How to disable and replace the iPhone Camera app to avoid accidental triggers

Apple has made it simple to take a picture quickly with your iPhone: swipe left on the lock screen and the Camera app appears. (You can also set the Camera icon to appear on the lock screen in Settings > Siri & Search > Camera, and then flip the switch for Show on Home Screen. And you can also swipe to reveal the Control Center and tap the Camera icon if you’ve enabled that in Settings > Control Center.)

But what if you want to make it more difficult to trigger the camera, especially after you’ve wound up taking too many photos of your pocket lining? I recently captured an amazing series of lint action shots during a visit to the Palace of Versailles in France, for instance.

Apple doesn’t offer an option (yet) to disable using the Camera only at the lock screen. Instead, it’s an all-or-nothing proposition: you can either make it entirely impossible to use the Camera app on your iPhone, or you have to have it available everywhere.

If you find the lock-screen-swipe scenario unbearable, you could use a set of Apple tools to disable the Camera app and then trigger the launch of a third-party camera app instead. Here’s how to do so.

First, disable the Camera app using Screen Time:

1. Go to Settings > Screen Time.
2. If it’s not yet enabled, follow prompts to enable it for yourself (not for a child using the phone).
3. In Screen Time, go to Content & Privacy Restrictions, enable Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap Allowed Apps, and disable Camera.
4. Tap the Back link at the top to make the change take effect.

Next, after installing your camera app of choice, such as Halide, follow these steps:

1. Open the Shortcuts app.
2. Tap the plus (+) icon in the upper-right corner to create a new Shortcut.
3. In the action window, tap Open App. (If it doesn’t appear, enter “Open App” in the search field at the bottom.)
4. Tap the blue-on-gray App link in the Open App action.
5. Select Halide (or another app).
6. Tap the dropdown arrow next to the name Open App at the top of the screen, tap Rename, and give the shortcut a recognizable name, like “Open Halide”.
7. Tap Done.
8. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap > Double Tap or Triple Tap. This accessibility trigger lets you tap the back of your phone twice or three times to trigger an action, which includes shortcuts.
9. Select “Open Halide” from the shortcuts list.

Now, when you want to take a photo, you’ll need to either wake your phone by tapping the screen or unlock your phone, and then double- or triple-tap, depending on which shortcut you have assigned.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Paul.

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