Issues with certain features, such as the camera, continue to plague Google’s Pixel handsets. Users of various Pixel handsets have been complaining on platforms like Reddit, the Google Play Store, and the Pixel Phone Help community forum about the camera app crashing on their Pixels. One Reddit subscriber suggested that Pixel users with this problem open another app that accesses the phone’s camera app. A Pixel 3a owner who updated his device to Android 11 noted that following the update, he has been unable to store photos that he takes. Additionally, when switching to video mode, the camera app crashes.
Even those leaving comments on the Google Play Store for the Google Camera app report having problems. As one Christine Fitzgerald wrote, “Three years I’ve been very happy with the camera on my Pixel 2. Two days ago, there was an automatic update to Android 11. Today my camera WILL NOT WORK. I either have a black screen or, most often, the app closes immediately. I have emptied the cache and restarted my phone numerous times. Once, the camera worked, then back to the fault ever since. I am assuming this is some kind of incompatibility with Android 11.” A Pixel 2 user also used the comment section on the Google Camera app listing to mention that his front-facing camera wasn’t working.
Some tips and workarounds have been shared. A Pixel user with the handle of Andy Jones 8118 on the Pixel Phone Help site said that he removed a .nomedia file where he stored sensitive items. That did the trick for him and others as well, so if you’re having this issue with your Pixel (which might include failure of the flashlight to work) you might want to see if this helps.
While it does appear on the face of things that the update to Android 11 could have played a role in this issue, this is not certain. One Pixel owner rolled back the Android 11 update to Android 10 but the problem did not go away. And a factory reset also has not been helpful. If you can’t seem to fix this problem, a call to Google might be of help especially since they market the Pixel as a phone with advanced camera capabilities.
