something more along the lines of, "iOS 14 frequent camera crash problem"? When I originally created the thread I though it was a problem unique to iPhone 12 models, but now it seems more likely to be an iOS issue.

 

[cubanovsky]

Okay guys, sounds like we might have a lead to follow! I'm going to keep my phone in dark mode but resist the urge to change my wallpaper. I will also stop preemptively restarting my phone every morning as I have been doing to avoid crashes for the past few days.

Also, do you guys think that I should rename this thread, something more along the lines of, "iOS 14 frequent camera crash problem"? When I originally created the thread I though it was a problem unique to iPhone 12 models, but now it seems more likely to be an iOS issue.

Renaming this thread could be a great idea, there is many people having this issue on Apple community. Maybe it will be easier to find this topic from their side. I have tried to contact one YouTuber that maybe could help us spread this problem to more people, so maaaaaybe Apple could see this. But I think he don't give a sh*t about a problem that is not wide known and will not give him views ?

 

[spksys]

Looks like the 3 of us have the same problem, similar usage patterns and different devices?

Sometimes the simplest of things is problematic, but difficult to pin point and fix.

Let's see if there is a connection here...would be great to at least have a simpler workaround.

EDIT: I never went 48 hours without crashing, and my usage behavior was always the same..social media, reddit, youtube, dark mode..wallpaper..light mode..wallpaper quite a few times throughout the day. And during this trying to take a picture once in a while really. Never game on the phone, never use extensive apps such as photo/video editing.

 

[joeblow7777]

Looks like the 3 of us have the same problem, similar usage patterns and different devices?

Sometimes the simplest of things is problematic, but difficult to pin point and fix.

Let's see if there is a connection here...would be great to at least have a simpler workaround.

EDIT: I never went 48 hours without crashing, and my usage behavior was always the same..social media, reddit, youtube, dark mode..wallpaper..light mode..wallpaper quite a few times throughout the day. And during this trying to take a picture once in a while really. Never game on the phone, never use extensive apps such as photo/video editing.

Yes, my usage is very similar to that. Almost always in dark mode. I change my wallpaper a number if times during the day, just based on my mood. Main apps I use are social media and messaging, particularly Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, iMessage, and Spark email client. I take a few pictures each day if only to test the camera. My crashes seem to be a bit less frequent than yours though. I would say on average it happens every 3-4 days. My replacement phone went 6 days, and I think so did my original phone when I reset it and set it up as new. No crashes so far since I started daily routine restarts as a preventative measure.

 

[spksys]

I got a feeling in my gut something is connected here.

I've been changing wallpapers too many times to count because I keep searching and finding colorful wallpapers which seem to look best on iPhone for some reason, so maybe that is why mine is crashing more frequently.

It could also be a combination of:

1. changing wallpapers using the Photos app or through settings? I only use the Photos app and I know there use to be something crash related with it in the past, just worth mentioning
2. changing between custom wallpapers or stock iOS wallpapers? I change between both

Dark mode/Light mode may not mather as much unless you do it frequently with alot of apps open OR everytime you change the wallpapers..something I used to do.

I stopped changing wallpapers and themes, but I still used quite a few apps and leave them open, taking a picture every hour. Been 7 hours so far since my crash and phone so far, no camera lag, no app closed in the background by taking pictures so far, fingers crossed.

 

[cubanovsky]

I got a feeling in my gut something is connected here.

I've been changing wallpapers too many times to count because I keep searching and finding colorful wallpapers which seem to look best on iPhone for some reason, so maybe that is why mine is crashing more frequently.

It could also be a combination of:

1. changing wallpapers using the Photos app or through settings? I only use the Photos app and I know there use to be something crash related with it in the past, just worth mentioning
2. changing between custom wallpapers or stock iOS wallpapers? I change between both

Dark mode/Light mode may not mather as much unless you do it frequently with alot of apps open OR everytime you change the wallpapers..something I used to do.

I stopped changing wallpapers and themes, but I still used quite a few apps and leave them open, taking a picture every hour. Been 7 hours so far since my crash and phone so far, no camera lag, no app closed in the background by taking pictures so far, fingers crossed.

I do change my wallpaper through Photos, but then at least once a day I am coming back to stock wallpaper. Now I did change my wallpaper to final one (I hope, it is like I am addicted to changing them ) and also I did a reset. And I am going to report here if some crash will happen.

 

[joeblow7777]

I always change my wallpaper through settings. I will also try to kick my addiction to changing wallpapers and see if that makes any difference.

