Chopped7821 I had the opportunity to install the original Google Pixel OS and re-install GrapheneOS on the phone, but the "camera in use" error was persistent across both operating systems, so it seems certain it is a hardware problem.
Thanks for reporting back!
Chopped7821 Hey I just wanted to chime in and mention that I have had the EXACT same issue and EXACT same experience you have on my Pixel 7 Pro running GOS. Of course, my flashlight also worked seamlessly for many months until 1 day last year it just didn't anymore, then reflecting the same 'Camera in use' error you mentioned.
So you factory-reset your device and even on stock Pixel OS, your flashlight had the same exact issue!??
...so what.. we spend all this money on what's supposed to be a smartphone with premium hardware only end up with a borked flashlight for no apparent reason!?
Zosh So what.. we spend all this money on what's supposed to be a smartphone with premium hardware only end up with a borked flashlight for no apparent reason!?
Hardware breaks. All hardware breaks eventually, some hardware breaks earlier. In only a billion years either Mars or Mercury might well crash into the Earth (source).
Software can break too, sometimes in subtle ways. Completely resetting all of the software on a device is very inconvenient, but it can greatly reduce uncertainty about whether a given phenomenon is due to hardware breaking or software breaking.
Probably nobody knows how often any given Pixel component tends to break. Google is probably in a better position to have good guesses than others (they handle in-warranty repairs and sell parts to third-party repair shops), but they probably don't hear about lots of failures, because people may decide to junk a device instead of fixing it. So maybe Pixels have an elevated rate of flashlight breakage compared to other phones, or maybe not.
If some part of some phone breaks at a rate that is genuinely elevated far above normal breakage rates, there may be lots of reports online, maybe class-action lawsuits, warranty extensions, etc. But if one Pixel in a million experiences flashlight failure there might be only a few scattered reports online from people with unusually bad luck.
