Chosen Solution
I’m a mountain biker and been loving having my iPhone SE on my handlebar while riding. I’m now %&^*^$^ for the new iPhone 11 Pro and its camera. I have been told that the shaking and vibrations from rocky trails can wipe out the image stabilization on Apple iPhones. Is this true?
I also ride a motorcycle, and am on my 3rd iphone 11 pro. Can confirm, 100%, that the vibration from motorcycles/mountain-biking will destroy something in the camera that will make it constantly blurry and make all kinds of crazy noises if you hold the phone to your ear. I have my own customer service rep now who I email every few weeks when I need a replacement. Its a pain in the arse (I have to go to the apple store to pickup the replacement and spend like 2 hours setting up the new phone each time), but at least they stand by the product.
Yes, it is absolutely true for the 11. I mount mine to a motorcycle and have taken out 2 in 3 months. My X didn’t have the same problem.
Iphone 11 3 weeks old. Went on a ride on my 1200 gs and stopped to take some photos . Camera wouldnt focus and weird almost electrical noise coming from the lenses. Most definitely because of the handlebar vibration. Used x and old 6 before without any issues
I also have had this happen. iPhone 11 mounted to my motorcycle using a QuadLock. I rode probably 400 miles with the phone mounted this way without issues, but then the rear camera started to not be able to focus and makes a buzzing sound as it tries to do so. Front facing camera works fine. I had an iPhone 7 for years prior and rode close to 30k miles with it mounted on the bike and never had an issue.
QuadLock is producing anti-vibration kit which looks promising: quadlockcase.net/vibration
Mine iPhone 11 Pro also just got broken from riding a motorbike. Phone was mounted using a QuadLock. I was suspecting that’s caused by riding, but I thought it will go away after a reload or shaking it more. So far I wasn’t able to fix it myself, most probably they’ll have to replace the whole phone.
Same issue here, never had any problems with previous models. I’m contacting Apple for my 3th replacement. A phone with this price should be more shockproof…
I’ve been using RAM mount which is supposed to be the most vibration proof. It still ruined the camera for me. I am so dissatisfied that the iPhone can’t be mounted on the bike. I got an iPhone XS Max
Same thing happened to my iPhone 11 with a Ram mount. Had a 3 days trip with my Yamaha Tracer. I thought I might have dropped it and caused some mechanical in-lens issues, but apparently not … This is $@$*. How can you not mount your phone on a motorcycle?! Obviously the camera app wasn’t even started/recording. Used it for waze & music.
Quad lock now produce an anti-vibration add-on for their mounts. I’ve tried it with my iPhone 11 and so far no problems. Previously without the anti-vibe the camera died after one trip. Quadlock appear to have done some fairly extensive testing with this so hopefully there is now a fix for mounting phones with image stabilisation to motorbikes. By the way, I am not employed by, or affiliated in any way with Quadlock. Just a genuine customer with a working solution.
I’m at my 4th broken iPhone Xs today, after going for a ride on my Bonneville yesterday. I had my 3 previous phones replaced under AppleCare+ but now it’s expired - seems that it should cost me around 90$USD to get it fixed. Will know later, my appointment is at 11h30 Spoke to the nicest guy at Apple - he found this thread as well and didn’t recommend re-using my Quadlock (or any mounts) anymore and suggested that I find an iPhone 8 or prior for navigation. I was also thinking that “maybe”, only “maybe”… .. Could it be that the camera stabilizer is working all the time and being on the bike, it tries to focus as you ride? That, plus the vibrations, etc. causes it to break? Maybe putting a tape over the camera would prevent such a thing to happen so that the camera doesn’t try to focus continually? I don’t get much vibration from my motorcycle, I find it hard that it would be only that…
Iphone 11 has the same issue with motorcycle quadlock.. Something inside the lens will rattle loose, and cause the phone to be unable to focus. I removed it from the quad lock and put it in my pocket instead now.
I just finished getting the rear lens camera replaced in my 7 month old iPhone 11 - under warranty. I mounted it to the bars on my Tracer 900 GT using a quad lock and 2 hours later I get buzzing, clicking and blurry focusing while trying to use the camera. Waste of money spent on the quadlock. Oh well - i’ll just use it in the vehicles instead. They also recommended not using any magnetic mounts as the same issue can occur.
My iPhone 11 had same issue on Tiger 900GT with Quadlock - waste of money.
On my 4th IPhone 11 Pro now. Apple just keeps replacing it under warranty with no out of pocket costs to me. The culprit for me is my 83 Kawasaki 440. My 2019 Indian Scout Bobber hasn’t had an incident to date but we shall see. clearly there is a fatal fault in the camera stabilization system that can’t take certain vibrations.
Killed my XS camera in 20 hours of riding this weekend. I’m not sure if it’s stabilization or focus, but it’s not good.
