How to fix Samsung Galaxy Note 5 errors “Unfortunately, Camera has stopped” & “Warning: Camera failed” [Troubleshooting Guide]

The Camera in your #Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (#Note5) is one of the features that's more complicated than others. It is almost inevitable that it will act up from time to time because imagine that the app, the services, the firmware and the hardware itself must run in perfect harmony the moment the owner uses the camera app to snap pictures.

In this post, I will tackle two of the most common camera related issues that many Note 5 owners complained about. The first one is the error message "Unfortunately, Camera has stopped," which is talking about the app while the second one is the "Warning: Camera failed" error that may be a sign of a hardware problem.

Continue reading the post to understand more why these error messages show up and learn how to troubleshoot your phone if one of them happens to you. Click on the link below to jump to a specific issue or section.

But before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you have other issues with your phone, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed a lot of issues with this device. Try to find problems that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don't work for you and if you need further assistance, contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

How to troubleshoot your Note 5 that shows "Unfortunately, Camera has stopped" error

This error message hints us about an app problem and while the camera cannot function without its sensor, it's operation can be disrupted when one of the components failed to load. For instance, in this error message, it might be just the app that crashed or, at least, our troubleshoot will start there. To try to fix this problem or get rid of this error, here's what you're going to do…

Step 1: Reboot your phone a few times

Had the problem started without apparent reason and if it's the first time you're seeing this, then it's possible it's caused by a firmware, hardware or an app glitch. To begin your troubleshooting, you just have to try to reboot your phone a few times to see if the error still shows up after that. If it still does, then we might be facing a more serious problem.

Step 2: Clear the cache and data of the camera app

Let's try to rule out the possibility that it's just an app problem by resetting the camera app. By doing so, we will bring the app back to its default settings or a configuration that once worked. It's a pre-installed app and you cannot uninstall it, so try to follow these steps and see if the issue gets fixed…

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.

Find and tap Settings.

Under the 'APPLICATIONS' section, find and touch Application manager.

Swipe to the left or to the right to display the appropriate screen but to display all apps, choose the 'ALL' screen.

Find and tap Camera.

Touch Clear cache to delete its cached files.

Touch Clear data and then OK to delete downloaded data, login information, settings, etc.

After clearing the cache and data of the app, reboot your phone and then try to take pictures again to see if the error still shows up. If it does, then move on to the next step.

Step 3: Try to boot your phone in safe mode and open the app again

We've already tried resetting the app but to no avail, so in this step, we will try to see if one or some of your third-party apps have something to do with it. Boot your phone in safe mode and try to use the same app to see if the error still shows up…

Turn off the phone completely.

Press and hold the Power key.

Once 'Samsung Galaxy Note5' shows, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.

The phone will restart but keep the Vol Down button pressed.

Once the phone has finished restarting, 'Safe mode' will be display in the lower-left corner of the screen.

You may now release the Volume Down button.

Opening the app while in this mode means, all services by other third-party apps won't be loaded together with the core services so if the problem disappeared, then one of those apps is causing the problem. You need to find it and try to clear it's cache and data and if that won't work, uninstall it.

Follow the steps above to clear the cache and data of the suspected app but to uninstall it, here's how you do it…

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.

Find and tap Settings.

Under the 'APPLICATIONS' section, find and touch Application manager.

Swipe to the left or to the right to display the appropriate screen but to display all apps, choose the 'ALL' screen.

Find and tap the app that has issues.

Touch Uninstall, then OK.

Step 4: Perform the Factory Reset on your phone

After doing the first three steps and the error message didn't go away, it's time to do something that will bring the phone back to its former glory–reset. The error message alone tells us that it might be just an app problem so a reset can fix it. But before doing so, try to backup your files and data first as they will all be deleted. Once you've done that, follow these steps…

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.

Find and tap the Settings icon.

Under the 'Personal' section, find and tap Backup and reset.

Tap Factory data reset.

Touch Reset device to proceed with the reset.

Depending on the security lock you used, enter the PIN or password.

Tap Continue.

Touch Delete all to confirm your action.

You will have to set up your phone again after this but for a problem or error that occurred without apparent reason, this is all you have to do to fix it.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy Note 5 that's giving your "Warning: Camera failed" error

Unlike the first error, this one may be referring to the hardware itself and not just the app. The thing is that the app, services and the hardware run in-sync with each other and if one failed to initialize after you open the app, errors like the first one and this may occur depending on which component has a problem. So, in this case, it seems like it's the hardware and you can only do two things about it…

Step 1: Try to delete the system cache

The system relies on the caches to smoothly call upon the hardware to be used by the app that the user has opened. So, when the camera app is launched, the sensor will automatically initialize and that's because the system called for it and caches are used to make everything smoother. So, if the cache used got corrupted, then things like this might happen and this is how you try to fix it…

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.

Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.

Keep the three buttons pressed and when 'Samsung Galaxy Note5' shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.

Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.

The notice 'Installing system update' will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.

Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option 'wipe cache partition' and press the Power key to select it.

When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option 'Reboot system now' and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don't worry and wait for the device to become active.

While this procedure is effective, there's no guarantee. So if the problem continues after doing this, then the next step might take care of it.

Step 2: Perform the Master Reset on your phone

We're dealing with a hardware problem and so after wiping the cache partition and the issue remained, then it's time to reset your phone. However, you have to make sure you've backed up your files and data you don't want to lose as they will all be deleted once you perform the reset.

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.

Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.

Keep the three buttons pressed and when 'Samsung Galaxy Note5' shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.

Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.

The notice 'Installing system update' will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.

Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option 'Yes — delete all user data' and press the Power key to select it.

When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option 'Reboot system now' and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don't worry and wait for the device to become active.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you.

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Source: How to fix Samsung Galaxy Note 5 errors "Unfortunately, Camera has stopped" & "Warning: Camera failed" [Troubleshooting Guide]