What to do if Galaxy S9 photos taken by selfie cam shows black dot on the nose

There’s been an increasing number of #GalaxyS9 users who are reporting a minor yet annoying camera app bug lately. Basically, the issue is about the appearance of a black dot on the nose when taking a selfie. If you’ve encountered this issue as well, feel free to browse through this post and follow our solution.

Problem #1: Galaxy S9 Camera and Gallery apps are disabled and won’t work

My camera AND my Gallery are not working on my Samsung S9. After doing a factory reset due to security issues, my husband, who knows nothing about computers or smart phones, got on my phone and was pushing every button he saw, seemingly, and when I got my phone back it had a lot of issues. The camera will come on, snap a picture but not send it to Gallery or anywhere I have found yet. I went to the app manager and the camera & Gallery app are both disabled and I can’t figure out how to change that. I also tried downloading a new camera & Gallery app but they don’t work either. Please help. — Pjbynum8886

Solution: Hi Pjbynum8886. Your husband must have disabled some apps, including the ones you’re having issues right now — the Camera and Gallery. To fix the problem, there are two routes that you can do. One is to enable the apps in question, and the second is by doing another round of factory reset.

If you want to try to manually enable the apps back individually, you can try these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Show system apps.
5. Find the app and tap it.
6. Tap ENABLE button.

If you want to enable all apps that should be on by default, we suggest that you reset all app preferences. Here’s how:

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

If you want to go by the factory reset route, follow these steps:

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
3. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Backup and restore.
5. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
7. Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
8. Tap Reset device.
9. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
10. Tap Continue.
11. Tap Delete all.

Problem #2: Galaxy S9 photos taken by selfie cam shows black dot on the nose

Hello. I bought the S9 about a month ago and I really don’t take many selfies but I’ve noticed that when I tried using the selfie mode it shows a black dot on my nose. If I move the camera around it moves wherever I point it. But if I point it straight on my face I see the dot on my nose. This is very weird it never happened with any other phone before. I read about this online. People are experiencing this same problem. Is this in anyway fixable. Why does an expensive phone like this have such a problem. Please can you let me know what to do. Thank you very much. — Cathy9094

Solution: Hi Cathy9094. Based in our own investigation, the problem is not a camera or hardware issue but rather one that lies with the Samsung camera app itself. We’ve already contacted Samsung about this bug but so far, we are yet to receive any official say from them. We suspect, just like with other minor annoyances in the past, that they’ll fix it with an update. We don’t have any idea when that fix will become available though. We understand there are certain features in Samsung camera app that you might enjoy but if take selfies a lot, we suggest that you use another camera app as a workaround until the patch is installed. There are many free camera apps that you can use while waiting for a fix so try to browse Google Play Store for them. Until then, make sure to keep your ready for any available system update under Settings > Software update. You can only try to manually check for updates from time to time under the same menu.

Some users were able to reportedly fix this issue by deleting the Samsung camera app’s data. We don’t think it might help in this case but you can try it before doing a factory reset. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Create a backup of all your personal data including photos and videos.
2. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Apps.
5. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3-dot icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap CLEAR DATA.
8. Restart your Galaxy S9 and check for the problem.

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