Android TileService (QuickSettings) causes ERROR_CAMERA_DISABLED when closing the activity on Samsung devices running Android 15.
So I noticed a strange bug on Samsung running Androdi 15: when you have an activity with a camera preview and a Quick Settings button (which either does something unrelated to the camera or nothing at all, like in the sample I’m providing), the following issue can occur:
If the TileService is still alive (i.e., its onDestroy hasn’t been called yet), and you close or hide your activity (onStop is called) using the back or home button, the CameraDevice.StateCallback may trigger the onError callback with ERROR_CAMERA_DISABLED (3).
Why does this happen? If there’s even an explanation. I’m not sure if anyone has reported it on the Google Issue Tracker — I tried Googling, but found nothing.
I was able to reproduce this issue on the following real Samsung devices running Android 15:
- Samsung S24 Ultra (Android 15)
- Samsung S25 Ultra (Android 15)
I was not able to reproduce the issue on the following devices and Android versions:
- Samsung S24 Ultra (Android 14)
- Google Pixel 9 Pro (Android 15)
I also couldn’t reproduce the issue on Pixel emulators (Android 15).
So, this might be a Samsung specific issue on Android 15. I haven’t tested devices from other manufacturers yet.
Here are the logs that demonstrate the issue:
01:50:45.787 [Test]TileService D onCreate
01:50:45.799 [Test]TileService D onStartListening
01:50:49.044 [Test]TileService D onStopListening
01:50:53.270 [Test]Activity D onCreate
01:50:53.289 [Test]Activity D onStart
01:50:53.356 [Test]Activity D Camera onOpened
01:50:56.965 [Test]Activity D onStop
01:50:58.745 [Test]Activity D onStart
01:50:58.764 [Test]Activity D Camera onOpened
01:51:00.724 [Test]Activity D onStop
01:51:00.937 [Test]Activity E Camera onError: 3
01:51:19.056 [Test]TileService D onDestroy
You will never get Camera onError: 3 in this sample if the TileService is not running (destroyed). You only get this error if the service is alive. You can make it active by opening the notification panel:
After some time, it will be destroyed automatically.
Here is the full code (or A sample project on GitHub) to reproduce the issue (make sure to activate the TileService by opening the system notification panel, then start the app, and try hiding or closing it — sometimes the error may not fire, so more attempts are needed):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
android:supportsRtl="true"
android:theme="@style/Theme.CameraDisabledWithTileServiceAlive"
tools:targetApi="31">
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:exported="true"
android:theme="@style/Theme.CameraDisabledWithTileServiceAlive">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<service
android:name=".MyTileService"
android:exported="true"
android:permission="android.permission.BIND_QUICK_SETTINGS_TILE">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.service.quicksettings.action.QS_TILE" />
</intent-filter>
</service>
</application>
</manifest>
compileSdk/targetSdk - 35 or 36
package com.cameradisabled.tileservice
import android.Manifest
import android.content.Context
import android.content.pm.PackageManager
import android.graphics.SurfaceTexture
import android.hardware.camera2.CameraCaptureSession
import android.hardware.camera2.CameraDevice
import android.hardware.camera2.CameraManager
import android.hardware.camera2.CaptureRequest
import android.os.Bundle
import android.util.Log
import android.view.Surface
import android.view.TextureView
import android.view.View
import android.widget.Button
import androidx.activity.result.ActivityResultLauncher
import androidx.activity.result.contract.ActivityResultContracts
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
companion object {
private const val TAG = "[Test]Activity"
}
private lateinit var textureView: TextureView
private lateinit var btnRequest: Button
private lateinit var cameraManager: CameraManager
private val permissionLauncher = registerForActivityResult(
ActivityResultContracts.RequestPermission()
) { isGranted ->
Log.d(TAG, "Permission result: $isGranted")
if (isGranted) {
btnRequest.visibility = View.GONE
openCameraIfReady()
} else {
btnRequest.visibility = View.VISIBLE
}
}
private var cameraDevice: CameraDevice? = null
private var session: CameraCaptureSession? = null
private lateinit var previewRequestBuilder: CaptureRequest.Builder
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
Log.d(TAG, "onCreate")
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
textureView = findViewById(R.id.texture_view)
btnRequest = findViewById(R.id.btn_request_permission)
cameraManager = getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE) as CameraManager
// Show button if permission not granted
if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
!= PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
) {
btnRequest.visibility = View.VISIBLE
}
btnRequest.setOnClickListener {
permissionLauncher.launch(Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
}
// TextureView listener
textureView.surfaceTextureListener = object : TextureView.SurfaceTextureListener {
override fun onSurfaceTextureAvailable(st: SurfaceTexture, w: Int, h: Int) {
openCameraIfReady()
}
override fun onSurfaceTextureSizeChanged(st: SurfaceTexture, w: Int, h: Int) {}
override fun onSurfaceTextureDestroyed(st: SurfaceTexture) = true
