How to Disable the Camera on an iPhone or iPad

blognet   Sunday, October 10, 2021   How to, Make it Useful   Comment  

Using Screen Time, an inbuilt iOS feature, you can disable your iPhone or iPad camera to remove it from the Home Screen, App Library, Lock Screen, and everywhere else on the device.

If your kids use an iPhone or iPad, whose camera you want to disable to prevent unnecessary clicks and recordings, or if you use the device for a specific purpose like a restaurant menu or museum visitor's book and you wish to turn off its camera, here's how to do that.

What to Know Before Disabling an iPhone or iPad Camera

Before restricting the camera on your iPhone or iPad, you must be aware of these important points:

• After you follow the steps below to restrict the camera, it will not be available anywhere, including inside Apple and third-party apps like FaceTime or WhatsApp.
• After disabling the camera, FaceTime will also become unavailable. Its app icon will be hidden, and you won't be able to use it, even for audio calls, from the Phone or Contacts app.
• When you restrict the iPhone camera, both the front and rear cameras are disabled.
• When you re-enable the iPhone camera, your Home Screen app icon layout may slightly change.

Now that you know the consequences, let us proceed.

Related: How to Put Parental Controls on an iPhone or iPad

How to Disable an iPhone or iPad Camera

Here are the steps to restrict and remove the Camera app on an iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time. If you haven't set it up, tap Turn on Screen Time and follow the instructions. You can set it up for yourself or your kids.
2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enable it on the next screen.
3. Now, tap Allowed Apps.
4. Finally, turn off the Camera toggle.

Image Gallery (3 Images)

Expand

Expand

Expand

Someday, if you change your mind and want to enable your iPhone camera again, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it off. Or, tap Allowed Apps and turn on the Camera toggle.

A Restricted Camera Isn't Available for Any Apps

You have successfully disabled the camera on your iOS or iPadOS device. If you or your kids try to circumvent this restriction by downloading a third-party camera app, that won't work either.