The Green Camera Led Indicator on iPhone and iPad

If you’ve ever used an app that accesses your camera, you’ve probably noticed the small green LED that lights up near the front camera on your iPhone or iPad. This light is automatically activated by iOS whenever any app — no matter which one — requests access to the camera. It’s part of Apple’s strict privacy and transparency policy, and unfortunately, there’s no way to turn it off.

While this feature makes sense from a privacy standpoint, it can be frustrating for users who need discreet camera access — especially for apps like Discreet - Black Screen Camera, which are designed for subtle or hidden recording.

iPhone green light led indicator camera
iPhone green led

How Discreet Minimizes the Green Light

Discreet - Black Screen Camera, uses an advanced brightness-dimming system that drastically reduces the visibility of the green LED. This makes it almost invisible in most lighting conditions, allowing you to capture video without unwanted attention.

However, in certain lighting environments (especially bright or high-contrast scenes), iOS may automatically override brightness settings — forcing the LED to become more visible. Unfortunately, this is a system-level behavior, and no app can completely bypass it.

User Tricks to Make the Green LED Less Noticeable

Many of our users have shared creative ways to minimize or even hide the green indicator. Here are two popular and effective methods:

  1. Disable Automatic Brightness
    • Go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size
    • Scroll to the bottom and toggle Auto-Brightness off
    • This prevents iOS from increasing screen brightness automatically, which also helps reduce the LED’s visibility.
  2. Use a Small Black Dot on the Screen Protector
    • A clever physical workaround is to make a tiny black dot directly over the LED area on your phone’s screen protector.
    • You can do this with a fine-tip black permanent marker — just a small dot is enough to cover the light without affecting your camera’s performance.

    On many recent iPhone models, this spot happens to be located inside the Dynamic Island — which is already black.
    That means the dot blends perfectly with the surrounding area, making it virtually invisible while still hiding the green LED.

    See image below for reference:

Making a black dot on the screen protector
Marking your screen protector to hide the green LED

Final Thoughts

While Apple doesn’t currently allow disabling the green camera indicator, these small adjustments can make a big difference. Discreet continues to optimize its technology to minimize the LED’s visibility — but for now, combining our dimming feature with these user-reported tricks is the most effective way to keep your recordings subtle and professional.