Managing iOS devices using Microsoft Intune
Enable camera access in Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera; if the Camera app itself is unavailable, check Screen Time restrictions, and if the iPhone is organization-managed, have the Intune administrator remove the assigned Block camera restriction.
If only one app cannot use the camera
- Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera.
- Turn on access for the affected app.
- Close and reopen that app.
Microsoft’s documentation uses Settings → Privacy → Camera on older iOS versions; newer versions may show Privacy & Security instead. If the app is absent from the list, open it and attempt a camera action so iOS displays the permission prompt. For example, in OneNote, open a notebook, select the camera icon, and choose Take Picture.^1^
For Teams specifically, you can also open Settings, scroll to Teams, and enable Camera. Teams may additionally require its own Settings → App permissions option to be enabled.^2^
If the built-in Camera app is missing or disabled
On an iPhone that is not organization-managed, check:
- Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Open Allowed Apps & Features.
- Enable Camera, or turn off the applicable content/privacy restriction.
Menu wording can vary slightly by iOS version.
If the iPhone is managed by Intune
An Intune policy can prevent all access to the device camera. On iOS/iPadOS 13 or later, Intune’s Block camera restriction applies to devices enrolled through Automated Device Enrollment and marked as supervised.^3^
A user cannot override that restriction on the iPhone. An administrator with the Policy and Profile Manager role should:
- Open the Microsoft Intune admin center.
- Go to Devices → Manage devices → Configuration.
- Open the device-restrictions policy assigned to the iPhone.
- Under the iOS/iPadOS configuration settings, change Block camera from Yes to Not configured.
- Save the policy and let the device check in again.
Intune uses configuration profiles assigned to users or device groups, so the administrator should change the camera setting rather than remove the entire profile unless all its other restrictions should also be removed.^4^
To identify the responsible profile, the administrator can open Devices → All devices → select the iPhone → Device configuration and inspect the listed policies and their status.^5^
The key distinction is whether one app is affected, the Camera app is missing, or every app is blocked. The last case on a supervised work or school iPhone should be handled by its Intune administrator.
References