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

[spksys]

So I passed 9days without crashing. My scenario:
1. Turned off life photos.
2. White theme, didn’t change it.
3. 5 apps in the background all the time.
4. Change wallpaper once a day or two.

Today, I was brave enough to turn life photo on and try to take a picture, it went well but after closing camera app it starts to lag af. Seems like it have some memory issues and try to close or kill all the apps in the background. When I turn life photo off, it works smooth again. So my conclusion is life photo feature is the main reason why exactly in my case, camera app crashed. How many of you using this feature and also what you think about it?

I usually don't use it and still crashed. I enabled it 2-3 days ago, 30 apps + in the switcher, I chose not to close anything and only changed wallpaper once since then. The camera does have bit of lag with it enabled (just when swipe it up to get to the springboard as soon as it's done processing) but you really gotta pay attention to see it. This is my 6th day, everything appears rock solid.

My own theory is that resources get locked when you change the wallpaper or theme frequently while you have apps in the switcher, hence leading to the crash eventually. Still testing.

 

[joeblow7777]

6 days now and no camera crash. I changed my wallpaper last night, which makes just three changes in the 6 day period.

 

[AOne1]

6 days now and no camera crash. I changed my wallpaper last night, which makes just three changes in the 6 day period.

Did you use life photo?

 

[joeblow7777]

Did you use life photo?

No, that's a feature I've never used on any of my iDevices, so my crashes can't be related to that.

 

[AOne1]

No, that's a feature I've never used on any of my iDevices, so my crashes can't be related to that.

I asked because when I use life photo, my phone starts to lag for a few seconds. Especially when I close the camera app. With life photo disabled no lag at all. Also with life photo on, all my apps in background is refreshing

 

[spksys]

I am at 7 days since the last crash/restart. Since yesterday, I reverted back to the light theme and changed the wallpaper 5 times but did so without having any apps in the switcher. Performance still is as it was previously. Will see how it goes

 

[joeblow7777]

Also 7 days since my last crash/restart. The only difference in my usage in that time has been making an effort to change my wallpaper less frequently.

 

[liewht]

Doesn’t sound normal. Which phone are you using? When I used iOS 14 on iPhone X, there was no lag or camera crashing with live photo, dark/light mode daily switching.
On iPhone 12 Only when I used automation to switch wallpaper 7 times a day, then I realised the camera crashes start

so it has to be constant wallpaper switching that causing the crash

btw I love the live photo feature =)

 

[spksys]

Small update: changed the wallpaper 12 times and between themes like 5 times in the last 60 hours or so, but I did so after closing every app. Passed 8 days now total, everything is still good.

 

[yesnoj]

today my camera was on "video mode" at startup, if i try to change to "photo" i can't shot anything...the app keeps crushing...i was forced to re-start the iPhone Mini...bah
From start with dark mode, and always the same background...never changed.

 

[joeblow7777]

So, for some of us at least it seems that reducing the number of wallpaper changes has had a significant effect. This still seems like such a strange cause that I have my doubts, but if it is indeed a cause that's means that we should be able to use it to reproduce the issue at will.

Has anyone tried restarting their phone (to start fresh) and then changing their wallpaper repeatedly to see if they could trigger a camera crash?

 

[spksys]

It's either the wallpaper changing itself or changing it while having apps in the switcher. I did try to crash it some time ago but could not do it at will..it seems some time has to pass and during that time you keep changing wallpapers and using apps, if you do 15-20 wallpaper changes daily it will crash in the first 24 hours or before 48 hours max.

Later edit: so in the last 48 hours I must have changed the wallpaper 20 times or so and now it's starting to show, camera has some lag, even if I have 2 apps along with the camera in the switcher, they will reload once I take a photo. The crash is near but I think this is the cause. We may get away with 2-3 wallpaper changes daily, but certainly not 7-10 daily, especially repeatedly in a short time frame.

Later edit 2: I restarted my phone, didn't wait to crash the camera but I was annoyed about the apps reloading all the time and some stutter/jitter on app animations. I see alot of people saying on YouTube the stuttering is fixed with 14.4 beta 2, could be something there that benefits us.

Summary:

Before, with frequent wallpaper and theme changing: never made it past 48 hours without the camera crashing.

