How to fix blurry Galaxy Note10 camera issue | camera not focusing

Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy Note10 series, sports an impressive camera assembly. In fact, the device’s camera is one of its selling points so we understand if you find it frustrating that you may not be able to get the desired outcome when taking photos or videos. If your Galaxy Note10 camera appears blurry or out of focus, this can mean that you’re simply not using the device properly, or there’s a software or app bug behind it. To know where the problem lies, we suggest that you follow a set of logical troubleshooting steps. We provide those steps below.

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How to fix blurry Galaxy Note10 camera issue | camera not focusing

If your Galaxy Note camera looks blurry, or if the camera app can’t seem to focus when trying to capture an image or video, there’s a number of troubleshooting steps that you must do to fix the issue. Learn what you must do in this troubleshooting guide.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #1: Know more about camera capabilities and limitations

There are usually two reasons why photos may come out blurry or out of focus — user issue or technical glitch. The Galaxy Note10 has an impressive camera and positives for the system greatly outnumbered the negatives so far. If your Galaxy Note10 appears to have blurry camera or if the camera seems unable to focus, the first thing that you want to do is check if you’re operating the camera properly. While the Galaxy Note10 camera is pretty impressive and smart, it’s not perfect and still needs the correct input from the user in order to produce crisp, sharp images. 

If you’re new to Android or to Samsung, you may find the camera app a bit overwhelming to operate. Thankfully, 99% of the things that you need to take great photos are handled automatically under the hood. All you need to do is to literally find the best angle and lighting around the subject. Importantly, you must ensure that you minimize movement as much as possible while shooting. For Live Focus and Live Focus Video, you want to also make sure that you are at least 3-5 feet away from the subject. This is the optimal distance for the camera app to recognize and capture the subject in focus. Anything closer or farther away can have diminishing effect.

We are going to discuss more in-depth tips and techniques on how to make best photos on a Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ in a separate article so be sure to visit our website in the near future. For now, what you can do is to follow the guidance that may appear on your phone’s screen in order to take great pictures. This is not rocket science so as long as you use common sense and avoid moving while taking a picture, your Note10 should give sharp or focused images majority of the time. One good tip that you can do to help your camera app focus on an object is to tap the part of the screen where you want the focus to happen. Do this before pressing the shutter and you should be fine.

If the photos still appear blurry or photos out of focus after ensuring that you observe the basic tips, your phone must have a technical issue that needs fixing. Continue with the troubleshooting below.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #2: Force quit camera app

There may be a problem with the camera app. Just like any other app, the default Samsung camera app may encounter issues. Most of these bugs usually go away when the app is restarted so be sure to force quit camera app. 

If you haven’t tried this yet, be sure to force quit Google Chrome. There are two ways to do this.

Method 1: Close an app using Recent Apps key

1. On your screen, tap the Recent Apps soft key (the one with three vertical lines on the left of the Home button).
2. Once the Recent Apps screen is shown, swipe left or right to look for the app. It should be here if you managed to run it previously.
3. Then, swipe up on the app to close it. This should force close it. If it’s not there, simply tap the Close All app to also restart all apps.

Method 2: Close an app using App Info menu

Another way to force close an app is by going within the app’s settings itself. It’s a longer way compared to the first method above but it’s equally effective. You want to use this method if you plan on doing other troubleshooting for the said app like clearing its cache or data. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap the More settings icon (three-dot icon, upper right).
4. Tap Show system apps.
5. Find and tap the app.
6. Tap Force Stop.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #3: Update camera app

Make sure that you keep the Samsung Camera app up-to-date to a lessen the chances of bugs from developing. Unlike regular apps, updating Samsung apps does need to go through the Play Store. To check if the camera app has a pending update that might fix the blurry photos on your Galaxy Note10, follow these steps:

1. Open the Samsung Camera app.
2. Tap the Settings icon at the upper left (cog).
3. Scroll down and select About Camera.
4. Tap Update. If there’s no Update button, that means that the app is currently running the most recent version.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #4: Install updates

Some camera app bugs are only fixable by changing some codes. If your Galaxy Note10 camera is blurry and won’t focus, it’s possible that there may be a software bug behind it. New devices may encounter bugs due to minor software errors. Be sure to install system updates as they come to lessen the chances of problems by going under Settings > Software update.

