Open Camera shuts off external power to a Fairphone 2
Camera app for Android.
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#1316 Open Camera shuts off external power to a Fairphone 2
Hi, currently I use version 1.55 on my Fairphone 2 (Fairphone Open OS, AOSP 10.23).
There is a behaviour which is either something like a bug, or a limitation of Android 10? External power is shut off when Open Camera merely starts (not even began recording), thus the internal battery will not recharge. As taking videos is highly battery intensive, such behaviour is unwanted.
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Another observation: Once Open Camera is up, the external battery is off. But when I enter the settings menu of Open Camera, external power comes up again, only to go off again when I leave the config menu.
Another remark: I have double checked with an ampere meter in the USB connection to my external battery (or charger, doesn't matter). Really, the current drops from 700+ mA to 0.0 mA the very moment Open Camera starts... But when the current flows again (either by terminating Open Camera or entering it's config menu) there is no acoustic from Android that the battery is getting charged again. This behaviour is reproducible.
Last edit: Oliver Kluge 2026-01-17
Does this happen with any other camera apps?
Hm, at the moment there is only the standard Android app, which I will have to reactivate. I do not know others?
Ok, I have now reactivated the standard Camera app. It also shuts down external power input completely. This is just as annoying, because if you know you are low on the battery and plug in a powerbank, it will immediately stop recharging the moment you start either camera app. Meaning, if you start to take video with the knowledge, that you plugged in your powerbank in time, the phone will continue to drain the battery until it forcibly shuts down everything :-(