After limiting wallpaper and theme changing: 8 and a half days of usage. 6 days with rock solid performance and no lag, minimum of apps reloading when using camera and I had around 30 in the switcher.
I started changing wallpapers somewhere around the end of my 6th day or so and went a bit more aggresive on changing them on the days 7 and 8 along with some theme changing too, and the camera started lagging a bit, noticed some stutter here and there, more apps reloading in the switcher and eventually reached the point of taking a photo with just one app in the switcher, and that app would reload, that's how I know the camera crash would follow soon.

One more observation I have to make is that I think whatever causes the problem when changing wallpapers and stuff seems to have a stackable effect..so even with 2-3 wallpaper changes daily you may still crash the camera..it would just take a few days more to do it.

 

[cubanovsky]

It is a 9th day for me without a crash. Only 2-3 wallpaper changes and all the time in dark mode. I had a 2 day roadtrip to Norway, I did a lot of photos and camera was working like it should work. Only issue is that apps are reloading after taking even one photo.

 

[joeblow7777]

It's either the wallpaper changing itself or changing it while having apps in the switcher. I did try to crash it some time ago but could not do it at will..it seems some time has to pass and during that time you keep changing wallpapers and using apps, if you do 15-20 wallpaper changes daily it will crash in the first 24 hours or before 48 hours max.

Later edit: so in the last 48 hours I must have changed the wallpaper 20 times or so and now it's starting to show, camera has some lag, even if I have 2 apps along with the camera in the switcher, they will reload once I take a photo. The crash is near but I think this is the cause. We may get away with 2-3 wallpaper changes daily, but certainly not 7-10 daily, especially repeatedly in a short time frame.

Later edit 2: I restarted my phone, didn't wait to crash the camera but I was annoyed about the apps reloading all the time and some stutter/jitter on app animations. I see alot of people saying on YouTube the stuttering is fixed with 14.4 beta 2, could be something there that benefits us.

Summary:

Before, with frequent wallpaper and theme changing: never made it past 48 hours without the camera crashing.

After limiting wallpaper and theme changing: 8 and a half days of usage. 6 days with rock solid performance and no lag, minimum of apps reloading when using camera and I had around 30 in the switcher.
I started changing wallpapers somewhere around the end of my 6th day or so and went a bit more aggresive on changing them on the days 7 and 8 along with some theme changing too, and the camera started lagging a bit, noticed some stutter here and there, more apps reloading in the switcher and eventually reached the point of taking a photo with just one app in the switcher, and that app would reload, that's how I know the camera crash would follow soon.

One more observation I have to make is that I think whatever causes the problem when changing wallpapers and stuff seems to have a stackable effect..so even with 2-3 wallpaper changes daily you may still crash the camera..it would just take a few days more to do it.

9 days and no crash nor any noticeable decline in performance.

I’ve been thinking about what you suggested about the effect of wallpaper changes being cumulative (stackable). If that’s the case I would think that more people than us few would be encountering this issue. While most people might not change their wallpaper multiple times a day like we did, over the months since this issue first emerged there’s got to be a fair number of people who have changed their wallpapers as much as we did over the course of a few days.

I guess I’m just saying that there’s probably still more factors involved than we realize. It is all probably related to some underlying RAM management issue. In any case, maybe iOS 14.4 will fix the underlying issue.

 

[spksys]

9 days and no crash nor any noticeable decline in performance.

I’ve been thinking about what you suggested about the effect of wallpaper changes being cumulative (stackable). If that’s the case I would think that more people than us few would be encountering this issue. While most people might not change their wallpaper multiple times a day like we did, over the months since this issue first emerged there’s got to be a fair number of people who have changed their wallpapers as much as we did over the course of a few days.

I guess I’m just saying that there’s probably still more factors involved than we realize. It is all probably related to some underlying RAM management issue. In any case, maybe iOS 14.4 will fix the underlying issue.

I'm gonna rephrase that and say that I think it's stackable after a certain number or something, which I don't know yet really. So there's a threshold that when you cross it by changing it repeatedly in a short time frame, it only goes downwards from there and never recovers until the restart. Kind of noticed it doing this but maybe I am just wishing it would be that simple at this point in time.

Indeed, too many factors and we are thinking this in plain english haha, I for one have no expertise in this domain.

Bottom line is, I think it's somewhat safe to say that we discovered the source of our problem? and maybe we can tone down the wallpaper changing and enjoy the devices without this stupid issue. ( the only time i really need to take a photo of something..that one moment on that day and it freaking crashes lol, not anymore)

I'll still be testing stuff, see what else I can find out and keep reporting here. I'm thinking of something and wanted to ask you guys. When you change your wallpapers, do you use custom ones only OR do you change between custom wallpapers and the ones from settings, specifically the ones with dual tones (light/dark) ?

