How to Silence the Camera Shutter in Android
It’s annoying. You’re out somewhere and you snap a photo with your Droid and “Click!” goes that shutter noise. You’d think it would simply be a matter of a setting somewhere to silence it, but there isn’t… So how the heck do silence that annoying shutter noise? Well, here are a couple of ways to do it.
The first one is so simple it almost silly. Put your phone in Silent Mode. To put your phone in silent mode, press and hold the power button on the top of your Droid.
You’ll get a phone options pop up window. Notice the first item is Silent Mode. Just tap on Silent Mode to turn off all sound. Which, includes the shutter noise.
You should then notice the icon at the top of the screen indicating your Droid is in Silent Mode.
You turn off Silent Mode the same way. Press and hold the power button at the top of the Droid, and tap Silent Mode on the Phone options pop up window.
The downside to doing it this way is you need to remember to do it every time as well as remembering to turn it back on. (Or you’ll be like me and end up missing calls every time you snap a few pics in Silent Mode!)
Note: This also works for me if you just use the volume rocker on the side of the Droid to turn the volume all the on/off.
I also checked out an app call SilentSnap Camera Free. You can find it in the Android marketplace. (There is also a commercial version without adverts)
Clicking on the App icon takes you directly into your camera mode and ready to take a pic. Unfortunately the first time I tried it, I still got the shutter sound. That is the only time that has happened, however. All other attempts have been silent.
After reviewing the photo and clicking Done, you get the screen below. (You can see the ads at the top and bottom) Press the Take another pic button to keep on shooting photos.
An annoyance (bug?) I noticed is that it seems to when reviewing pics, sometimes are not displayed in landscape mode.
Conclusion
The SilentSnap App isn’t bad. I’m sure some people will dig it, but for me I’m going to stick with Silent Mode. (Despite the occasional missed call/text due to my forgetfulness) I’m actually going to uninstall the app simply because I try to be as minimalist as possible when it comes to apps.
You can find a bit more info about SilentSnap here.
I can understand privacy concerns. I wouldn’t be particularly pleased if I was out in a public place and suddenly someone was taking pics of me without my consent. For those that may want to capture a memory when you are out to dinner with your spouse or significant other, these options will allow you to do so without alerting the entire room with a shutter snap.
Do you have a solution you like better? Drop me a note in the comments!
Category: Android
