You can turn off the annoying typing sound of the keyboard, and you can even silence the lock sound, but when it comes to camera sound on iPhone, Apple likes to keep it that way.

It is impossible to mute the iPhone’s camera shutter sound. As a result, it restricts you from taking pictures everywhere.

One thing that most iPhone users are desperate for in its camera app is the option to turn off camera sound. Whenever you take a picture, the shutter sound notifies you that you have clicked a photo.

However, there could be a lot of situations when you don’t want the camera app to make the shutter sound. For example, you want to capture a photo of a sleeping baby without waking him up.

Unfortunately, there is no option or accessibility to turn off the camera sound in camera settings. So then, how can you click a picture silently? Well, several methods allow you to click images without any camera noise.

This article explains how to silence the iPhone camera so you can take pictures anywhere.

Enable Live Photos to Turn Off Camera Shutter Noise on iPhone

You can enable the live photos to feature on the camera app to disable shutter sound. However, the live photos feature clicks a picture in silent mode because it captures a small video fragment along with the audio (like an animated image). So, taking live photos won’t be easy without silencing the camera shutter sound.

Activating the live photos is as easy as taking pictures. Here’s how you can do it:

  • Open the Settings app on your iPhone
  • Go to the “Camera” option
  • Select “Preserve Settings” in the camera section
  • Tap the toggle right next to “Live Photos” into green (the live photo feature is activated permanently)

To turn Live Photos on whenever you capture photos from the camera app, follow these steps:

  • Open the Camera app.
  • Set your camera to capture a photo
  • The live photos icon is at the top right corner of the camera app. It’s concentric circle lines.
  • If the concentric circles turn yellow when you take a picture, the iPhone camera sound is turned off.
  • If you see the live photos icon in white instead of yellow, it’s off. Tap on the live photos icon to turn off the camera shutter sound.

Turn off the Mute Switch on the iPhone

Turning off the mute switch is another quick method to silence the iPhone camera and screenshot sound on the iPhone. The mute switch is a button in every iPhone model, from SE to the latest 13 Pro Max.

It is also called the ring / silent switch. It’s present on the left-hand side of your iPhone.

Follow these steps to switch off this button:

For iPhone 

To activate the silent mode, flip the ring / silent switch on the left side of the iPhone. Make sure the button shows an orange color.

Remember that all the other sounds, including incoming calls, notifications, and other alerts, will be silenced in silent mode. However, you can edit the system volume from settings to get an alert for different phone sounds. Here’s how:

  • Navigate to the Settings
  • Tap on the General section
  • Enter the option “Sounds & Haptics.”
  • In the Ringtone option, select the Vibration bar.

There will be a list of categories of various modes of vibration. You can tick any of them to enable your preferred vibration pattern. As a result, you will be notified by vibration if there is an incoming notification, call, or other alert. In the end, you get vibration for your important alerts and mute the shutter and screenshot sounds on your iPhone.

For iPad

Apple has disabled the hardware mute switch on the latest iPad models and those running on iOS 12 and later. Therefore, you can mute the shutter and screenshot sound by lowering the volume button or choosing the mute icon in the control center.

In the iPad models before the Air generation, you could use the ring / silent switch to mute the camera sounds.

Turn Off the Camera Sounds through Control Center

You can temporarily disable the camera sound on the iPhone by turning down the volume from the control center. Lowering the system volume will activate the phone ringer and turn off the iPhone’s Live Photos and camera sounds.

To access the control center, follow these steps:

For iPhone 8 and older models:

  • Pull up from the bottom corner of your home screen to open the control center
  • A vertical volume slider will be next to the brightness slider in the right corner.
  • Slide the volume slider to zero

For iPhone X and later: 

  • Swipe down from the top of your iPhone screen to open the control center
  • Turn the volume slider to zero

Plug in Earphones to Mute Sound on an iPhone

You can also mute the camera sound on an iPhone by plugging in earphones when you capture pictures. Plug in the earphones and take a picture. The fake shutter sound from a camera will be fed into the earphones.