I’ll never dash mount a phone without warranty on my motorcycle anymore.
it took one day and 300km to get this iphone 11 pro broken :( I used quadlok.
Got the quad lock right before my trip and Literally 2 hours into my ride and had to completely get my iPhone 11 replaced.
I also got my Iphone 11pro max camera destroyed by vibrations from riding motorbike - triumph street tripple. I bought quadLock case and charging mount and now I am reconsidering what to do next as I really want/need to mount the phone on my bike. It is crazy that it destroys the camera even when it is not turned on…
Just wanted to pitch in – the same happened to my iPhone 11 after about 20 cumulative hours mounted to my motorbike on a Quadlock. When it focuses on a certain distance (about 20cm, not closer, not farther) the image goes into “zoom blur” and the phone vibrates and makes an audible noice (full sensory feedback, wow). Out of warranty period too :( Does anyone have any experience whether the same happens on iPhone 12?
I’d like to know if they’ve improved stability on the 12 as well. Until that time my 11 stays in my pocket on the bike. I was fortunate to have my camera replaced once under warranty (due to vibrations on the handlebars). I’d rather not risk it again - even though I have vibration dampeners in my kit.
I have had my iPhone SE (2020) on my standard RAM mount for probably 50 hours of riding and it’s been fine. I killed a XS camera in under 8 hours, and a 12 Pro camera in under 6 hours. My SE is my dash phone now, and my 12 Pro lives in my pocket when I ride.
While it’s technically possible, it’s highly unlikely. These devices are designed to withstand much more stress than that, and should not fail under the given circumstances. EDIT: Given feedback from others who have more experience than myself, I’d say to take this answer with a grain of salt. Read the feedback of others as well.
It seems my Iphone XR has suffered the same damage…maybe from my motorcycle, although I don’t mount the phone, just wore it in my back pocket most often. This sucks.
Just had the same issue, iPhone 11 and quadlock mount on my motorbike handlebars, been out for my first ride and my camera has failed, constant jittering, wish I’d known before I splashed £70 on a quadlock system
Sure! That’s what they will tell you, after you buy their system. They will even send one for free. But until then, they should stop advertise this product for iPhone users.
Just had my second iPhone 11 go on me. Confirmed it isn’t just happening with QuadLock mounts. I used a Ram Mount this time (same setup I used with iPhone 7 mentioned in my previous post in this thread). After about 500 miles again, same symptoms as before. Still under warranty, thankfully, but I won’t be experimenting with any more mounts.
I bought a new QuadLock to use my iPhone XS on my Versys 650 and after one short ride the problem started. Camera can’t focus and seems like it has drunk vision and you get a static sound through the ear speaker. Terrible. Had to spend $200 to replace the phone using Verizon’s Asurion coverage. The convenience isn’t worth going through expensive phones, that’s for sure. Might have to try sending back the QuadLock I guess. Too bad.
Yep - I’ve now gone through 2 IPhone XR rear facing cameras - both following long rides that had a fair amount of dirt road sections. Have been using the Quad Lock. I’m suspecting that system is more prone to transfer the vibrations directly from the bike into the phone - as opposed to other mounts that use a ball hinge for instance. Gonna try a new mount - If that breaks the phone camera again I think I’ll have to spring for a GPS.
If you get in touch with Quadlock they may offer you a solution
Same issue here… I have a Triumph Street Triple with a QuadLock and have gone through 2 trips to the Apple store for replacement of the back camera that started to have focus issues after a few rides. On my last visit to the store they mentioned about this being common on motorcycles! At least my iPhone11 is still under warranty. Just installed the vibration dampener from QuadLock and we will see how it goes (better test before my warranty expires)… I’ll report once I have some answers.
APPLE (13 Sep 2021) has stated that varying vibrations from mounting an iPhone onto bikes, mountain bikes, motor scooters, motorcycles may damage the internal stabilizer for its iPhone camera and other functions. This news has been recently circulating on the BBC, CNET, Engadget, Tech Radar, etc… The news validates many unknowns pertaining to iPhone issues brought about whenever using device mounts on bikes and motorbikes. You’ll find that many posts on the Internet have attributed such iPhone issues in conjunction with “mount brands” such as Quadlock, SP Connect, Spigen, Sincetop, Rokform, etc…
At least my iPhone11 is still under warranty. Just installed the vibration dampener from QuadLock and we will see how it goes (better test before my warranty expires)… I’ll report once I have some answers. I used this https://geniusgeeks.com/best-gimbals-for… guide to find the best gimbal for iPhone.
My iPhone X went for over a year and 6K mi of offroad and street on my ADV motorcycle’s bars w/o issue. Then a simple fwy ride took out the OIS in the rear camera. *GOING FOREWARD- I still use the broken phone w/o SIM card on the bike for GPS and Mapping but it is using my new iPhone 13 as a HotSpot in my jacket pocket for its web connection - Works Great!!