 

[fb1909]

Changed my wallpaper also very often. Often several times a day at that time. But now I haven’t changed it for weeks. And guess what....no crashes since weeks ?

 

[Boyd01]

Makes sense. I don't recall ever having a camera crash, but I always use dark mode and never change wallpaper.

 

[spksys]

Thanks for replying guys. Seems like there might be some light at the end of the tunnel. I also know several people with iOS devices, XS Max, 11 Pro and they never had crashes, come to think of it they don't really thinker with wallpapers/themes, they just use it.

 

[cubanovsky]

If this really will be a reason why camera is crashing I wish Apple somehow will see this issue. It is just a few hours and I have a big need to change my wallpaper ? but I think instead I will start smoking again.

 

[spksys]

That's what I am doing. But if this really turns out to be the issue, at least we know our devices are not hardware faulty.

It may not be 1-2 wallpaper changes that affects it but a maybe 5-10. I guess we gotta check the breaking point after this.

 

[Cameracrashapalooza]

So has anyone experienced this exact problem on an OS prior to iOS 14, or can we assume that it's inherent to the current OS?

That being said, I was using iOS 14 on my iPhone 8 Plus for weeks before switching to the 12 Pro Max, with no problems.

I had this on my iPhone X long before iOS 14. It's possible it's a different root cause that has the same symptoms, but that seems unlikely.

 

[joeblow7777]

I had this on my iPhone X long before iOS 14. It's possible it's a different root cause that has the same symptoms, but that seems unlikely.

I know it seems like a silly question, but did you change your wallpaper very often?

 

[Cameracrashapalooza]

I know it seems like a silly question, but did you change your wallpaper very often?

Was just about to reply to address this! Sorry, just catching up on all the latest posts right now.

I hate to throw a wrench in the theory, but I haven't changed my wallpaper in over a year (carried the same wallpaper from my iPhone X over to the new iPhone 12 Mini). And I just started using dark mode very occasionally in the past few weeks. But I've been having this problem for a long time.

I have a small piece of data, though. I turned off "Scene Detection" in my settings, and today, the camera crashed but I was able to just close the camera app and when I reopened the camera it was working. No idea if turning off that setting actually helped, but maybe??

Edited to add: I am really bad about closing apps, though, and I do use a lot of "heavier" apps like Facebook and Reddit. I'll typically have Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram all open on my phone, in addition to all the other apps I use in a day, because I basically never close any apps.

 

[joeblow7777]

Was just about to reply to address this! Sorry, just catching up on all the latest posts right now.

I hate to throw a wrench in the theory, but I haven't changed my wallpaper in over a year (carried the same wallpaper from my iPhone X over to the new iPhone 12 Mini). And I just started using dark mode very occasionally in the past few weeks. But I've been having this problem for a long time.

I have a small piece of data, though. I turned off "Scene Detection" in my settings, and today, the camera crashed but I was able to just close the camera app and when I reopened the camera it was working. No idea if turning off that setting actually helped, but maybe??

Edited to add: I am really bad about closing apps, though, and I do use a lot of "heavier" apps like Facebook and Reddit. I'll typically have Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram all open on my phone, in addition to all the other apps I use in a day, because I basically never close any apps.

We’ll see how the wallpaper theory plays out. It may be that your issue isn’t quite the same as ours after all.

Leaving apps “open” shouldn’t matter. Lots of people do that. Many users aren’t even aware of the idea of swiping apps closed in the app switcher. iOS is supposed to manage that even if you never close a single app on your phone ever.

 

[spksys]

Was just about to reply to address this! Sorry, just catching up on all the latest posts right now.

I hate to throw a wrench in the theory, but I haven't changed my wallpaper in over a year (carried the same wallpaper from my iPhone X over to the new iPhone 12 Mini). And I just started using dark mode very occasionally in the past few weeks. But I've been having this problem for a long time.

I have a small piece of data, though. I turned off "Scene Detection" in my settings, and today, the camera crashed but I was able to just close the camera app and when I reopened the camera it was working. No idea if turning off that setting actually helped, but maybe??

Edited to add: I am really bad about closing apps, though, and I do use a lot of "heavier" apps like Facebook and Reddit. I'll typically have Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram all open on my phone, in addition to all the other apps I use in a day, because I basically never close any apps.

