A camera for the dark. Shoot photos and video on iPhone and iPad while the screen stays completely black. Version 1.5.1
Blackout Camera is a professional camera built for dark environments — astrophotography, meteor showers, the aurora, long-exposure landscapes, observatories, night wildlife, and anywhere a glowing phone screen would ruin the moment or other people's shots. It records like the standard camera, but with one tap (or automatically the instant you start recording) the screen goes fully black while the camera keeps shooting. There's also a red night-vision mode and a full set of manual controls for serious low-light work. It's free to download and use for photos and video; the signature black-screen mode and the pro tools are described under Plans, tokens & ads below.
The big idea: Press Screen Off and the display turns black and dims to nothing — but the camera keeps recording. To bring the screen back, press and hold anywhere for half a second. The hold is deliberate so the screen can't wake by accident on a tripod or in your pocket.
Tap the Screen Off button. The interface disappears, the screen turns black, and screen brightness drops to its minimum so the display emits as little light as possible. On OLED iPhones, black pixels are effectively switched off.
The camera keeps doing exactly what it was doing — a photo session stays ready, and a video recording keeps rolling. If you like, a very dim red “REC” dot confirms a recording is in progress, and a faint “Hold to wake” hint sits at the bottom. Both can be turned off in Settings for total darkness.
Press and hold anywhere for about half a second. A quick tap won't do it — that's on purpose, so a stray touch can't light up your screen mid-shot.
By default, starting a video recording blacks the screen immediately. You can turn this off in Settings → Screen Off → “Black screen when recording starts.”
Tap the moon icon to wash the entire interface in deep red and dim the screen. Red light preserves your eyes' dark adaptation far better than white or blue light, so you can glance at the screen to frame or adjust a shot without losing your night vision — useful at the telescope or around other astrophotographers.
With Blackout Pro, tap the sliders icon to open the manual panel:
Tap AUTO on any control to hand it back to the camera.
These gestures work for everyone, free:
You can turn the brightness control and press-and-hold lock on or off in Settings → Focus & Exposure. On iPhone 16 and later you can map the hardware Camera Control to zoom and your manual adjustments.
Photos use Apple's computational photography, and in Settings → Photo you can choose 12 MP or your sensor's maximum resolution (up to 48 MP on supported iPhones), capture Apple ProRAW (a high-bit-depth DNG) where your device supports it, and mirror front-camera selfies — all free. Video records up to 4K at 60 fps with multiple cinematic stabilization levels. On Pro iPhones, Blackout Pro unlocks ProRes, Apple Log, and HDR capture where your device supports them. Everything is saved to your Photos library using “Add Only” access, so the app never reads your existing library.
Open Settings → Audio to choose how video sound is recorded — all free:
Tap the thumbnail in the bottom-left corner to open the Library — a gallery of everything you've captured with Blackout Camera, grouped by day with a photo/video filter. Tap any item for a full-screen viewer with pinch-to-zoom, video playback, share, and per-item info (date, size, resolution, duration, and location). Swipe up for the info panel, swipe down to close. The Library keeps the app's own copies of your captures, separate from Apple Photos — so removing something here only removes the app's copy and never touches your Photos library.
Add the Blackout Camera widget to your Home Screen, or the control to Control Center or the Lock Screen, and one tap opens the app and starts a black-screen recording immediately — ideal for pocket-to-recording moments. By default it uses your current camera settings; you can give quick recordings their own resolution, frame rate, and stabilization in Settings → Quick Record.
With Save location data on (Settings → Metadata), your photos and videos are geotagged like the built-in Camera. A small GPS indicator near the top of the camera shows when a location fix is ready, and the in-app Library's info panel shows the coordinates and place for each capture. Location is only added when you allow it, and only to your own captures.
Blackout Camera is free to download. Photo and video capture are free for everyone. A single Pro subscription and a token system unlock the signature black-screen mode and the pro tools:
Blackout Pro comes as a monthly or annual subscription with a free trial, and subscribers never see ads. Manage your plan — renewal date, switching between monthly and annual, restoring purchases, or cancelling — on the Membership page in Settings (cancellation is also available any time in your Apple Account settings). Prices are always shown in the app in your local currency.
If you're signed in to iCloud, your free-tier token balance syncs privately across your own iPhone and iPad through your Apple Account, so the tokens you earn or buy follow you between devices. This uses your own private iCloud storage — see the Privacy Policy.
Yes. The screen going black is purely a display change — the camera session keeps running and video keeps recording the whole time.
Press and hold anywhere on the black screen for about half a second. A single tap is ignored on purpose so you can't wake it by accident.
No — locking the phone or pressing the side button suspends the app and stops the camera. Use the in-app Screen Off button instead, which keeps the camera running while the display is black. The app also keeps your phone from auto-locking while it's open.
The camera is needed to take photos and record video; the microphone is needed to record sound with your videos. Nothing is ever uploaded — see the Privacy Policy.
If you record during a phone call, iOS gives the call exclusive use of the microphone, so the video records without audio. The app shows a dim red “No audio” warning while this happens, and the clip stays silent for its whole length even if the call ends partway through. End the call before recording to capture sound.
Directly to your device's Photos library. The app uses “Add Only” access, so it can save new captures but cannot see your existing photos.
Blackout Camera lowers screen brightness while you're in black or night-vision mode and restores it when you leave. If brightness ever seems stuck, exit the app and adjust brightness in Control Center; it is always restored when you close the app.
Open Settings → Membership in the app to see your plan, renewal date, and price, switch between monthly and annual, restore a purchase on a new device, or open Apple's subscription management. You can also manage or cancel any time in iOS Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled; cancelling stops the next renewal and you keep access until the current period ends.
Tokens are an in-app currency the free tier uses to unlock the black-screen mode and premium video options per session. They don't expire. Earn them free by watching an optional ad or claiming the daily bonus, or buy a pack. Subscribers don't need tokens — Blackout Pro includes the black-screen mode unlimited. Tokens are consumable and non-refundable once spent.
Please email mwsupplylimited@gmail.com with your iOS version, device, and steps to reproduce. We read every message.
For support: mwsupplylimited@gmail.com
See the Blackout Camera Privacy Policy.