iPhone 5 camera won't focus

Hey guys,

so since I'm about to order a replacement battery for my iPhone 5 and it's my camera I always have with me as opposed to my EOS 60D, I thought I might order a replacement camera module too to save on shipping costs.

However, before I do that or before asking the seller whether they think it's a hardware defect (that needs replacement and not reseating a cable) I thought I might ask you guys.

I've read about stuck focus issues concerning iOS 8.3 on iPhone 6 models, however these issues did not immediately arise after the update to 8.3, so I have reasons to doubt it's that.
Also tried resetting my phone, don't feel like going through backup and restore time waster hell though, especially since I don't use encrypted backups and have to log into a lot of apps afterwards. (when will apps finally incorporate THIS FEATURE)


Thanks in advance!

Glassed Silver:mac

PS: Please let's not have the discussion of "send it in" or "go to an Apple Store".
I'm skilled at repairing my own tech and fix things all the time, so I'm not going to pay someone to fix an out-of-warranty phone I only really need for one more summer. (after that it's upgrade time)

chambone said:

Did it suffer from a hard drop at some point? I recently replaced the cracked screen on a friend's 4S, and upon completing that and testing the phone, the camera appeared to have trouble focusing as well. Coincidentally, she dropped it on the camera corner, so yeah. It would only focus when tapped so it was obviously a hardware problem. Maybe you can try tapping it to get it to focus?

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It does not focus at all, not even with ProCamera and its true manual focus (slider, not touch).

I also tried the stock camera app and other apps, none of them focus by tapping or automatically.

And well, I did drop it sometimes, but I have a rather good case on it and there's no cracked screen.
However, maybe it could be that the camera unit got damaged by sun light during a car ride when I used my phone as nav?

Glassed Silver:mac

chambone said:

Sorry for not being clearer in my first response, but I meant tapping/knocking the side of the phone while it's trying to focus #

Worked for me, so I knew the camera module had a problem and not the software.

Click to expand...

Holy sh**

That worked!
Nice for a temporary fix, now I know I need a new camera module the surefire way.

Thanks a LOT!

Glassed Silver:mac

Replaced the camera module along with the battery.

All is great again!
iPhone is ready to serve me well throughout this summer and fall until I get the next iteration probably.

Glassed Silver:mac