override fun onSurfaceTextureUpdated(st: SurfaceTexture) {}
}
}
override fun onStart() {
super.onStart()
Log.d(TAG, "onStart")
openCameraIfReady()
}
override fun onStop() {
Log.d(TAG, "onStop")
closeCamera()
super.onStop()
}
private fun openCameraIfReady() {
if (!textureView.isAvailable) return
if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
!= PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
) return
btnRequest.visibility = View.GONE
try {
val cameraId = cameraManager.cameraIdList.first()
cameraManager.openCamera(cameraId, stateCallback, null)
} catch (e: Exception) {
Log.e(TAG, "openCamera failed", e)
}
}
private val stateCallback = object : CameraDevice.StateCallback() {
override fun onOpened(device: CameraDevice) {
Log.d(TAG, "Camera onOpened")
cameraDevice = device
startPreview()
}
override fun onDisconnected(device: CameraDevice) {
Log.d(TAG, "Camera onDisconnected")
device.close()
cameraDevice = null
}
override fun onError(device: CameraDevice, error: Int) {
Log.e(TAG, "Camera onError: $error") // ERROR_CAMERA_DISABLED
device.close()
cameraDevice = null
}
}
private fun startPreview() {
val device = cameraDevice ?: return
val texture = textureView.surfaceTexture ?: return
texture.setDefaultBufferSize(textureView.width, textureView.height)
val surface = Surface(texture)
previewRequestBuilder = device.createCaptureRequest(CameraDevice.TEMPLATE_PREVIEW).apply {
addTarget(surface)
}
device.createCaptureSession(listOf(surface), object : CameraCaptureSession.StateCallback() {
override fun onConfigured(sess: CameraCaptureSession) {
session = sess
sess.setRepeatingRequest(previewRequestBuilder.build(), null, null)
}
override fun onConfigureFailed(sess: CameraCaptureSession) {
Log.e(TAG, "Preview configure failed")
}
}, null)
}
private fun closeCamera() {
session?.close()
session = null
cameraDevice?.close()
cameraDevice = null
}
}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<TextureView
android:id="@+id/texture_view"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<Button
android:id="@+id/btn_request_permission"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Grant Camera Permission"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:visibility="gone"/>
</FrameLayout>
package com.cameradisabled.tileservice
import android.service.quicksettings.TileService
import android.util.Log
class MyTileService : TileService() {
companion object { private const val TAG = "[Test]TileService" }
override fun onCreate() {
super.onCreate()
Log.d(TAG, "onCreate")
}
override fun onDestroy() {
Log.d(TAG, "onDestroy")
super.onDestroy()
}
override fun onStartListening() {
super.onStartListening()
Log.d(TAG, "onStartListening")
}
override fun onStopListening() {
Log.d(TAG, "onStopListening")
super.onStopListening()
}
override fun onClick() {
super.onClick()
Log.d(TAG, "onClick")
}
}
Update:
It seems the Android system might think I’m trying to use the camera in the background simply because the TileService background service is running. If that’s true, it’s a really bad design. For the record, I do stop the camera in the Activity’s onStop() method, so still why?
Update 2:
I have completely removed the onStart function in case it could have caused any issues (this is just a sample — I have this issue in real apps too, and they never open the camera in the onStart lifecycle state; it’s always in the onResume lifecycle state).
I tried launching the app from Android Studio and manually (force-killing it and opening it from the home launcher), waited about 10 seconds before closing the app, and I still got the error.
03:02:52.144 [Test]Activity D onCreate
03:02:52.195 [Test]Activity D onSurfaceTextureAvailable RESUMED
03:02:52.224 [Test]Activity D Camera onOpened
03:02:57.100 [Test]TileService D onCreate
03:02:57.103 [Test]TileService D onStartListening
03:02:58.563 [Test]TileService D onStopListening
03:03:02.253 [Test]Activity D onStop
03:03:02.464 [Test]Activity E Camera onError: 3
03:03:28.571 [Test]TileService D onDestroy
override fun onSurfaceTextureAvailable(st: SurfaceTexture, w: Int, h: Int) {
Log.d(TAG, "onSurfaceTextureAvailable ${lifecycle.currentState }")
openCameraIfReady()
}
Update 3:
Even if I add stopRepeating() and abortCaptures() in onStop(), it will just cause an exception upon calling session?.stopRepeating() because camera was already closed because of camera error 3, and Camera onError: 3 log even appears earlier then onStop log:
03:19:21.367 [Test]Activity D onCreate
03:19:21.419 [Test]Activity D onSurfaceTextureAvailable RESUMED
03:19:21.445 [Test]Activity D Camera onOpened
03:19:24.481 [Test]TileService D onCreate
03:19:24.488 [Test]Activity E Camera onError: 3
03:19:24.678 [Test]TileService D onStartListening
03:19:24.725 [Test]Activity D onStop
03:19:24.725 AndroidRuntime D Shutting down VM
03:19:24.727 AndroidRuntime E FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.cameradisabled.tileservice, PID: 11118
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to stop activity {com.cameradisabled.tileservice/com.cameradisabled.tileservice.MainActivity}: java.lang.IllegalStateException: CameraDevice was already closed
at android.app.ActivityThread.callActivityOnStop(ActivityThread.java:6417)
