Last Friday night (I was not drinking too many shots nor did I kiss anyone and forget) I was FaceTiming with a friend when suddenly the front camera on my 15 Pro Max went completely out of focus. I tried to gently tap the front of the phone to get it to regain focus with no success a few times,and then went to the Halide app. From there, again, the focus slider was completely functional, but no matter where I tried to rack focus the image was not remotely sharp. After I rebooted the phone, the stock camera app, all third-party camera apps, and Halide either showed a black screen for the front camera, endlessly loaded, or would crash back to the rear camera in Halide's case. Saturday, I made an appointment with the Genius bar, about a 2-hour drive from where I live. Before hand, the Apple Support app allowed me to run some pre-diagnostics which I did in an effort to save time.
Sunday, I made my way down to the Ridgedale Apple Store. My appointment was set for 3:35, I showed up 10 minutes early, and they got me checked in and let me know it would be closer to my appointment time before I saw anyone which was totally fine, they seemed pretty busy. At about 3:50 they got to talking with me, we agreed it sounded like a hardware issue, and they plugged my phone into another diagnostic cable. The diagnostic in store showed my front camera was failing, my Face ID was failing (which I have not yet experienced) and that my warranty should cover everything. Only one issue- they told me they wouldn't have time to get it done. My options were to leave it overnight and pick it up in the morning (not an option, I live 2.5 hours away and have to work at 9 AM on Monday) or they could ship the phone back to me and I would be phoneless. I asked about a device replacement and they told me that would not be an option, if memory serves correctly because the phones are so modular that the policy states they must fix it. So I wasted my whole Sunday down in the twin cities and came back without a working front camera. That's ok, I can always make another trip this weekend, or that was the plan anyway.
Today Apple released iOS 17.1.2 and my phone has no issues focusing, all camera apps work completely fine, and everything seems golden. WTH?
Sunday, I made my way down to the Ridgedale Apple Store. My appointment was set for 3:35, I showed up 10 minutes early, and they got me checked in and let me know it would be closer to my appointment time before I saw anyone which was totally fine, they seemed pretty busy. At about 3:50 they got to talking with me, we agreed it sounded like a hardware issue, and they plugged my phone into another diagnostic cable. The diagnostic in store showed my front camera was failing, my Face ID was failing (which I have not yet experienced) and that my warranty should cover everything. Only one issue- they told me they wouldn't have time to get it done. My options were to leave it overnight and pick it up in the morning (not an option, I live 2.5 hours away and have to work at 9 AM on Monday) or they could ship the phone back to me and I would be phoneless. I asked about a device replacement and they told me that would not be an option, if memory serves correctly because the phones are so modular that the policy states they must fix it. So I wasted my whole Sunday down in the twin cities and came back without a working front camera. That's ok, I can always make another trip this weekend, or that was the plan anyway.
Today Apple released iOS 17.1.2 and my phone has no issues focusing, all camera apps work completely fine, and everything seems golden. WTH?
