iPhone XS camera issue after rough riding

I had the same issue on my 8Plus and quadlock after a long trip. The image stabilization sensor went out. But Apple replaced under warranty because they had a recall on my phone for a faulty sensor. Lucky me.

I had the same problem with a iPhone 7 in a perfect squeeze mount. Also replaced under Warranty

It also depends on the GPS app.

Sygic for example is great except it pushes the CPU too hard - with that app I've even had overheating in an air-conditioned car at a comfortable temperature. Moving the mount directly in front of the a/c vent solved the overheating issue, but then I had battery drain problems (the battery would go down even while plugged into a charger - that's how hard the CPU is working).

Now I use more efficient apps - usually Maps.Me (off road) or Apple Maps (on road) - and I haven't had any overheating issues. I suspect both of those would be fine in a bag as long as you place a glove over the screen whenever the bike is parked in the sun.

It'd be simple enough to put holes in the bag for ventilation in summer and tape over the holes if it rains.

The early warning of an overheating iPhone is the screen will go dim - that means it's trying to reduce heat by drawing less power from the battery. If that's not enough it will power off and then should be able to handle extreme temperatures without doing any damage.

I wouldn't rely on warranty replacements. Apple keeps a record of every claim you make and eventually they will decide you're not taking appropriate care of your devices.

my gps on Voyo Q101 does not want to turn on... wtf????

Since I haven’t seen anyone specifically mention the camera issue with the newest iPhone, I thought I’d share. I have a iPhone 11 Pro Max that also experienced a camera failure after being rigidly mounted to handlebars during road and highway miles. The camera focus would not lock. For reference, I ride a Tiger 1050 (triple engine). I do not consider my bike to have high vibrations - it’s rather smooth running. It has to be the frequency of the vibrations that is killing the camera.

The diagnostics done by Apple showed it was a hardware failure. First the Apple store repaired the phone by replacing the camera module. A few rides later the camera failed again so back to the Apple store where they replaced the phone with a new one. All was done under warranty.

Since then I’ve kept my phone in my jacket pocket during rides. Here is the mount I was using. Interesting that I have been using this mount for a while with previous iPhones (6 and X) and never had a problem.

rigid mounts break stuff

flexible mounts don't break stuff
(and they cost less)

I've been using a Quad Lock case & mount on my GSA's for the past three years. My previous iPhone XS had over 8K miles on the bike - both on & off-road - and the camera still works just as it did new: it's now my backup phone/nav-aid when I travel. I currently use the iPhone 11Pro Max with the QL case/mount and though it only has about 4K miles at this point, there have been no ill effects on the Camera. I don't run with the camera "On" and I don't mount to the handlebars either. I use the windscreen cross bar for the mount (in place of the BMW/Garmin mount). The BMW/Garmin mount is now hidden under the front body work with a WunderLINQ plugged into it.

I’ve unfortunately broke yet another one. I got to the point that I’d pull my phone off the mount when hitting a gravel/dirt section just to be safe. A couple of weeks ago I ran a small gravel section and left it mounted, less than two miles and not extremely rough, and the camera is toast again. Normally not a huge deal since they keep fixing it, but in today’s world it means I have a shit camera on my phone. I’ll be getting the new iPhone in the fall (if that’s still a thing) and keep this XS as a GPS device. It just sucks how fragile the camera is...

hope long do you get between the cameras failing ? does it seem consistent ?

man i really dug the 6s i was using, those cameras are so good

This is similar to my setup. I'm using the Touratech mount on the 790 and my iPhone (X i think, i forget). Debating trying an iPad mini. I'm quite sure it'll do fine on road, but off road I'm not too keen on. Plus, it looks as if they may release a new model later this year.

Time isn’t the issue, it’s rough terrain. Never had issues with any previous models riding hard single track, but the XS fails on gravel roads. I ride hard, but wouldn’t guess this would be an issue.

@jtclark13 ...definitely sounds like your riding style and mount are not a good combination for iPhones with electro-mechanical image stabilization.

Agreed. I started pulling the phone off the mount when I hit rough sections and tucking it in my tank bag. But I saw one short gravel section on the way back to camp and decided to take it. That’s when it broke again. Once it’s fixed for the 4th time I will not ever leave the pavement with it mounted to the bars...

I had a quad lock case and mount on my F750GS handlebars all last summer for 6,500 miles of touring and commuting. Phone was an iPhone 8. No issues with the camera. Over the winter I bought the "new and improved" iPhone 11 Pro and the $40 quad lock case for it. In under 500 miles ridden the zoom lens was destroyed and shakes now when attempting to focus. Normal 1x lens and panoramic lens work fine, just the zoom lens is shot.

Between the TFT navigation display suddenly lagging with the app and being unusable and the phone getting destroyed by vibrations, looks like I'm going to need to buy a stand alone GPS to use on my fancy tech heavy BMW. I did reach out to quad lock and they told me they are looking into a vibration dampening solution but that this problem is extremely rare and dependent on the bike and phone model.

I’ve had similar conversations with Quadlock, and they just announced a powered/charging mount for motorcycles which would be great. But I think the new cameras on the iPhone can’t take the beating. I have an appointment Friday for the 4th replacement of my camera. As much as I disliked the Garmin units, I have a feeling I’ll move in that direction. I hate a beautiful ride and not being able to take pictures!

Yeah it's a bummer. BMW, KTM and Aprilia are really leading the way by making on screen navigation a thing on their new bikes. It's a shame the TFT and app for my BMW shit the bed as if it actually worked it would, by and large, make mounting a GPS or a phone redundant. Before it stopped working it was pretty amazing having that capability. I have limited experience with KTM's My Ride and none with Aprilia but hopefully one day it'll be standard to have navigation on these adventure and touring oriented bikes. Honda seems to have done well with CarPlay on their new Goldwing.

set the ultra rugged phone GPS thread

the duraforce, xd, pro, and pro 2 do not use optical (mechanical) image stabilization. they're cheap also

Same story here....

iPhone 11 Pro Max:
I used a mount that doesn't keep the phone mounted directly to the bike, it more like floats inside and is not directly held by the mount (screenshot attached). It was working fine, but I did not like it. Then I got the permanent mount (GUB)... The camera got broken after a normal highway ride (doesn't hold focus and makes weird sounds from the camera module), got replaced under warranty. I was stupid enough to keep using the same mount and iPhone got broken again, so I am sending it now for the repairment again and changing mount to the old one (I still need GPS from time to time)

Put your good phone in your pocket and use a cheap second hand one for the bike.

I use an iPhone 6 as my “bike phone”. Works great and since the camera doesn’t have image stabilization, there’s nothing to fail there.