iPhone 5 Rear Camera Won't Focus

I just experienced the same issue. I slapped/tapped the top of the phone (rear camera lens end) a couple of times against the palm of my hand (back side toward palm) and saw no change. I flipped the phone over and did this again with the face forward, and the lens unstuck. Once again, it focuses on near and far subjects as it should.

"Why would people refuse to accept a refurbished product that is throughly remanufactured and individually tested for free, and instead they would only want their original device. Even after it is crudely repaired.

As for the camera problem. Maybe the lens unit is stuck. It's a hardware problem. Restoring obviously will not help. you should try shaking and slapping your phone, hoping to free the stuck lens. If you can't make it to work, go to Apple and have it replaced. Or you can replace the faulty camera yourself.

Also if you're following the ifixit guide to replace the camera. DO NOT REMOVE THE BATTERY. You do not have to remove the battery to get to the camera. The battery has to be discarded after removal for safety reasons. Do not try to disassemble the camera unit or manually freeing the lens. it is very easy to wreck the camera or get dust into it. You'll get very noticeable dark spots on the pictures"

"Let me offer another solution:

I had a piece of the rubber/foam that holds the camera in place get stuck in front of the lens after replacing the power button. I could visibly see it through the lens cover on the back of the phone. When I tried to use the camera app, everything was very blurry and it would not focus.

I re-opened the phone and moved the foam piece back out of the way. After closing it back up the camera works properly."

Even though your device would be replaced by a refurbished product, you would at least still have your warranty. If you were to replace the camera yourself, your warranty would be voided. Just food for thought.

Please do not try to slap or hit your phone to try and fix it yourself.. It did not work for me and it did not return to normal even after a week. I suggest finding an iPhone repair shop (not apple, they will charge you $100+ to replace) and have them replace the camera instead as the hitting/slapping will for sure damage the inside of the phone if done repeatedly. The place I went to charged me $25 for the rear facing camera and it works perfectly!

"Had this issue after installing a new rear camera from ifixit. Camera would focus on object more than a foot away but anything closer than that was blurry. Tapping and dropping didn't help.

I opened the phone back up and noticed the ribbon cable that's connected to the flash didn't ""bend"" correctly and was covering up about 25% of the camera lens area. Once I bent the ribbon cable correctly, it was out of the camera's way and focus worked perfectly."