Google’s problems with bugs on Pixel phones never seem to stop and latest to join the list is the weird camera bug. Ironically, cameras are the biggest positive of the Pixel phones and this strange bug is causing it to crash. For some time, users have been running into a Pixel 3 fatal error camera bug which can render the camera completely useless.
What makes it worse is that Google doesn’t seem to be bothered about the same as it isn’t doing anything to help fix the problem. The issue effects Pixel 3 phones in various forms; for some, a “can’t connect to camera” message appears on Pixel 3 when trying to use a 3rd-party application. When an app attempts to access the camera, the message appears and access to the camera is disabled from that point forward.
For others, a message that reads “The camera driver encountered a fatal error,” appears when trying to access the camera. A simple restart usually solves such errors, but in the case of Pixel 3, the message simply re-appears on the Pixel 3 when an app tries to access the camera again. When this occurs, the flashlight is also disabled. For some, it also persists through a factory reset and can even happen in Safe Mode.
Notably, there were reports of a similar problem on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL last year. But it isn’t as widespread as Pixel 3. What doesn’t help the matter is that many affected users are being refused replacement devices from Google support and says that developers are “working on a fix” or that there “might be an update” and that these affected users should simply wait for it.