Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge giving out “Warning: Camera failed” error after Android 7.1 Nougat update [Troubleshooting Guide]

One of the most common errors you get when the camera of your #Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (#S7Edge)  won’t work is “Warning: Camera failed,” which actually notifies the owner of a possible hardware issue involving the camera sensor itself. It’s different from the known “Unfortunately, Camera has stopped” error because it basically speaks about the app that’s crashing for some reason.

In this post, I will tackle the first issue I cited, which is more serious than the other. I will walk you through in troubleshooting your phone that’s plagued with this problem after the Android 7.1 Nougat update. But please take into consideration that there are issues or cases that are already beyond our grasp and in which case, the best thing we can do is bring the phone to a tech who can do further tests to know what the problem really is and whether it can still be fixed or not.

But before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you happen to find this page because you own the same device but are looking for a solution to a different issue, then try to visit our troubleshooting page for we have already answered hundreds of issues reported by our readers before. Find ones that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, contact us by simply filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

Troubleshooting Galaxy S7 Edge that shows “Warning: Camera failed” error

The camera has one of the most complicated processes in your phone. For your device to perfectly capture stills and record high definition videos, there are a lot of services that need to run in the background so that the camera sensor can sync with the firmware and the app. There are, however, times when the hardware can’t sync properly or fails to initialize that’s why this error occurs. Before we go to the steps, here’s one of the messages we received from our readers that best describes this issue:

“Hi guys. I am hoping you can help me with my problem because I need to use my phone. It’s recently been updated to Nougat but it seems that the new firmware has messed up my phone pretty bad because everytime I open the camera, there’s an error that keeps popping up. It says ‘Warning: Camera failed.’ I’m not really sure what the problem is or how it started. I am hoping you can help me with it. Thanks.”

Now that you know how this problem occurs, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Delete the system cache so that they can be replaced

This problem might have been caused by the recent firmware update so it is just right to go after the system caches as they have a tendency to become corrupt or obsolete and may cause issues like this. Deleting them basically means replacing them and that’s actually what you have to do in a bid to fix this problem. Here’s how…

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

This procedure can potentially fix this problem, however, if it persists, then move on to the next step.

Step 2: Reboot your phone in Safe Mode

It is also possible that one or some of your third-party apps are no longer compatible with the new firmware. This incompatibility may cause some apps and services to crash, in this case, it’s the Camera app or the sensor itself. We need to rule out this possibility first because it’s easy to do and your data are actually safe. All you have to do is restart your phone in safe mode and then try to trigger the problem. If the error still shows up, then it might be an issue with the camera app, however, if the issue is fixed then your third-party apps have something to do with. This is how you boot your phone in safe mode:

1. Press and hold the Power key.
2. As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
3. Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
4. You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Assuming the error doesn’t pop up in this state, you have to find the apps that are causing the problem and clear their caches and data first. If that won’t work, then you have to uninstall them one by one until the error won’t show up anymore. This is how you clear the cache and data of suspected apps:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap on Settings.
3. Touch Applications and then Application manager.
4. Swipe to ALL tab.
5. Find and touch suspected app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear cache and then Clear data, Delete.

I also understand it’s not easy to pinpoint the app that’s causing the problem. So if you think it would be easier and quicker for you to backup your files and data than to uninstall suspected apps one by one, then do that and then reset your phone.

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap Settings and then touch Backup and reset.
3. Tap Factory data reset and touch Reset device.
4. If you have screen lock feature turned on, enter your password or PIN.
5. Touch Continue.
6. Tap Delete all to confirm your action.

If the error still shows up in this mode, however, move on to the next step.

Step 3: Reset the camera app by clearing its cache and data

That’s right, we need to try to reset the camera to see if that makes a difference. Clearing its cache and data will take care of this issue assuming it’s just about some corrupt camera cache or files or a misconfiguration. This is how you do this:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap on Settings.
3. Touch Applications and then Application manager.
4. Swipe to ALL tab.
5. Find and touch Camera.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear cache and then Clear data, Delete.

After this procedure and the problem still persists, move on to the next step.

Step 4: Do the Master Reset to bring the phone back to factory defaults

After doing all the steps above and the problem still persists, then this procedure has to be done. It basically deletes everything in your phone’s internal storage and resets every setting back to factory defaults. The newly installed firmware, however, will remain. I suggest you do this procedure because the next thing you will do if the problem still remains is to bring your phone to a technician and have it checked. Make sure you backup your important files and data before you follow the steps below as they will be erased and can no longer be restored.

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.
3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds. NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.
5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

You must have your phone checked by a technician if the problem still persists after the reset.

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