Unfortunately, the default camera app on most Android devices does not have an option to disable the shutter sound. However, there are some third party tools that can help you disable the sound so that you can capture anything you want without breaking the silence. Here are two of those ways: Note: the following methods require your Android phone to be rooted. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to disable the Shutter sound on an unrooted phone.
Using an App to Disable the Camera Shutter Sound
This is the easiest way to turn off the camera shutter sound on an Android device. In order for this to work your device must be rooted, as the app interacts with the system files on your device which cannot be done on an unrooted device.
Head to the Google Play store and install the Camera Sound off! (root) app on your device.
Launch the app from the app drawer on your device.
You will be prompted to provide the app with root permissions. Tap on the “Grant” button to do so, and it will let you move forward.
On the screen that follows, you will see a drop-down menu with the label “Camera Sound is.” Tap on the menu, and it should say “OFF.”
The shutter sound has been disabled on your device. Your camera won’t make any sound while capturing the images anymore. If you ever wish to turn on the sound, just tap that option again, and it will say “ON.”
Using File Manager to Disable the Camera Shutter Sound
If you would like to do the task in a geeky way, you can manually modify the system files so that your camera doesn’t make any sound while it is capturing an image. Here’s how you can do that. This also requires root-access.
Install a root explorer app like ES File Explorer on your device.
Launch the app from your app drawer.
When the app launches, head to the main “/” directory. That is where you can find the actual OS files for your device.
Now, head to “/system/media/audio/ui” using the app.
Once there, tap and hold on the “Shutter.ogg” file and select “Rename.”
Rename the file so that it says “Shutter.ogg.bak.” When that is done, tap the “OK” button to save the changes.
Do the same for the file named as “Shutter_multiple.ogg.” Just add the word “.bak” at the end of the file name.
When that is all done, close the ES Explorer app. What you did above is rename the sound files that the camera app uses while capturing an image. The next time the app tries to play the sound from these files, it will not be able to do so because these files have been renamed, and the app will think they no longer exist. Should you ever want to restore the settings, just remove the “.bak” part from the file names, and your shutter sound will be back.
Conclusion
If you are ever in a situation where you wish to capture a picture but just can’t make even a little bit of noise, you can use the above methods to turn that shutter sound off and do your job. Happy (silent) capturing!