Also, make sure that the rest of your apps are fully updated. Sometimes, third party apps may affect other apps, causing them to not work as expected. To minimize the chances of this from happening, keep your apps up-to-date all the time.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #5: Reset app preferences

Some apps, including Google Chrome for Android, requires default system apps in order to work. Sometimes, these default apps may be turned off by other apps or after some system changes like after an update. To ensure that all default apps are enabled again, you can do these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Reset app preferences.
5. Restart your Galaxy Note10 and check for the problem.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #6: Clear camera app and data

Most camera app problems on Samsung Galaxy devices in the past were usually fixable by doing two things: clearing the camera app cache and data.

Firstly, you want to see what happens if you clear the app cache. Like the Operating System, apps use a cache to perform tasks faster. Sometimes, an app cache may cause performance problems. To check if you have an app cache problem, here’s how to clear an app cache:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Find and tap the camera app.
4. Tap Storage.
5. Tap Clear Cache button.
6. Restart the device and check for the problem.

Should nothing work after clearing the app cache, the next good thing to do is to clear its data.

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Find and tap the camera app.
4. Tap Storage.
5. Tap Clear Data button.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #7: Wipe cache partition

If your Galaxy Note10 camera became blurry or out of focus after installing a system update, the cause may be a bad system cache. To check if that’s the case, try clearing the cache partition. This will prompt the device to rebuild the system cache. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby / Power key.
3. When the green Android logo displays, release both keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
4. The Recovery screen menu will now appear. When you see this, release the buttons.
5. Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe cache partition.’
6. Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe cache partition.’
7. Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
8. Press the Power button to confirm the action to clear the cache.
9. Wait for a second as the system wipes the cache.
10. Press the Power button again to reboot the device. This will return the device to the normal interface.
11. That’s it!

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #8: Observe on Safe Mode

As mentioned above, some apps may cause problems with other apps or with the Operating System. To see if one of the instlaled apps is to blame, you can restart your Note10 to safe mode. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Press and hold the Power button until the Power off window appears then release.
2. Touch and hold Power off until the Safe mode prompt appears then release.
3. To confirm, tap Safe mode.
4. The process may take up to 30 seconds to complete.
5. Upon reboot, “Safe mode” appears in the lower-left of the home screen.
6. Check for the problem.

Don’t forget: safe mode blocks third party apps but it won’t tell you which of them is the real cause. If you think that there’s a rogue third party app in the system, you must identify it. Here’s what you need to do exactly:

1. Boot to safe mode.
2. Check for the problem.
3. Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
4. After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
5. If your Galaxy Note10 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #9: Factory reset

If the problem remains at this point, you must try to erase the phone so its software is reverted to defaults. This is usually effective in fixing all sorts of software issues. If the cause of the problem is software-related, doing a factory reset might resolve the blurry camera problem on your Galaxy Note10.

Below are the two ways to factory reset your Note10:

Method 1: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Note10+ via Settings Menu

This is the easiest way to wipe your Galaxy Note10. all you have to do is to go under Settings menu and follow the steps below. We recommend this method if you have no trouble going under Settings.

1. Create a backup of your personal data and remove your Google account.
2. Open Settings app.
3. Scroll to and tap General management.
4. Tap Reset.
5. Select Factory data reset from the given options.
6. Read the information then tap Reset to continue.
7. Tap Delete All to confirm action.

Method 2: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Note10 using hardware buttons

If your case is that the phone is not booting up, or it boots but Settings menu is inaccessible, this method can be helpful. First, you need to boot the device to Recovery Mode. Once you successfully access Recovery, that’s the time that you begin proper master reset procedure. It may take some tries for you before you can access Recovery so be patient and simply try again.

1. If possible, create a backup of your personal data ahead of time. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
2. Also, you want to make sure that you remove your Google account. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
3. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
4. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby / Power key.
5. When the green Android logo displays, release both keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
6. The Recovery screen menu will now appear. When you see this, release the buttons.
7. Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
8. Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
9. Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
10. Press the Power button to confirm factory reset.
11. Follow the rest of the instructions to finish the task.

Galaxy Note10 blurry camera fix #10: Repair

If wiping the phone’s software won’t make a difference at all, there may be a deeper reason for your issue. There may be a mechanical or physical problem with the camera assembly, or the motherboard may be having issues that we are not aware of. To get the issue fixed, visit your local Samsung store or Service Center. In this situation, diagnosing the issue may not be economically feasible so a unit replacement may be done. Be ready to provide the papers necessary in order for Samsung to process repair or replacement request smoothly.

 

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