Selfie camera: "Could not detect rear camera. Please try again later!"

VolTorian

I have a Pixel 7 Pro. Ever since sometime in late August, whenever I try to switch to the selfie camera, I just get a message at the bottom saying "Could not detect rear camera. Please try again later!" I have tried updating and restarting my phone (multiple times) and tried accessing the camera through other apps. Trying to use the selfie camera through Google Camera tells me "Something went wrong..." and if I try to access it from Twitter it just pauses a for a very brief moment (I assume it's trying to switch) but then nothing actually happens. I'm considering resetting my phone, but since going through different apps doesn't work, I'm concerned it's a hardware issue...

Wasn't sure how to attach an image..
https://i.imgur.com/1a0IdUE.png

de0u

VolTorian it may well be a hardware problem. Sadly, probably the best way to tell is to wipe the phone - you can try "just" GrapheneOS factory reset (which will lose all of your data), but if that doesn't work your next step would be flashing back to Google's OS. If the camera still doesn't work, then you'll know you have a hardware problem.

yore

VolTorian As @de0u said it's likely a hardware issue. You might want to get the phone checked.

VolTorian

de0u Do you have any suggestions on how I should backup my data before resetting my phone so I can restore it after? I've never done this sort of thing.

de0u

VolTorian Do you have any suggestions on how I should backup my data before resetting my phone so I can restore it after?

You can try the built-in SeedVault application, but it is unreliable. I was able to get it to restore some things once, but that was after multiple rounds of formatting the thumb drive, running a SeedVault backup, creating a blank user profile, restoring the backup into the second profile, and checking to see that I got roughly what I expected. Because SeedVault is unreliable, it is prudent to independently back everything up.

For SMS/MMS messages and contacts, I have had good luck with "SMS Import / Export". It is available on F-Droid, but I built it from the source on GitHub. My experience has been with v1.5.3, not the newest version, which has a different data format. If you use this app, please be sure to heed the warning about airplane mode.
For other things, e.g., photos, manually copying them is one option. Some people use synchronization software, e.g., "Syncthing".
For other things, e.g., settings, it's not clear a solution exists. I think some people maintain a collection of screen shots of their settings.

The situation is arguably not great. Here is a recent statement from the GrapheneOS team: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/6686-seedvault-video/6

Please note that I do not speak for the GrapheneOS developers.

nobitakun

Welcome to the club of camera malfunction. I tell you it's not hardware issue, it's software. It happens to me, and comes and goes, depending on what I do with the OS configuration. As I don't remember what I did last time to fix it I can't help you but at least I assure you it's software related, I can't say it enough because I am so tired of it.

As I have to wipe out my phone for some camera unrelated reasons, I know it will work after the fresh install but I am also sure it will start behaving like this eventually, every single rom I've tried in the past for different phones have failed with something, and no matter how "stable" they were that when something fails it fails forever regardless of the amount of revisions, updates or OS upgrades, it will fail.

So my suggestion is, either learn to live with it or change the OS completely to a different one that fails with something you don't care about.

P.S: Sorry to reply after a year, but the OP seems that is still having the issue as no solution was given :(. Btw, my phone is Pixel 6a.

de0u

nobitakun Since this is an old thread about a camera problem on a Pixel 7 Pro, if you are having a camera problem now on a Pixel 6a and are looking for advice it would probably be best to start a new thread describing the details of the issue you are experiencing.

nobitakun

de0u You're right. I will do so, I just hope I don't get messages such as "it's a hardware problem, check your phone".
Thanks!