One user's video wouldn't connect on a WhatsApp call, so she uploaded a photo of her screen to Claude. Within seconds it spotted the problem: her ThinkPad has a tiny privacy shutter slider above the screen, and she'd closed it by accident.
My camera isn't working on [APP, E.G. WHATSAPP OR ZOOM] on my [DEVICE MAKE AND MODEL]. Here's a photo of my screen and the top of the device. What could be wrong? Start with the simplest physical checks (shutters, covers, switches, keyboard shortcuts), then app and system permissions, and give me step-by-step instructions for each.
Replace the [PLACEHOLDERS] with your own details before you send it.
How to try it
- Take a photo of the screen showing the error, plus the top edge of your laptop or the camera itself.
- Upload it to Claude with the prompt and work through the checks in order.
- Test the camera in another app after each step so you know which fix worked.
More tech help use cases
Help someone with poor eyesight read their post with ChatGPT’s camera
One user set his 89-year-old dad up with ChatGPT. When his dad struggled to read a letter, he showed him how to add the camera to a voice chat, and ChatGPT described the post, answered his questions and helped with next steps.
I'm going to show you a letter through my camera. Please read it out to me in plain English, tell me who it's from, what it's asking me to do and by when, and whether it looks like it could be a scam. Then help me decide what to do next.
Sort out battery drain and notification overload with Gemini
An Android Police writer asked Gemini about a handful of Pixel annoyances. It traced battery drain to a power-hungry app running in the background, and pointed to Notification History so the writer could switch off only the notification types they didn't need.
My [PHONE MODEL] running [ANDROID/IOS VERSION] has this problem: [DESCRIBE, E.G. THE BATTERY DRAINS MUCH FASTER THAN IT USED TO]. Walk me through how to find the cause step by step, with the exact menu names to tap, and suggest fixes for my specific settings rather than general tips.
Check a suspicious text message with Grok
One user received a text she suspected was a scam and asked Grok to check it. Grok also explained how to forward the message to her mobile carrier to report it.
I've received this text message: '[PASTE THE TEXT, WITHOUT CLICKING ANY LINKS]'. Does it show signs of a scam? Explain which parts are suspicious, what I should do (and not do), and how to report it to my mobile network in [COUNTRY].
Reference: X @YourOptimalSVA