 

[joeblow7777]

I'm gonna rephrase that and say that I think it's stackable after a certain number or something, which I don't know yet really. So there's a threshold that when you cross it by changing it repeatedly in a short time frame, it only goes downwards from there and never recovers until the restart. Kind of noticed it doing this but maybe I am just wishing it would be that simple at this point in time.

Indeed, too many factors and we are thinking this in plain english haha, I for one have no expertise in this domain.

Bottom line is, I think it's somewhat safe to say that we discovered the source of our problem? and maybe we can tone down the wallpaper changing and enjoy the devices without this stupid issue. ( the only time i really need to take a photo of something..that one moment on that day and it freaking crashes lol, not anymore)

I'll still be testing stuff, see what else I can find out and keep reporting here. I'm thinking of something and wanted to ask you guys. When you change your wallpapers, do you use custom ones only OR do you change between custom wallpapers and the ones from settings, specifically the ones with dual tones (light/dark) ?

Regarding the types of wallpapers I use, it’s both. I sometimes use stock iOS ones, I sometimes use ones I find online, and I sometimes use photos that I have taken myself. I actually have a wallpaper album with about 200 images that choose from regularly, and I’m always adding more! So yeah, I’ve always been a little obsessed with changing my wallpaper. ?

In any case, I definitely have no expertise in this area either, but being on my 10th day now, I believe this is the longest I’ve ever gone without a camera crash, and literally the only thing I’ve done differently is change my wallpaper less frequently, so it seems like there is a correlation and not just a coincidence.

iOS 14.4 is expected to be released to the general public soon, so maybe that will further improve stability and truly eliminate this problem completely, so that it won’t be an issue no matter how much we change our wallpaper!

 

[cubanovsky]

Maybe we should somehow spread information that there is some bug connected to wallpaper changes? I think Apple should definitely take a look at this issue. You guys are from US so maybe you have any idea who could help us spread this, maybe some YouTuber? But there is one big benefit for me, before I could spend so much time daily only looking for new wallpapers and changing them, now I am slowly loosing my need for doing that so at least I can make a use of this time in better way than searching every known website for a new wall ?

 

[joeblow7777]

Maybe we should somehow spread information that there is some bug connected to wallpaper changes? I think Apple should definitely take a look at this issue. You guys are from US so maybe you have any idea who could help us spread this, maybe some YouTuber? But there is one big benefit for me, before I could spend so much time daily only looking for new wallpapers and changing them, now I am slowly loosing my need for doing that so at least I can make a use of this time in better way than searching every known website for a new wall ?

I’m Canadian, actually. ?

For whatever reason, this issue just seems to be too rare to gain any notice. Tech bloggers and YouTubers probably won’t give it any attention either unless more people start experiencing it. That’s why I hope that general improvements to performance and RAM management will fix it.

 

[liewht]

I am quite certain it’s related to wallpaper changes. My camera no longer crashes once I reduced the wallpaper change frequency

 

[liewht]

Well, one week and it has crashed. That’s with 3 automated wall paper changes per day. I think I’ll revert back to stock wallpaper day/night and see how it goes

 

[spksys]

iOS 14.4 is up. let’s see if it changes anything. i have doubts though.

 

[cubanovsky]

For me it is a second week without any crash, I have changed my wall few times but definitely much less than I did before. On iOS 14.4 my phone seems snappier and also any app has not reloaded but I think this is because phone restarted while updating. I will report again in a few days.

 

[a.zasypalov]

Unfortunately, iOS 14.4 don’t fix the issue. I changed a wallpaper yesterday about 20 times and after that had crashes on every shot trying.
Actually, I found this forum just yesterday and finally found the reason. It’s should be a software bug. My wife’s 12 never did such thing (and she changed wallpaper just 1 time a 2-3 months)

 

[joeblow7777]

Well, one week and it has crashed. That’s with 3 automated wall paper changes per day. I think I’ll revert back to stock wallpaper day/night and see how it goes

Which wallpaper you use doesn't seem to make a difference. I've had it crash while using stock. It trigger seems to be how frequently you change.

 

[liewht]

Using the stock wallpaper that has the day/night cycle has no issue for me