How to fix Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus with its camera that fails when recording videos (easy steps)

Pre-installed applications or ones that are already in your phone when you bought it are deeply embedded in the firmware. If you encounter problems with them, there’s a chance that they’re just a result of a firmware issue. Such could be the case with some of our readers that own Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus units who reported that the camera in their devices keeps failing whenever they record a video. It’s either they’re getting the message “Warning: Camera failed” or the app closes by itself when they start recording videos.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy S9 Plus with a camera problem. We will try to rule out each possibility until we can determine what the problem is. That way, we can formulate a solution that may fix this problem for good. However, if this problem started after the phone got dropped or left submerged in water for a long time, then you may need a technician to check if it’s really a physical or liquid damage that causes it. Read on to know what to do in case you encounter a problem like this.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy S9 Plus with its camera that keeps failing

The camera that keeps on closing or failing may be a sign of a hardware issue that concerns the sensors but we have encountered issues in the past wherein the camera was affected by a problem in the firmware. So, we really can’t be sure what the problem really is just by looking at the symptoms; we need to do some troubleshooting procedures to know what the real score is. The following are the procedures you can do to try and fix this problem. Try to see what works for you…

First solution: Find out if this is caused by a third party

There are times when a third-party application will cause pre-installed apps to crash. This is the first thing you need to find out because if it so happens that this is the case with your phone, then the problem is pretty easy to fix. You just have to uninstall the application and the problem will be solved.

Now, you need to restart your phone in safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps. While in that mode, open camera to see if it still crashes or not. If the problem is fixed, then it means that there’s really an app that’s causing all the trouble. Find out which app it is and then uninstall it.

Here’s how you run your phone in safe mode:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.

And here’s how you uninstall apps from it:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap the desired application in the default list.
To display preinstalled apps, tap Menu > Show system apps.
Tap UNINSTALL > OK.

If, however, the camera still fails when you try recording a video even in safe mode, then the problem could be in the camera. Try the next procedure.

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Second solution: Clear cache and data of camera

It’s possible that the problem could be with the camera itself and since a pre-installed app, you can’t remove or uninstall it like third-party ones. Instead, all you need to do is reset it by clearing its cache and data. This will bring the app back to its default settings or configuration and that could be the end of the problem.

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Find and tap Camera.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
Reboot your phone.

After this procedure, open the camera and try to record a video to know if it still crashes or fails and if it still does, try the next step.

Third solution: Delete the caches so they’ll be replaced

If there are corrupt system caches, some apps may also crash and this could be the reason why this is happening to your phone. Run your phone in recovery mode and wipe the cache partition so that all the caches will be replaced with new ones:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Android logo displays, release all three keys.
An ‘Installing system update’ message will show for 30 – 60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu options appear.
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
Press Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Your phone will take a little time booting up after the cache partition is wiped off of its contents as it will rebuild or recreate those caches. If the problem is still happening after this, then you have no other choice but to reset your device.

Fourth solution: Backup important files and reset your phone

As I said earlier, the camera is a pre-installed app and after doing all the procedures above and the problem still continues, then you will have to go after the firmware. A reset will fix it but we’re hesitant to suggest such procedure because you may lose some of the files you have. At this point though, you have no other choice so make sure you backup your files and data and then follow these steps:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

There you have it! That’s how you Factory Reset or Master Reset your Samsung Galaxy S9. I hope that this post can help you, somehow. If you have issues with your phone and you want to share with us, contact us or leave a comment below.

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