Thanks for letting us know! got a few questions just to clarify something:

1. you have this issue on the 12 mini and you usually have to restart the phone to use the camera (just like us) but just now you turned off scene detection and you could use the camera after the crash? or can you usually use the camera after it crashed?
2. you restored the backup from the iPhone X where you had this issue for quite some time? is it the exact same crash ?
3. when you say you use the dark mode, i assume you have a lot of apps in the background when switching to it, would you say you switch between light/dark 2-3 times a day?
4. did you ever try a DFU restore and setting up as new at any point on your iPhone X or 12 Mini?

As I said before, a good indication the system is bogging down and a camera crash will follow soon is when you take a picture and swipe the camera up you will have a visual delay. I am at 24h now since my last restart, no wallpaper changing, about 18 apps in the switcher and the camera still swipes up with smoothly with no delay (after taking the picture, which I am doing hourly at least).

 

[yesnoj]

Hi guys, fortunally i’ve found this topic!This issue on my iPhone 12 mini makes me crazy.I’ve done the latest update of the software,14.3, and my phone is literally ALWAYS from the beginning in dark mode...and NEVER changed the wallpaper.I use the stock one of bigsur.So for me is not at all related to the wallpaper change.I don’t close so much often the apps, and to solve the problem i’ve to restart the phone like you. I’ve noticed this stuff when i’ve set the settings to mantain the latest setting in camera...because i hate the 4:3 ratio, i prefer the 16:9 ...and using this option i can maintain the 16:9 instead of change it every single time. Yesterday to take a picture with the present bug,i was forced to switch to another picture mode,the portrait, because with standard picture mode was not workin and keep crashing.Hope they solve this very annoying issue...after so many years of Android this is my second iphone...and i hope to be a good one (love the 12 mini size!)
As other guys suggested, this crash appens only within the App camera, if i want to take picture in Whatsapp/Telegram or others, works perfectly.

 

[spksys]

Hi there, thanks for replying. Would you mind using light mode for a while and see what that does for you? I said previously I had less crashes when using light mode...maybe it's a combination. How often do you get crashes as you are using it now, on dark mode? It could be a long shot but at this point every silly thing is worth trying..just my 2 cents.

 

[cubanovsky]

Anyone of you had a situation when after trying to take photos camera obviously crashed but then after a while this photos where shown in Photos app as a 2sec video? It looks like camera can capture only Live part of the photo. Usage of the apps doesn't seem to be connected to camera crashes. In the same moment I was using my old Xs at work and new 12 at home. After update to iOS 14.2 Xs camera started to crash also, only not that frequent as in iPhone 12. The most important thing is at work I cannot use my phone too much, sending few messages to my girl etc, but camera anyway was still able to crash. No matter of usage. BUT my work phone was always in dark mode, and also I was changing my wallpaper frequently but only between stock ones. There has to be connection between dark mode, wallpapers, some of this has to cause memory leak after changing too often. Camera app takes so much of the phone resources so I think this is why only this app crashes. So I see here two problems that Apple should fix, one is a camera app optimization and the second is switching dark/light mode and wallpaper memory leak.

 

[spksys]

Anyone of you had a situation when after trying to take photos camera obviously crashed but then after a while this photos where shown in Photos app as a 2sec video? It looks like camera can capture only Live part of the photo. Usage of the apps doesn't seem to be connected to camera crashes. In the same moment I was using my old Xs at work and new 12 at home. After update to iOS 14.2 Xs camera started to crash also, only not that frequent as in iPhone 12. The most important thing is at work I cannot use my phone too much, sending few messages to my girl etc, but camera anyway was still able to crash. No matter of usage. BUT my work phone was always in dark mode, and also I was changing my wallpaper frequently but only between stock ones. There has to be connection between dark mode, wallpapers, some of this has to cause memory leak after changing too often. Camera app takes so much of the phone resources so I think this is why only this app crashes. So I see here two problems that Apple should fix, one is a camera app optimization and the second is switching dark/light mode and wallpaper memory leak.

I actually have live photos turned off so did not notice it.

I think there is a memory leak somewhere and one logical explanation would be wallpaper/theme changing while having apps in the switcher affects it the most.

Maybe wallpapers/theme changing may not affect it when there are no apps in the switcher.

Silly theory but it looks like when changing the theme it would keep both versions light and dark in the memory and it can't clear the one you are not using at the time. So if you just changed to dark, it would still keep the light and you can't see it or can't clear it and neither can iOS, LOL.

If my camera does not crash today or tomorrow we are definetely on to something.

 

[AOne1]

Ok, so I was using my phone without crashes for 5days right now. I also disabled life photo and did not change the theme. Can’t keep my self from changing wallpapers tho?. Will report soon if I see some changes in that scenario of usage