FaceTime Live Photos is a feature on the iPhone that allows you or the person you are video chatting with to capture a Live Photo (a brief video and audio snippet) during a FaceTime call. While this can be a fun way to capture a candid moment, it also represents a significant privacy concern. When enabled, anyone you FaceTime with can capture a high-quality Live Photo of your video feed with a single tap, and while you receive a brief notification that a photo was taken, you cannot prevent it from being saved to their camera roll. For users who prioritize privacy and strictly control recordings of themselves, disabling this feature is highly recommended.
This guide will show you how to completely disable the FaceTime Live Photos setting system-wide on your iPhone, preventing anyone on the other end of a call from capturing Live Photos of you.
How to Disable ‘FaceTime Live Photos’ on iPhone
Follow these steps to revoke Live Photo capture permissions during FaceTime calls:
- Unlock your iPhone and open the Settings app.
- Scroll down the main settings list and tap on FaceTime.
- Scroll down through the FaceTime options until you locate the toggle for FaceTime Live Photos.
- Toggle the switch to the Off position (the switch will turn gray).
Once disabled, the shutter button on the FaceTime interface will be grayed out for the person you are speaking with, and they will see an on-screen message informing them that FaceTime Live Photos must be enabled on both devices to capture a photo.
A Note on Screenshots
It is important to remember that disabling FaceTime Live Photos does not prevent the other person from taking a standard iOS screenshot (by pressing the Power and Volume Up buttons). A standard screenshot will not capture audio or motion, but it is impossible to prevent screenshots at the OS level during a video call. However, disabling Live Photos successfully removes the built-in, high-quality capture mechanism from the FaceTime interface.