Flashlight won't work sometimes until a reboot

[munimjaffer]

I have a Galaxy S4 as a secondary device and the problem is that the flashlight sometimes won't work until I reboot the phone. In that case, no app would turn it on not even built-in camera app. I did factory reset my phone several times with no luck. What's gotta be the fix? Could it be hardware related?

 

[B. Diddy]

It's possible that some app with Camera permissions is inappropriately keeping the Camera module occupied. Since the LED flash (for the flashlight) is part of the Camera module, that could prevent it from working. Does it work in Safe Mode? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27781. (This is assuming the flashlight app or function is native, and not 3rd party.)

 

[munimjaffer]

It's possible that some app with Camera permissions is inappropriately keeping the Camera module occupied. Since the LED flash (for the flashlight) is part of the Camera module, that could prevent it from working. Does it work in Safe Mode? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27781. (This is assuming the flashlight app or function is native, and not 3rd party.)

As I said that it sometimes behaves this way. It stops on its own. No one can exactly tell when it's gonna happen. It works in safe mode but of course I can't keep my phone in safe mode all the time, so I can't tell exactly if it would work perfectly in safe mode all the time.

 

[B. Diddy]

You may just have to identify which apps have Camera permission and uninstall them. If the flashlight works normally, then reinstall those apps one by one, and see if the problem comes back.