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Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#61
post #23

I just want a phone that has a manual physical toggle button that kills the power to the cameras if any apps need the camera they can just notify me to please toggle that switch. One of the nightly build that I put on my note 8 turns on the edge screen notification flash when the cameras are on every once in awhile I see that thing on no reason.

> every once in awhile I see that thing on no reason Being a nightly build could be a very plausible reason for this.

Downvoted for suggesting a nightly build could have bugs. Who knew...

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#62
post #50

It’s not the Apple way to make concessions to security through hardware means. The hardware must remain a perfect uninterrupted glass slab, and any protections would likely be made in software. Edit: downvoter is welcome to point me to any model of Apple hardware that has a hardware radio switch or a hardware cover for the camera lens? The secure enclave is maybe the one exception to the above rule, but is highly sof…

The microphone is physically disconnected from power when you close the lid.

Also another poster said that the camera can’t get power without power going through the led indicator first.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#63
post #11

I remember reading that the Japanese iOS makes a loud shutter noise when you take a picture that can’t be silenced. It’s actually apparently a Japanese law. https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-turn-the-camera-shutter-sound...

I believe this was also a feature on us versions of iOS years ago. Some developers worked around it in “stealth camera” apps by playing the inverse of the camera shutter soundwave to silence it.

Although it's illegal, that's a brilliant hack. It's also a good reminder that even the simplest systems, which are vetted by dozens of professionals, could be easily defeated...

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#64
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, https://youtu.be/jTm4fjx_eZ0?t=532 this is done with React Native. I don't think nothing prevents you from rendering the camera UI preview component with an opacity of 0.0 I guess the main problem that no smartphone manufacturer wants to address is: People who take photos without permission to other people. It would be reasonable to enforce a law on all manufactures to add visible LED when the phone camera is be…

I don't think that would be reasonable. Unless there is a significant safety issue or privacy issue that would be solved, I don't think the government should force manufacturers to add features to their phones, seems like a pretty extreme overreach. Any LED added could easily be removed or covered up in a few seconds, so I don't see how it changes anything.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#65

I just want a phone that has a manual physical toggle button that kills the power to the cameras if any apps need the camera they can just notify me to please toggle that switch. One of the nightly build that I put on my note 8 turns on the edge screen notification flash when the cameras are on every once in awhile I see that thing on no reason.

Can you make physical toggles which are very unlikely to break due to wear and tear? I've had several phones that have developed problems with physical buttons within a year, which feels weird when you consider how complex the internals must be in comparison.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no activity indicator when an iPhone's camera is on?

#66
Disclosure of bias: I work for Microsoft. I don't speak for my employer.

Windows Phone 7's chassis specification mandated that manufacturers include a hardwired LED that lit up when the front-facing camera is active. But Android did not mandate this (or much of anything), and so the Qualcomm Reference Device (QRD) didn't implement it. The QRD is important, because many low-end manufacturers bootstrap their product design with a QRD and make the minimum number of changes to arrive at a viable product. But manufacturers needed to do extra engineering work and add to the BOM to make a Windows version of their cheap Android products.

It eventually became clear that consumers weren't willing to pay any premium for Windows Phone's higher standard for privacy. (I'm not claiming this was the only cause of WP's failure in the market -- just one small contributing factor.) So we intentionally pared down later versions of the chassis specification to minimize the differences between it and the QRD, including removing this privacy LED requirement. In theory, this would have allowed manufacturers to churn out cheap Windows Phones as easily as they were churning out cheap Android Phones.

Of course in hindsight, that was all too little, too late. Android won the cheap phone market for a huge number of reasons, one tiny factor of which is that it didn't require a privacy LED. The moral I took away? If your products cost more because they're safer, your marketing needs to ensure you get credit for that. Safety isn't obvious to someone glancing at your product; you need to spell all it out for the consumer. And if you can't find a way to articulate it, then reconsider whether you really need that safety feature.

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