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How to turn off the camera shutter sound on an iPhone in 2 ways

iphone selfie
There are two ways you can turn off the camera "shutter" sound on your iPhone. Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

  • To turn off the camera sound on your iPhone, flip the Ring/Silent switch to Silent.
  • You can also silence the shutter noise by enabling the Live Photos feature before taking a picture.
  • Since Live Photos are essentially mini-videos, they will take up more storage space than still photos.
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Sometimes, you just want to snap pictures on your iPhone discreetly. Unfortunately, the camera's shutter sound can give you away. And the annoying part is that there's no setting you can change to silence it – a major design oversight on Apple's part. 

Luckily, there are two workarounds that can allow you to turn off the shutter noise your iPhone camera makes. That way, you can be a photo-snapping ninja.

How to turn off the camera sound on an iPhone with the ring/silent switch

The easiest way to silence the Camera's shutter sound is to put your iPhone in Silent mode. 

Just flip the Ring/Silent switch – located on the left side of your phone – down, revealing the orange color behind it, and the camera won't make noise when taking a picture.

The side of an iPhone, with the Ring/Silent switch flipped to Silent mode. The orange color behind the switch is showing.
Flip the Ring/Silent switch to Silent mode. Stefan Ionescu

The trade-off here is that this will silence the iPhone's ringer as well, meaning you'll have to rely on vibrations to alert you of notifications and calls.

How to turn off the camera sound on an iPhone with Live Photos

If you don't want to put your iPhone in Silent mode but still want to turn off the shutter noise, you can take a Live Photo — a picture that is a seconds-long mini video with audio — instead. 

Here's how to take a Live Photo on an iPhone:

1. Open the Camera app on your iPhone. 

2. Check the concentric circles at the top of the screen. If they're yellow, the Live Photos feature is on. But if they're white with a slash running through them, it's off – tap those white circles to enable it.

A combined picture of the Camera app on iPhone. The left picture shows the concentric circles at the top are yellow, and they have been highlighted. The right picture shows the concentric circles are white, and they have been highlighted.
When the concentric circles at the top are yellow, Live Photo mode has been enabled. Stefan Ionescu

3. Tap the Shutter button, and you'll notice that the camera will take a picture without making the shutter sound.

The Camera app on iPhone, with an arrow pointing to the “Shutter” button.
Tap the "Shutter" button. Stefan Ionescu
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