How to Turn off the Camera Sound on iPhone

This article explains how to suppress the shutter sound an iPhone makes when you snap a photo. Except where noted, these instructions apply to all iPhone models with any version of iOS.

Activating Live Photos Affects the Shutter Sound

When Apple added Live Photos to the iPhone, the camera sound that played when a picture was taken disappeared by default, even with all the phone sounds on. This change proved beneficial because a Live Photo captures a few seconds of sound while recording a picture, and if the camera plays the shutter sound, that’s all you’d hear when viewing that Live Photo. If you use Live Photos, toggle the feature on and off in the Camera app. When it is toggled on, no shutter sound plays.

To permanently activate the Live Photo feature, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and turn on the Live Photo toggle switch.

Exit the Settings app and go to the Camera app. If Live Photos is enabled and toggled on in the Camera app, you won’t hear any shutter sound when you take a picture. The Live Photos feature is usually activated by default.

To temporarily turn off Live Photo within the Camera app, tap the icon at the top of the camera screen that looks like three concentric circles; it's a toggle switch for the feature.

• When the three circles are yellow, Live Photo is turned on and the shutter sound is suppressed.
• When the three circles are white with a slash, Live Photo is turned off for the duration of that photography session, and you hear shutter sounds when you take photos.

Alternatives to Turn off Camera Sound on iPhone

If you don’t want to turn on the Live Photo feature but want to turn off the camera shutter sound, there are two ways you can do it.

Mute the iPhone Ringer

The first way is to silence the iPhone ringer. Toggle the switch on the left side of the phone until it shows orange. Turning off the iPhone ringer mutes sounds and gives you a silent camera when taking a picture.

Turn Volume Down in Control Center

The second method is to turn down the iPhone volume. If you want to keep the phone ringer on and keep Live Photos off, but don’t want to hear the sound when taking a photo, lower the system volume.

Start by accessing the Control Center. On an iPhone X or newer, pull down from the upper-right corner of the screen. On an iPhone 8 or older, pull up from the bottom of the screen. Slide the volume down to near zero.