Turn Off Camera Sound on iPhone through Apple Music App

This method is a hack to turn off the camera sound on iPhone. Here’s how:

  • Launch the Apple Music app on your iPhone
  • Play sounds or music from the Music Library
  • Turn off the volume to zero (don’t pause the music)
  • Click the Home Button and keep the music app in the background
  • Launch the Camera app and take a picture

The ongoing sound effect from the music prevents the camera from making the shutter sound on iPhone.

Use iPhone Volume Button to Turn Off Camera App Sound

You must be familiar with this method. One of the most common techniques is manually lowering the volume buttons to turn off the camera sound. Here’s how you can do it:

The volume buttons are on the right-side corner of your iPhone. Press the Volume Down Button to put your phone into a silent position. Then, go to the Camera and tap on the shutter button to capture a photo. Your device will be in complete silence, so there will be no camera noise.

Take a Photo While Recording a Video Without any Camera Sound Effect

Another great way to avoid camera noise is to record a video of something you want to capture a photo of. It’s an easy way. First, go to the Camera app and drag to the left side to enable video mode. Then, tap the Red Record Button on the bottom to start recording the video.

During the recording, tap on the White Shutter Button to take a picture of the current video fragment. The shutter button is on the right side of the red record button.

Remember that there will be a minor sound effect when you start recording a video and end it. However, when you take pictures, it’s not as loud as the fake shutter sound.

Set Up Automation To Turn Off Camera Sound

Follow these step-by-step instructions to mute the camera sound on iPhone.

  • Download the Shortcuts App
  • Launch the Shortcuts app and click on the “Automation” bar
  • Select “Create Personal Automation” to set up your customized automated settings.
  • If you’ve already created any automation, tap on the + icon in the top right corner to add more personal automation.
  • A tab, “New Automation” will appear on your screen.
  • Scroll down in this tab and click on the “App” option below the NFC.
  • Enter the app option and tab on the “Choose” bar next to it
  • Select the Camera app to turn off camera sounds
  • Two options will appear on your screen “Is Opened” and “Is Closed.”
  • Tap on “Is Opened” and click on the “Next” button in the top right corner.
  • Click on “Add Action”
  • Tap on the Search bar and write “Set Volume.” Close the search bar to see results.
  • Select the “Set Volume to” bar, and a volume slider will appear. Take it down to zero.
  • The toggle switch next to “Ask before Running” will be on. Switch it off and select the option “Don’t Ask.”
  • Save your automation by clicking on “Done.”

The setup of automation settings is among the best several methods to turn off camera sound. For example, the iPhone automatically shuts down the system volume to zero when you capture pictures from the camera app. This way, you won’t get any camera sounds. Hence, the volume will revert to the device’s level when you close the camera app.

Enable Double or Tripe Taps to Turn Off Shutter Sound on iPhone

The iOS version from 14 and later allows you to use the Back Tap feature to lock the screen, access the control center, take a screenshot, go to an app, and much more.

Here’s how you can apply silent mode without flipping the ringer switch.

  • Navigate to the Settings
  • Enter the “Accessibility” option
  • Select the “Touch” section
  • Scroll down and tap on “Back Tap.”
  • Click on “Double Tap” and assign the Mute switch under the System category
  • You can also choose “Triple Tap” to turn off the silent mode

As a result, you can quickly take pictures silently by just back double-tapping.

Activate the Assistive Touch

Activating assistive touch is another helpful method to take pictures without shutter noise on an iOS device. Here is how:

  • Open the Settings app
  • Go to the “Accessibility” option
  • Select “Touch” (below the Physical & Motor section)
  • Click on “Assistive Touch” on the top and slide the toggle next to it in green.
  • A floating translucent button will be displayed on your screen
  • Tap on this floating button and go to “Device.”
  • Select the “Mute” icon to put your device in a completely silent position

You can easily enable this mode to take pictures without making any sound.

Final Verdict

Many users in South Korea take photos by covering their phone speakers. As a result, the grill of the speakers lowers the shutter sound. While there is no standard setting to turn off the camera sounds, some methods restrict the camera sound on iPhones.

Moreover, users who have performed multiple jailbreak methods on their iOS devices may not be able to execute these methods successfully.

We hope this article has helped you mute the sounds on your iPhone.