How to Disable Camera Lock Screen Swipe on iPhone
iPhone users have been able to access the iPhone camera through the Lock Screen by a swipe left gesture, which some people find to be very convenient, while others have noticed the swipe gesture can lead to inadvertent camera access and taking dozens of pocket pictures. If you’re in the latter camp, or you just don’t like the lock screen camera access gesture in general, you can disable it on iPhone with the latest versions of iOS. You’ll still be able to access the iPhone Camera from Lock Screen by pressing the Camera button there, it just turns off the swipe gesture feature.
You will need iOS 26.1 or newer to have access to this settings toggle, as earlier versions of iPhone system software do not include this setting.
How to Turn Off Lock Screen Swipe Camera Access on iPhone
To disable the lock screen camera gesture, here’s what to do:
- Open the ‘Settings’ app and go to “Camera”
- Scroll down to the bottom and toggle the switch for “Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera” to the OFF position to disable
This will completely disable the swipe left gesture to access the camera from Lock Screen on iPhone.
Disabling Lock Screen Camera Swipe Prevents iPhone Pocket Pictures
A fair number of iPhone users, myself included, find that the swipe camera access gesture can be triggered unintentionally, whether the iPhone is in a pocket, purse, or some other enclosure, or even if it’s being handled by a child. This inadvertent camera access can lead to unintentional pocket pictures or pocket videos. These are usually a bunch of blurry nonsense or black images and videos, or a muffled video recording of the inside of a pocket with mostly muffled audio.
Some users that have a significant issue with this might find their iPhone camera rolls and Photos library are filled with these images, but how common of a problem this is, is hard to quantify. Nonetheless, with a settings toggle to disable or enable the iPhone swipe camera access from Lock Screen, if it is a problem for you or someone you know, there’s now an easy solution.
Of course you can re-enable Lock Screen camera access on iPhone again at any point in time by returning to the Camera Settings and toggling this back on again.
You can also disable the lock screen Camera button access completely if you don’t use or access the iPhone camera that way at all.
What do you think of the Lock Screen camera swipe feature on iPhone? Do you use it or do you plan on disabling it? Let us know your experiences and thoughts in the comments, and check out some more iPhone Camera tricks here if you’re interested.
