Camera issues on your Galaxy device can be a hassle to diagnose, but there are steps to resolve the most common software issues to get you back to shooting.
If your Samsung camera app lags, the shutter button misbehaves, the auto-focus is not working right, or the viewfinder crashes, you might encounter a «camera failed» prompt with no further explanation or details. At first glance, it may appear to be a hardware issue. However, more often than not, it is a software glitch that can be resolved with a few easy steps (via Samsung).
You can’t always diagnose what exactly caused the error, but you can go through the typical solutions until the issue is fixed. For instance, using a third-party camera app from the Galaxy Store or the Google Play Store (i.e. Snapchat, Instagram, etc.) should work fine if the problem is related to the stock Samsung camera app, specifically.
We’ll lay out different methods you can try to get your camera working again — ranging from simple to more involved. Sometimes camera issues can even go away on their own when you receive a system update from Samsung, but there are steps to take if that’s not the case. So before you troubleshoot, update your Android to the latest version (via Samsung).
