Have you ever wanted to sneak a picture of something or someone and your camera’s shutter sound ruined your plans of being discreet? If you easily feel embarrassed like me, in such public situations, you can just turn off the camera shutter sound. The same goes for screenshots, those can be just as loud and annoying. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones.
So if you’ve been wondering how to stop these sounds on your device, sit tight for the tips I’m about to share. This article will teach you how to turn off camera or screenshot sound on iPhones.
How Can You Turn Off Camera or Screenshot Sounds on iPhones?
There are several workarounds for preventing your iPhone from making noise while capturing images or screenshots.
Side note to our readers in Japan or South Korea, I’m sorry but these suggestions may not work for you. The phones marketed in these locations include a hard-coded camera sound that cannot be disabled, so you’ll be unable to capture images of others without the camera sound. Now, to the long-awaited tips…
Use the iPhone Silent Switch
The silent switch on the side of your iPhone is the first port of call when you’re looking for a way to turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones. Every iPhone model features a ring/silent switch on the top left side.
Your iPhone won’t ring for calls or other alerts when it is in silent mode. It will, however, vibrate if the Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Vibrate on Silent slider is activated. So, if you switch to silent mode using this switch, you can also turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones.
Note that Ring mode is activated if the switch is closer to the screen, so your smartphone will play sounds normally. If the switch is in the silent position, you’ll see an orange line under the switch. So, simply flip the switch to the silent position (away from your smartphone’s screen), and you’ll be able to capture as many silent screenshots and pictures as you want.
Enable Live Photos
The iPhone 6s and later models support live photo capture. These “moving pictures” include about three seconds of video and sound from both before and after the shot was taken. What’s interesting here is that in Live Photos mode, your iPhone won’t make any shutter sounds. So, you can turn off camera sounds on iPhones by enabling Live Photos.
Simply press the Live Photos icon in the Camera app, which resembles a circle with numerous rings surrounding it, to toggle Live Photos. You’ll see it at the upper-right corner of the screen on most modern iPhones. If there is no slash through the icon, you have activated Live Photos and will not hear a shutter noise.
Sadly, this solution does not turn off the sound effect when taking screenshots. Also note that live photos take up more space on your device and that they may contain audio that you intended to be private.
Manually Lower Your iPhone’s Volume
By manually reducing the volume, you can also turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones. Normally, you can modify this using the volume buttons on the left side of your iPhone. However, if you tap them while using the camera, it will capture a picture instead.
So, simply hit and hold the Volume Down button to turn the volume all the way down or to your desired level of quietness before opening the Camera app. Alternatively, you can use iOS’ Control Center to lower the volume.
To open the Control Center if you’re using an iPhone without a Home button, swipe down from your screen’s top-right corner. If your iPhone model has a Home button, swipe up from the screen’s bottom instead. Afterward, locate the volume slider and drag it down. You’ll be able to easily turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones this way,
Take Picture While Recording Video
The iPhone allows you to take images while also recording videos. Fortunately, pictures you take while recording video make no shutter sound. As such, this is a great way to turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones. Follow these steps:
- Launch the Camera app on your iPhone.
- To start recording, go to video mode and click the Shutter button.
- At the bottom right, you’ll notice a white shutter button.
- To turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones while taking pictures, press the white button.
This is a convenient way to take images without attracting unwanted attention. However, the resolution of the images captured while recording the video will be lower than that of conventional pictures. This is because it’ll largely depend on the video resolution.
Connect Wired or Wireless Headphones
Another option is to use wired or wireless headphones or earbuds with your iPhone. This is a smart way to turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones. When you connect headphones or earbuds to your iPhone, all sounds will be played through the accessory device.
Simply pair your headphones, whether they are Bluetooth-enabled wireless headphones or tethered headphones that connect to your device’s Lightning connector. The camera’s sound will then play within the headphones when you take a picture. No one else will be able to hear the sound if you have earphones in your ears (or even if they are draped around your neck).
But make sure your device’s volume isn’t too loud before taking a screenshot or snapshot; otherwise, you can injure your hearing.
To summarize, it’s easy to turn off camera or screenshot sounds on iPhones through the tips I’ve provided in this guide. Try as many as possible, and I’m sure you’ll find at least one that works great for you.