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I would like to use my iPhone as webcam on my MacBook, but I haven't found a way to mute the sound on the iPhone when the camera is activated. Even when the iPhone is in silent mode, all sounds are switched off, the volume is set to zero and "do not disturb" is activated on my iPhone, it plays the same unnerving connection sound.

  • Is there a reason for this behaviour?
  • Is it documented somewhere?
  • Are there MacBook settings that control the iPhone behaviour in this case?

(I have iOS 16.3.1 on my iPhone SE and macOs Ventura 13.2.1 (22D68) on my MacBook Pro 16 inch, 2019.)

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This is a privacy indicator

Per Apple Support document Choose your iPhone as your camera or microphone

Privacy. While the camera or mic is in use, a privacy indicator appears in the iPhone status bar and next to Control Center in the Mac menu bar. When used wirelessly, iPhone plays a brief sound when an app begins using its camera or mic.

Emphasis Mine

Since there’s no visible LED like on the iSight camera, there needs to be a way to let you know that the camera has been activated. Since the iPhone can be used as a wireless microphone, it’s quite possible to activate it while in your pocket. This is how you know it’s live.

There is no setting to disable this behavior.

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  • "When used wirelessly"! I'm going to try out what happens when iPhone and MacBook are connected by USB.
    – wra
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:02

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