at android.app.ActivityThread.performStopActivityInner(ActivityThread.java:6383)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleStopActivity(ActivityThread.java:6453)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.performLifecycleSequence(TransactionExecutor.java:285)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.cycleToPath(TransactionExecutor.java:250)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeLifecycleItem(TransactionExecutor.java:222)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeTransactionItems(TransactionExecutor.java:107)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:81)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2895)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:107)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:257)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:342)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:9634)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:619)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:929)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: CameraDevice was already closed
at android.hardware.camera2.impl.CameraDeviceImpl.checkIfCameraClosedOrInError(CameraDeviceImpl.java:2609)
at android.hardware.camera2.impl.CameraDeviceImpl.stopRepeating(CameraDeviceImpl.java:1469)
at android.hardware.camera2.impl.CameraCaptureSessionImpl.stopRepeating(CameraCaptureSessionImpl.java:424)
at com.cameradisabled.tileservice.MainActivity.closeCamera(MainActivity.kt:160)
at com.cameradisabled.tileservice.MainActivity.onStop(MainActivity.kt:98)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnStop(Instrumentation.java:1742)
at android.app.Activity.performStop(Activity.java:9635)
at android.app.ActivityThread.callActivityOnStop(ActivityThread.java:6409)
at android.app.ActivityThread.performStopActivityInner(ActivityThread.java:6383)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleStopActivity(ActivityThread.java:6453)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.performLifecycleSequence(TransactionExecutor.java:285)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.cycleToPath(TransactionExecutor.java:250)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeLifecycleItem(TransactionExecutor.java:222)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeTransactionItems(TransactionExecutor.java:107)
at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:81)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2895)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:107)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:257)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:342)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:9634)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:619)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:929)
override fun onStop() {
Log.d(TAG, "onStop")
closeCamera()
super.onStop()
}
private fun closeCamera() {
session?.stopRepeating() // will crash here if TileService is alive
session?.abortCaptures()
session?.close()
session = null
cameraDevice?.close()
cameraDevice = null
}
Update 4:
The issue doesn’t happen if I close the camera in onPause while TileService is still alive:
/*override fun onStart() {
super.onStart()
Log.d(TAG, "Activity. onStart")
openCameraIfReady()
}
override fun onStop() {
Log.d(TAG, "Activity. onStop")
closeCamera()
super.onStop()
}*/
override fun onResume() {
super.onResume()
Log.d(TAG, "Activity. onResume")
openCameraIfReady()
}
override fun onPause() {
Log.d(TAG, "Activity. onPause")
closeCamera()
super.onPause()
}
But this is not a solution.
Update 5
If I remove TileService and start my own background service then I can’t reproduce this issue, so it’s definitely related to TileService:
package com.cameradisabled.tileservice
import android.app.Service
import android.content.Intent
import android.os.IBinder
import android.util.Log
class MyBackgroundService : Service() {
companion object { private const val TAG = "[Test]Service" }
override fun onCreate() {
super.onCreate()
Log.d(TAG, "Service. onCreate")
}
override fun onStartCommand(intent: Intent?, flags: Int, startId: Int): Int {
Log.d(TAG, "Service. onStartCommand")
// Do nothing
return START_STICKY
}
override fun onDestroy() {
Log.d(TAG, "Service. onDestroy")
super.onDestroy()
}
override fun onBind(intent: Intent?): IBinder? {
Log.d(TAG, "Service. onBind")
return null
}
}
Manifest:
<service
android:name=".MyBackgroundService"
android:exported="false" />
<!--<service
android:name=".MyTileService"
android:exported="true"
android:permission="android.permission.BIND_QUICK_SETTINGS_TILE">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.service.quicksettings.action.QS_TILE" />
</intent-filter>
</service>-->
class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
...
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
...
// Start test background service
Intent(this, MyBackgroundService::class.java).also { intent ->
startService(intent)
Log.d(TAG, "MyBackgroundService startService called")
}
Logs:
16:03:32.437 [Test]Activity D Activity. onCreate
16:03:32.455 [Test]Activity D MyBackgroundService startService called
16:03:32.457 [Test]Activity D Activity. onStart
16:03:32.493 [Test]Activity D Activity. onSurfaceTextureAvailable, lifecycle state: RESUMED
16:03:32.493 [Test]Activity D Activity. Camera try open, lifecycle state: RESUMED
16:03:32.516 [Test]Service D Service. onCreate
16:03:32.516 [Test]Service D Service. onStartCommand
16:03:32.524 [Test]Activity D Activity. Camera onOpened, lifecycle state: RESUMED
16:03:35.280 [Test]Activity D Activity. onStop