How to solve the flashlight and camera bug in iOS7? I recently ran into a very persistent bug on my iPhone 5 on iOS 7.1.2. All of the sudden the flashlight button in the control center is greyed out and the rear camera wont work, i.e. showing a black screen and crashing. According to the Apple forums I am not alone with this issue. For some people playing around with the camera worked. Most end up bringing the phone to the store. I am pretty convinced it is a software bug.

I tried so far (list will be updated):


Play around with camera settings (flash, HDR, ...)
Turn flashlight on/off with third-party app - app crashes
Regular iPhone restore from iTunes
Recovery mode firmware restore


No success. I have no more warranty and so I can't bring it to the store.
Does anyone have further ideas or even the solution?
If you have done a Recovery Mode firmware restore and you still can't use the flashlight or camera, you likely have a hardware problem. Make an appointment at the Genius Bar and see if they can identify the specific failure (no charge for a diagnostic at least in the U.S.).