Is it true that overseas iPhones can turn off the shutter sound?-Why can't I hear the iPhone now?

One of the charms and strengths of the iPhone is that you can understand how to use it without reading the manual. However, even if you think you know it, there must be something you don't understand correctly. In this corner, we will explain in an easy-to-understand manner "why the iPhone can't be asked now". This time, we will answer the question, "Is it true that iPhones overseas can turn off the shutter sound?"

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It's true. Rather, the exception is the iPhone sold in Japan that cannot turn off the shutter sound. For iPhones sold in countries/regions other than Japan, such as the United States, if you set the side button to silent mode, the sound when the camera releases the shutter will not be emitted.

There is no official comment as to why iPhones sold in Japan cannot turn off the shutter sound, but it is believed that it is intended to prevent nuisance. If you can hear the shutter sound at a certain volume, people around you will know that you have taken a picture, which helps prevent so-called "secret photography". Even before the spread of smartphones, camera-equipped mobile phones in Japan had been distributed with specifications that did not allow the shutter sound to be turned off as a voluntary rule.

I can't confirm "shutter sound regulation" in a written form such as laws and ordinances, but in the document "Countermeasures against the shadow part of the ubiquitous network society)" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which supervises mobile phones, , there is a description that "a structure that cannot turn off or reduce the shutter sound" is adopted as a shooting rule by self-imposed regulations of mobile phone companies.

It is also not possible to take a "screenshot" that captures an image of the entire screen by pressing the sleep button and home button at the same time without making a shutter sound. It is speculated that the purpose is to prevent the screen from being saved as a screenshot instead of a photo while the camera app is running, but the truth is unknown. Since the iPad and iPod touch, which are not mobile phones, have the same specifications, it seems safe to assume that Apple independently decided that the shutter sound is essential in Japan, rather than the industry-wide self-regulation mentioned above.