Samsung Galaxy A20 shows the ‘camera failed’ error. Here’s the fix.

Some owners of the Samsung Galaxy A20 have been complaining because they reportedly started getting the error ‘Camera failed’ whenever they try opening the camera on their phones. The error message basically means that the camera has failed to initialize or the app has not opened properly. This could be a minor problem with the app, or a sign of a serious firmware issue.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Samsung Galaxy A20 that keeps getting the ‘camera failed’ error. We will try to consider all possibilities and rule them out one after another until we can determine the cause of the problem and hopefully be able to solve it. If you’re one of the owners of this phone with similar issue, continue reading as this article may help you.

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 to 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 fix ‘Camera failed’ error on Galaxy A20

As the owner of this new device, you must try to troubleshoot it to determine the reason why the “Warning: Camera failed” error keeps on showing up and eventually fix it provided that the problem isn’t with the hardware. Here are the things you need to do about this problem.

First solution: Close all apps that might be using the camera

There are a lot of apps that use the camera and while they’re running in the background, the main camera app may not be able to use the hardware. That could be the reason why you’re getting the ‘Camera failed’ warning every time you open the camera app. Apps like Facebook, Instagram and other instant messaging applications are often the cause of this problem. If you’re also fond of recording the screen while you’re gaming, screen recording applications can also cause this error. Therefore, take a little time closing all apps that are running in the background.

Tap the Recent Apps icon Recent apps (lower-left).
To close, scroll to then swipe the app up.

After closing all apps in the background, try opening the camera app and see if it works this time. If the error still shows up, then move on to the next effective solution.

ALSO READ: How to fix Samsung Galaxy A20 that keeps freezing and lagging

Second solution: Force restart to fix ‘camera failed’ error

It is also possible that the cause of the problem is a system glitch. These things happen all the time and you will not be able to notice them if not because of their effects to the performance of your phone. Rule this possibility out by doing the forced restart procedure:

Press and hold the Volume Down button and Power key for 10 seconds or more.

This will reboot your phone like the normal restart but the memory will be refreshed and all apps and services reloaded. This will fix the problem is it’s just due to some minor software-related issues. So, once the phone has become active, open Camera and see if the ‘Camera failed’ error still shows up. If it still does, then move on to the next procedure.

ALSO READ: Fix Samsung Galaxy A20 that keeps disconnecting from WiFi network

Third solution: Use the camera while in Safe Mode

We are now trying to disable all third-party applications as they’re often the reason why this error shows up. Since we don’t know which of the apps you installed is causing the problem, we’ll just disable all of them at once and that’s the reason why you need to restart 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.

Open the Camera app and see if the error still shows up. If it does not pop up and you can actually take photos or record videos while in this mode, then it means that there’s a third-party application that’s preventing the main app from using the camera. But since you’ve already made the camera to work, try rebooting into the normal mode and use the camera. Usually, the problem will be fixed by just doing this procedure but if the issue continues, find out which of your apps is causing the problem and uninstall it.

On the other hand, if the ‘Camera failed’ error still shows up even in safe mode, then the problem could be with the firmware or the hardware. In this case, move on to the next solution.

ALSO READ: How to fix Samsung Galaxy A20 stuck on Black Screen of Death

Fourth solution: Backup your important files and reset your phone

At this point, a master reset is needed to rule out the possibility that it’s just a minor issue with the firmware. As long as the problem isn’t with the sensor itself, the reset will fix this problem and you may continue using the great camera of this device.

However, before doing the reset, make sure to create a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted during the process. Also, remove your Google account from your phone after the backup so that you won’t be locked out of your device after the reset. Once everything is set and ready, follow these steps to master reset your Galaxy A20 that’s plagued with the ‘camera failed’ error.

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up and Power keys.
When the Galaxy A20 logo shows, release all three keys.
Your Galaxy A20 will continue to boot up into the Recovery Mode. Once you see a black screen with blue and yellow texts, proceed to the next step.
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’ 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.

After the reset, don’t restore your files and apps yet. Instead, try using the camera app first to see if the camera failed error disappeared because if not, then it’s very much possible at this point that the problem is with the hardware. However, if the error no longer shows up, then restore your apps one by one and keep testing the camera. This way, you would know which of the app you install is causing the problem.

I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix your Galaxy A20 that shows the ‘camera failed’ error when the camera is opened. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!

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