Many people would consider camera specs among the key things to check before procuring a new smartphone. The more advanced camera features it offers the better. The HTC U12/U12 Plus device is among those that offer great camera features with a 12MP wide-angle camera and 16MP telephoto camera. It also sports some advanced camera features and presets such as ultraspeed autofocus, face detection, panorama, and bokeh mode to name a few.
Overall, it’s a great camera Android phone these days. But just like other great smartphones offering great camera specs and features, the HTC U12/U12 Plus camera app is also not free from random flaws. One of the most prevalent issues concerning the HTC camera is on the Camera Failed warning. It usually occurs when the camera app suddenly stops to work on the phone. Apparently, this could denote a software problem but may also be attributed to physical or liquid damage on the phone’s camera or other relevant components.
Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you are looking for a solution to a different issue, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed some of the most common problems reported by our readers. Find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If you still need our help after that, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.
How to troubleshoot HTC U12 with camera that keeps failing?
The methods I demonstrate in this post are used to deal with software-related issues with the HTC U12/U12 Plus camera. Keep reading and feel free to refer to this walkthrough if ever you need some more inputs on how to deal with this issue.
First solution: End Camera app then restart.
If this is the first time you’re seeing the camera failed warning and first instance for the camera app to fail or stop working on your HTC U12/U12 Plus, then it’s likely just a random app glitch. To rectify the glitch, simply end or quit the camera app or any other background apps on your device. Here’s how:
- Press the Recent Apps key.
- Flip through the apps previews to navigate to different apps.
- Then swipe the Camera app’s preview left or right to end or close it.
- If you see multiple running apps, tap Clear All to close them all at once.
After clearing the camera and background apps, re-launch the Camera app and then see if it’s already working properly this time. If it still fails and prompts the same camera warning, then continue to troubleshoot more complex software issues on the phone.
Second solution: Soft reset/reboot your phone.
Another simple solution you can try on is a soft reset or device restart. Doing so will help clear minor software errors that cause random apps problems to occur including those afflicting the phone’s camera application. Here’s how to soft reset your HTC U12/U12 Plus:
- Press and hold down the Power button for a few seconds.
- Select Power off from the menu options then tap OK to turn off your phone.
- After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button again until the phone restarts.
If your phone becomes unresponsive as the camera app stops working, then performing a force restart would be necessary. It’s a simulated battery-removal process that is used to reboot a froze device.
- To force restart your HTC U12/U!2 Plus, just press and hold the Power button until the menu appear then tap the option to Restart.
Both these methods don’t affect saved data on the phone so creating backups won’t be necessary.
Third solution: Clear app cache and data.
Caches are comprised of temporary files that are saved on every app or phone system. These files are essential for multitasking like when switching between various apps. However, keeping more apps running in the background may also cause conflicts especially when any of them gets corrupted or goes rogue. To clear this out, clear cache and data from your phone’s camera app with these steps:
- Open the Settings app on your phone.
- Tap Apps & notifications.
- If necessary, tap to See all apps.
- Scroll to and tap Camera.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache to wipe cache from the app’s memory.
- Tap Clear Data to erase temporary data saved for the app.
Reboot your phone after clearing cache and data from the Camera app to clear any residual data from the app’s memory and likewise on the system folders.
Fourth solution: Install new updates for your phone.
Software updates can also be the key resolving a device issue that’s caused by malwares and software bugs. This is likely the root-cause if the camera app suddenly stops after downloading images files and store it on the Gallery folder. Installing the latest software update on your device can therefore resolve the problem as it usually offer fix patches to clear and address bug-inflicted errors that might have caused the camera app to fail or become unstable Here’s how to check for and manually download and install software update on your HTC U12/U12 Plus:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General tab.
- Tap Update center, then tap System update.
- Tap the option to Check for update.
An update notification will show up on the screen if a new system update is up for grabs. Before you download the update, make sure your phone has ample of RAM or internal memory space and battery life should be at least 50 percent.
Then follow the onscreen prompts to start downloading and installing the new update.
Fifth solution: Wipe cache partition on your phone.
Software-related errors including those that are inflicting troubles with the camera app can also be remedied by wiping the phone’s cache partition. Temporary files that are stored as cache on the system folders including those that were corrupted will therefore be cleared in the process, keeping the system free from errors and ready for another restart. Here’s how a factory data reset/master reset is done :
- Turn off your phone completely.
- Press and hold the Power button and Volume Down button simultaneously for a few seconds.
- Release both buttons when the screen turns black with red and blue text.
- Press the Volume Down button repeatedly to scroll to and highlight Reboot to bootloader option.
- Then press the Power button to confirm selection.
- Press the Volume Down button again to highlight Boot to Recovery Mode option then press the Power button to confirm. This will prompt you with the Recovery options.
- Press the Volume Down button to highlight Wipe cache partition and then press the Power button to confirm.
- Wait until the Reboot system now option is highlighted then press the Power button to confirm and instigate device restart.
Wiping cache partition is highly recommended to clear minor-post update issues on the phone. That said, this can be an ultimate solution to try if the camera failed warning started to occur from an update installation.
Other options
Booting the phone in safe mode can also be considered an option to determine if the problem is caused by third-party apps or not. It’s also worth a shot to carry out a master reset if the camera failed warning persists and your HTC U12/U12 Plus camera still doesn’t work after performing all applicable workarounds and possible solutions. Doing so will help clear fatal system errors that might have inflicted troubles to built-in apps including the Camera application. This reset will wipe everything from the phone and then revert the default options and factory settings.
Otherwise, visit the nearest HTC-authorized service center in your area to have your device thoroughly assessed by a technician for signs of hardware damage. Physical or liquid damage on any of the camera components may also be the underlying cause of the problem. In that case, hardware repair is needed.
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