New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on December 20, 2021) follows:

It’s been a while since Samsung released the stable One UI 4.0 update for its Galaxy S21 lineup. Based on Android 12, the latest One UI iteration comes with a whole bunch of new features along with the Material You theming.

One UI 4.0 is gradually making its way to more Galaxy devices, however, it will take a long time for Samsung to upgrade every eligible device to the Android 12. As of now, it’s only available on some flagship phones.

Samsung-Galaxy-S21-Plus

Having said that, many Galaxy S21 users who upgraded to this version have also come up with various kinds of bugs with the OS. It includes issues such as apps crashing, notifications font too small, vibration not working and more.

Galaxy S21 viewfinder turns green in portrait mode

And now, some users have reported a new issue in the camera application after upgrading to Android 12-based One UI 4.0. According to reports (1, 2, 3, 4), users say that the viewfinder on their phone turns green when trying to use portrait mode.

Here are some reports for reference:

Galaxy-S21-viewfinder-turns-green
(Source)

I have the s21 base model and whenever I open portrait mode the screen turns green but the rest of the modes and cameras work. The only way it works is if I reset phone but it only works for a short time then it glitches out again. (Source)

Ever since the latest software update my portrait mode on my S21 Ultra has not been working. Selfie portrait mode works, every other camera function works, but portrait mode just freezes and flashes to a green screen. Has anyone else had this issue? (Source)

This glitch is only affecting portrait mode on Galaxy S21 phones, while the other camera modes are working perfectly fine. Here’s how the screen looks when it turns green.

galaxy-s21-portrait-mode
Click/tap to enlarge

According to the affected users, whenever they try to open portrait mode, the screen freezes and flashes to turn green.

Basic workarounds like clearing app cache/data, or restarting the devices are not working. A user even tried resetting the device, which brought in temporary relief, only till the issue showed up again.

Samsung is yet to acknowledge this issue

So, there seems no way out of this glitch until Samsung itself issues a fix. Apparently, the South Korean tech giant is not yet aware of the viewfinder turning green in portrait mode glitch on S21 devices.

We hope that it gets sorted out soon since the users are unable to use portrait mode on their devices. And whenever it gets fixed, we will update the space below with the new information, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can also check our dedicated One UI 4.0 bug tracker where we have mentioned all the ongoing issues with Samsung’s latest OS along with their solutions if any.

Update 1 (January 03)

05:08 pm (IST): A moderator on the Samsung community has acknowledged the issue and said that this is happening due to incompatibility with the Instagram app.

Moreover, he said it is necessary to uninstall the app until Meta (Facebook) releases a new version. This will possibly resolve the issue, here are the steps for this workaround.

1. Navigate on the impacted device to Settings> Apps

2. Scroll to find Instagram in the application list and tap on Instagram

3. Tap the Uninstall button to uninstall the application

4. Click OK to confirm uninstall

5. Powercycle (reboot) the device by turning it off then back on again (Source)

Update 2 (January 07)

04:55 pm (IST): One of our readers has confirmed that the latest update for the Galaxy S21 series fixed the green screen bug in portrait mode. However, the changelog of the latest update does not mention any bug fix regarding the same.

Thanks for the tip: Ashley Felter Tsai!

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Samsung section, so make sure to follow them as well.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Aashish Singh
502 Posts

I developed a keen interest in technology ever since my school days. And writing about it keeps me closer to this fascinating world. When I’m not working you can catch me playing video games.

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