How to Mute Camera Sound on iPhone

There are several ways to suppress the shutter sound, which publishes iPhone when taking a photo. One of these methods depends on how you set up Live Photos.

Unless otherwise noted, these instructions apply to all iPhone models running any version of iOS.

Activating Live Photos affects the shutter sound

When Apple added » Live Photos» on iPhone, the camera sound that was playing during shooting would disappear by default even if all phone sounds were turned on. This change was helpful because Live Photo captures a few seconds of audio while the image is being recorded, and if the camera plays a shutter sound, that’s all you’ll hear when viewing that Live Photo. If you use Live Photos, turn this feature on and off in the Camera app. When it is on, the shutter sound is not played.

Live Photos feature requires at least iOS 9 and iPhone 6S or later.

Someone takes a selfie in front of a fountain; Live Off message on screen — Lifewire / Miguel Co.

To permanently activate the Live Photo feature, select «Settings» > » Camera» > » Save settings» and turn on toggle switch » Live Photo» .

Camera, Save Settings, Live Photo in iOS Settings

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

To temporarily disable Live Photo in the Camera app, tap the icon at the top of the camera screen, which looks like three concentric circles; it’s a toggle switch for a function.

When the three circles are yellow, Live Photo turns on and the shutter sound is muted.
If the three circles are white with a slash, Live Photo is turned off for the duration of the photo shoot and you hear shutter sounds when you take a picture.

iOS Camera app with Live Photo indicator highlighted

Alternatives to Mute 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.

Disable iPhone ringer

The first way is to turn off the iPhone ringer. Toggle the switch on the left side of the phone until it turns orange. Turning off the iPhone ringer turns off the sound and gives you a quiet camera when taking pictures.

Turn down volume in control center

The second way is to turn down the iPhone volume. If you want your phone to stay on and not turn off Live Photos, but don’t want to hear sound when you take a photo, turn down the system volume.

Start with access to control center . On iPhone X or later, swipe down from the top right corner of the screen. On an iPhone 8 or older, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Turn the volume down to zero.