You pull out your phone to take a good photo for Instagram or Snapchat and suddenly despair. The camera image becomes blurry and you cannot take a photo properly. At this point, you will need more than your patience to focus on the object or subject to capture.
Has it been a matter of a day or does the problem begin to recur regularly? If the problem that the mobile camera does not focus repeats itself more and more frequently and begins, you may conclude that something is wrong with the phone. Out of focus cameras can be a nuisance, unless you know what steps to take to fix it.
Has the mobile been hit?
Before trying to fix the phone, the best thing to do is check the status and be as honest as possible. Camera lenses are still individual components that can be damaged or misadjusted by a strong blow and before trying other types of solutions, it is appropriate to know if the mobile has physical damage.
If so, you should go to the manufacturer or to a technical support center.
Eye to the case / shell
We have said it countless times. That 2 euro case that you bought on Aliexpress may be doing more harm than good to your smartphone. A poor quality cover can cause the mobile buttons to not work correctly, the terminal sticks out, damaging its useful life, the phone coverage is bad or, as in the case at hand, the mobile is unable to focus well because the housing interferes with the lenses.
For this reason, the second thing you should do, after verifying that the phone has not been hit, is to remove the case and test the camera again.
Update your mobile
Mobile manufacturers like Apple and any Android brand are used to receiving user feedback when there is a component that fails. That the mobile camera is unable to focus well can also be the fault of the software and therefore brands often fix operating system failures with an update.
Look if you have any pending in the system options within the phone settings.
Is the lens clean?
The glass that protects the mobile camera is one of the most dirty, because the covers and covers protect the entire body of the phone, except for this part. For this reason it is the place where more dust accumulates.
To fix focus problems caused by dirt, wipe the lens with a clean, dry cloth; this often solves most camera problems. Of course if the protective plastic film is still attached to the device, it would be better to remove it at this point, as it could fog up and cause more problems than solutions.
Turn off tracking AF
The default camera settings keep Tracking Autofocus on and this is what may be causing you to be unable to anger the object or subject you want to capture.
To override, open the Camera app and tap the Settings icon . Turn off the switch next to Auto Focus Tracking to see if the camera is working normally again.
Reset camera settings
As we have said, a bad configuration can be ruining our photographs and therefore the most appropriate thing is to leave the smartphone as fresh out of the box, when everything was working correctly. To do so, you simply have to open the system camera app and scroll to the right or click on the settings icon at the top. Locate the option “Reset settings” that will return the app to its original state.
Clear camera memory
If with the previous step you still cannot get the mobile camera to focus correctly, you can restart the app from the mobile settings. To reset the phone’s camera, you should access the Settings> Applications menu and search for the camera. Inside, you must locate the Storage menu and, once inside, check the options to clear cache and data.
Listen to your mobile
The focus system of your mobile’s camera is controlled by a small mechanism and it is normal for some slight clicks and hums to occur when we try to take a photo. What is not so normal that the mobile emits a squeak. If so, you should take the phone to repair it.
Use the mobile in safe mode
You can try using safe mode to find out if recently installed apps are causing a problem with the focus of the camera .
Generally, in most mobiles the process is identical and to access this mode you must press and hold the power button and the side key while you start the mobile. When the mobile is turned on, “Safe Mode” will appear in the lower left corner of the screen and you will be able to verify if the camera focus works in this mode. If so, remove recently installed applications and restart the phone.
Hard reset
We reached the end of the road. If you have tried all the solutions and the mobile still does not focus well, you should return the phone to its original state, not without first making a backup copy of all the data, as they will be lost along the way.
Once you have done it, locate the options to factory restore your mobile, or erase all data, so that when it is turned on, and you configure it from scratch, the mobile is as if it had just come out of the box.
Now it’s time to restart the camera and see if the camera’s focus works correctly again. If so, problem solved. If it continues to malfunction, the mobile has hardware damage and it would be more sensible to take it to a technical service to fix it.
