You updated to iOS 17.2, opened the Camera app to grab a shot, and got a frozen black screen with "Camera Not Responding." That's annoying, and you're not alone.
The fix that works
Force-quit the Camera app, then reset the camera subsystem through Settings. Here's the exact sequence:
- Force-quit Camera: swipe up from the bottom, hold the Camera card, swipe it off-screen.
- Open Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. Yes, this sounds unrelated. Do it anyway.
- Reboot the phone (hold volume-up + side button, slide to power off, wait 30 seconds, power on).
- Open Camera. If it still hangs, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and switch from High Efficiency to Most Compatible (or vice versa if you're already on Most Compatible).
That last toggle is the one that clears it for most people. If it doesn't, do a full Reset All Settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings). You'll lose Wi-Fi passwords and wallpapers, but not photos or apps.
# Quick check if the camera daemon is wedged (Mac + Console.app)
# Filter for 'camerad' or 'AVCaptureSession' — you'll see repeated
# "FigCaptureSourceRemote - timed out waiting for server" spam
# right before the UI freezes.Why this actually fixes it
What's happening under the hood: iOS 17.2 shipped a change to how camerad negotiates with the A16's image signal processor (ISP). On some iPhone 14 Pro units, the ISP handshake times out on cold start, and camerad throws a FigCaptureSourceRemote error instead of retrying. The Camera app is waiting on a response that never comes, so it renders the last frame it had — usually black — and shows "Camera Not Responding."
Resetting Location & Privacy matters because camera permissions live in that database. When the TCC (Transparency, Consent, Control) DB gets into a weird state after an OTA update, Camera can't acquire the session token it needs, and the ISP handshake is the first thing that aborts. Clearing the DB forces a clean re-grant on next launch.
And the Formats toggle? That forces a re-initialization of the capture pipeline with a different codec path. HEVC and H.264 use different ISP firmware modes, so flipping it makes the phone tear down the broken session and spin up a new one. It's a sledgehammer, but it works.
Less common variations
If the above didn't do it, match your symptom to the cause:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Only the front camera freezes | TrueDepth calibration drift | Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Reset Face ID, then re-enroll |
| Freezes only in 4K/60 ProRes | Thermal throttle + ProRes buffer bug | Drop to 4K/30 or 1080p/60 in Settings > Camera > Record Video |
| Works in apps, fails in Apple Camera | Corrupted Apple Camera preferences | Delete Camera app (it's removable on iOS 17), reinstall from App Store |
| Freezes immediately after unlock | Focus mode / Shortcuts automation colliding | Disable any automation that launches Camera via Settings > Shortcuts |
There's also a hardware angle worth ruling out. If you dropped the phone or had the rear glass replaced by a third-party shop, the telephoto flex cable can come loose just enough to pass diagnostics but fail under ISP load. Test with 0.5x and 3x zoom specifically — if only those two freeze, it's mechanical, not software.
Keeping it from coming back
Two things. First, don't jump on .0 releases. iOS 17.2 shipped with this bug; 17.2.1 fixed a subset of camera issues, and 17.3 largely closed it out. If you're still on 17.2, update. The 200MB download is faster than the hour you'll spend troubleshooting.
Second, stop force-quitting Camera ten times a day. Every force-quit tears down and rebuilds the capture session, and on 17.2 the rebuild path is exactly where the bug lives. If it's frozen, wait five seconds and tap the screen once before swiping it away. Busy hands make this worse.
Last thing: if the reset dance fixes it for a day and then it returns, you're probably looking at a hardware issue that iOS 17.2 just made visible. Book a Genius Bar appointment and show them the Console logs — they can't argue with FigCaptureSourceRemote timeouts.