[AC Question]

Just purchased an s8 brand new a few days ago. Camera was working fine until yesterday when the rear camera became blurry and would not focus. Both the camera app and apps which use the camera (i.e. Snapchat) are not focusing. The front camera is fine (great quality). I took the phone back to the provider I bought it through and after fiddling with it their only suggestion was a factory reset. Has anyone had this issue/have any ideas what to do? Thanks!

[dov1978]

I had the exact same problem with my S8 Plus. Worked perfect at first but then increasingly the rear camera would open totally blurry and touching any of the settings on the screen wouldn't change it. I found that shaking the phone would make it go away which would make me think there's a problem with the OIS? I never bothered to keep the phone long enough to try a hard reset and switched after 2 weeks to the LG G6 but the blurry camera really starting to worry me. If yours is still doing it after a hard reset then it's a hardware problem and will need replaced.

[triggyzoleta2017]

Hi, does it still happen after the hard reset? I experienced the same thing. I shook my phone then the blurriness disappeared. Dov1978 - did you confirm that it had a hardware issue?

[Sevigoten]

I had just bought a brand new s8 three weeks ago and yesterday the camera became blurry with never happend before.The setting didn't change it. So I tried shaking but still didn't work.Please give a solution!!

[martin mcgillivray]

Having the same problem front camera is fine but the rear is blurry I reset to back to factory settings and it still does not work so i tryed giving a light Shake now working fine clear pic

[ChiefRA]

Hi guys and girls,
Same problem here, most of the times I open the camera app, i was blurred and I had to strongly hit the screen with my finger to be able to take any pictures.

Solution: You need to reset the Camera app cache and stored data, from both normal Android and from the Safe Mode Android.

Normal Android:
1) Go to Settings -> Apps -> Camera App
2) Click on FORCE STOP button to close the app.
3) Click on Storage and here click on Clear Cache and then on Clear Data
4) Do not open the camera yet, click on the Power Button and power off your phone.
5) With the phone powered off, click on the power button to turn it on and then, when the first logo appear, the one with Samsung Galaxy S8(+), click and hold the Volume Down button until it enters the Android OS Safe Mode (that's roughly 30 seconds). To be sure you did the right thing and the phone is indeed in the Safa Mode, on the left bottom corner it will appear a text saying Safe Mode which will remain on the screen no matter what.
6) Repeat stepps 1) to 3).
7) Power off you phone again and now power it on standard, only by pressing the power button.
8) Problem should be fixed, you can now open your Camera and set again the quality of the pictures and everything else.

A video explaining all this can be found here: (thanks to TechnoGenuine)

Enjoy.

[Mickt73]

I had same problem phone 3 days old samsung had this problem before on older versions stuck in macro mode and it cured mine so here goes out your camera on lightly tap the top right hand corner on the back of your phone on a table and by magic it re engages auto focus it cured mine straight away

[Francisco Lucas]

I had same problem phone 3 days old samsung had this problem before on older versions stuck in macro mode and it cured mine so here goes out your camera on lightly tap the top right hand corner on the back of your phone on a table and by magic it re engages auto focus it cured mine straight away

Had this problem with my S8 interminently and this solution works, just lightly tap the upper right side of the phone on your right hand knuckle... Cures the problem. I hope Samsung releases an update to cure the macro lock on the S8.

[Doggywen]

Did the same thing to my s8 by knocking both top corner and the focus is back

[radiac93]

I had same problem phone 3 days old samsung had this problem before on older versions stuck in macro mode and it cured mine so here goes out your camera on lightly tap the top right hand corner on the back of your phone on a table and by magic it re engages auto focus it cured mine straight away

I can't believe this actually worked! So does this mean that there is a hardware flaw or do you guys think it can be fixed in a software update? Want to take it back to the store if it can't be fixed or if it's just a number of faulty devices.

Edit: I made a poll to try and find out whether it's related to which camera module you got.

[Dawa Nurbu Lama]

Same problem here in Nepal "Solution: You need to reset the Camera app cache and stored data, from both normal Android and from the Safe Mode Android." doesn't work . Tapping on the back works temporarily. Still under 1 year warranty , will take it for repair 1 month before warranty runs out .

[JC786]

I had the same issue - blurry camera everytime you open the app, then shake (hear a click) and the picture focuses. I took the phone into the Samsung store in Melbourne, Australia. The tech guy mentioned it is a known and common problem. They replaced the camera same day under warranty, and I was able to pick it up in an hour. As a heads up, they wipe all the data on your phone, so make sure you backup everything before you go to the store. Hope this helps someone as there didn't seem to be any solutions online from what I could see.

[Rukbat]

As a heads up, they wipe all the data on your phone, so make sure you backup everything before you go to the store.

That's just to protect themselves from you complaining that they stole your data. (It used to be a hard and fast "you're immediately fired" rule in my store.)

You can ask if you stay while they're working on it, they can please do it without a factory reset. Some stores will, some won't. (I had the customer sign a release saying that we weren't responsible for any data getting out - if the customer watched the tech working on the phone he should be able to see that the tech didn't access any of his data or install a spy app.)

[NickiLaw]

I found that all of a sudden my Samsung Galaxy S8 camera was blurry every time I turned it on! I can do selfies fine... so I got onto many sites, mainly saying to do updates, clean ups etc. But nothing worked.
Then I read that a couple of S8 owners shook their phones & it worked for them. I thought it sounded stupid, but tried it & amazingly it worked!!
Really weird, but true.

[NMoussa123]

I had the same problem with my S8.
Just tapped the upper right corner and it worked perfectly.

[Omid Zazai]

Having the same problem front camera is fine but the rear is blurry I reset to back to factory settings and it still does not work so i tryed giving a light Shake now working fine clear pic

The shaking perfectly worked for my friend's phone. It's a very useful trick.

Thanks to you all guys.