Apple Will Fix Your iPhone 14 Plus' Camera for Free
Has this ever happened to you? You pick up your iPhone to take a photo or a video of something, but when you pull up the Camera app, nothing appears on screen. The rear camera displays a black screen, but if you tap the "switch camera" button and swap over to the selfie cam, your face pops-up without issue on the preview.
The problem likely lies with your iPhone's rear camera, which for some reason isn't displaying a preview in the Camera app when active. There's often not much you can do yourself to fix it. Force quitting the Camera app, resetting your iPhone, or tapping the back of the camera to shake something loose may not work. The good news is, Apple will happily fix the issue for you for free—so long as your device is an eligible iPhone 14 Plus.
There's an issue with some iPhone 14 Plus phones
According to a new Apple support page, the company has identified a problem with the rear camera on a "very small percentage of iPhone 14 Plus devices." Affected devices won't display anything when you have the rear camera active, so if your 14 Plus' camera is acting up like this, it's probably Apple's fault.
Just because you have an iPhone 14 Plus with this issue doesn't mean it is automatically eligible for the repair, however: Apple says the affected devices were manufactured between April 10 2023, and April 28, 2024. If you bought your iPhone 14 Plus on launch day back in 2022, for example, it isn't covered. You'll need to plug your serial number into the text field on the support page to confirm whether your device is covered under this program.
If your eligible 14 Plus does have this issue, you have a few choices to get it fixed. First, you can simply take your iPhone to an Apple Store: Make an appointment, bring your iPhone, and they'll make your camera work again free of charge. You can also go through an Apple Authorized Service Provider, which is a repair shop that Apple has officially approved for servicing. Finally, you can mail in your iPhone, if you set up a solution first with Apple Support.
If you previously had your iPhone 14 Plus' camera fixed and paid for it, Apple says you can ask them for a refund.
One final caveat: There is a time limit on this program. Apple says it will only fix your camera within three years of the "first retail sale of the unit." That means if you bought yours second-hand six months ago, you still have to go back to when the device was originally sold at retail to figure out when that three-year deadline ends. However, since the first affected devices weren't manufactured until April 10, 2023, the oldest devices in the program are, at most, a year and a half old, so you have until at least April 2026 until the first batch of 14 Plus models won't be covered.