Camera and ARKit & Privacy

Apple designed cameras with privacy in mind, and third-party applications must obtain your consent before accessing Camera.


On an iOS device, apps that you grant access to Camera can access real-time images from the front and rear cameras. Apps aren’t allowed to use the camera without transparency that the camera is in use.

Photos and videos taken with the camera may contain other information, such as where and when they were taken, the depth of field, and overcapture. If you do not want photos and videos taken with the Camera app to include location, you can control this at any time by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera. If you do not want photos and video to include location when shared, you can turn location off in the Options menu in the share sheet.

Continuity Camera allows you to use your iPhone or iPad as a webcam for another device. On Mac, your iPhone will connect by default when both devices are nearby and signed in to the same Apple Account. On an Apple TV, you can manually connect an iPhone or iPad when both devices are near one another. You can always pause the camera’s active stream by pressing the Pause button, or on iPhone by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen or pressing the Home button. To pause and temporarily remove iPhone or iPad from the camera list on Mac or Apple TV, tap Disconnect on your device. You can disable using your iPhone or iPad as a webcam for Mac or Apple TV by going to Settings > General > AirPlay & Handoff on your iPhone or iPad device.

On select iPhone models and when using Continuity Camera, Center Stage automatically pans and zooms the front camera to keep you in frame for enabled apps. The camera will smoothly zoom to accommodate people who enter the frame. You can disable Center Stage during a video call by swiping down from the top-right edge of your screen to access Control Center, tapping the Video Effects button, then tapping the Center Stage button. You can control whether supported apps use Center Stage at any time by following the Control Center options or in the app itself.

Apps that you grant access to Camera can use ARKit to provide an AR experience. Apps can combine, use, and store data they obtain from ARKit with data from the Camera, such as the location associated with a photo. These apps can use the camera to position your AR experience using world or face tracking. World Tracking uses algorithms on your device to process information from these sensors in order to determine a user’s position relative to a physical space. World Tracking enables features such as Optical Heading in Maps.

Published Date: September 20, 2024