In this guide, we walk you through seven tips to launch the iPhone camera instantly, making sure you never miss capturing a memorable shot.
Swipe left on the Lock Screen
You obviously know there is a camera button on the iPhone Lock Screen to quickly launch the Camera app. However, you need to touch and hold this button, which can be a bit time-consuming. An even faster method is to swipe left anywhere on the Lock Screen to jump straight into the camera — no need to unlock the device.
Extra info: If the iPhone flashlight is active, you can swipe a bit on the Lock Screen to peek at the camera, and it will turn off the flashlight.
Use Camera Control
iPhone 16, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 models (except iPhone 16e and iPhone 17e) have the Camera Control side button that lets you open the camera instantly. Click or press this switch to launch the Camera app, and click it again to use it as a shutter button to snap a picture or start a video recording.
By default, this button works only when your iPhone screen is awake. If you want to launch the camera even when the screen is off, go to iOS Settings > Display & Brightness and turn off the Require Screen On switch.
If you have an iPhone 17, 16, 15 Pro, or 15 Pro Max, you can set the Action button to launch the camera. The best part about this is that you don’t have to wake your iPhone to use the Action button. Simply long-press the Action button even when the phone is locked, and it will take you straight to the camera.
You can also customize this button to open a specific shooting mode in the Camera app, like Photo, Selfie, Video, Portrait, or Portrait Selfie.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Action Button.
- Swipe until you reach the Camera option.
- Photo mode is great for most people, but you can tap it and choose something else, like Selfie, Video, Portrait, or Portrait Selfie.
Now, lock your phone and press & hold the Action button to jump right into the Camera.
Add a camera shortcut under your Lock Screen clock
Swiping is fast, but it can be tricky if you get a lot of notifications. To solve this, add an “open camera” shortcut to your iPhone Lock Screen. Once added, just tap the button, and it will instantly take you into shooting mode.
1) Open the Apple Shortcuts app and tap the plus button.
If your iPhone is on iOS 27, tap the New Shortcut button to create a new one. Then, describe your shortcut, and Apple Intelligence will create one for you. Or tap the three thick-line icon in the top-right corner and follow the remaining steps below.
2) Tap Open App.
3) Tap the word ‘App’ in blue, select Camera, and exit this screen by tapping the back button.
4) Once completed, follow the regular steps to add this shortcut as a Lock Screen widget. While adding the widget, tap the shortcut and pick the ‘Open Camera’ shortcut you just built.
Once that’s done, you can tap the shortcut icon on the Lock Screen to jump right into the camera.
Tap twice on the back of your iPhone
Follow these steps, and then you can double-tap the back of your iPhone to quickly open the camera. This works even when you’re using a phone case or skin.
- Go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Touch and tap Back Tap at the bottom.
- Select Double Tap, as that’s faster to trigger than a triple tap.
- Pick Camera from the list of actions. On iOS 27, tap System, and then select Camera or Front Camera.
Double-tap with one finger on your iPhone’s back to open the camera! Sadly, this does not work when the iPhone is not awake.
Add the camera to the Home Screen Dock
If you have too many apps and Home Screen pages, it might take a bit longer to open the camera by finding it or typing its initials into Spotlight.
Therefore, if you take a lot of pictures and don’t want to miss important shots, drag the Camera icon from a Home Screen page onto the bottom Dock, which is visible on all Home Screen pages.
Note that since the Dock can only have four apps (unless you add folders to it), you’ll have to drag an existing app out of it to add the camera there.
Put a camera in Control Center
Once you add the camera shortcut to iPhone’s Control Center, you can open it quickly when inside other apps. This eliminates the need to swipe up to get to the Home Screen and open the camera from there. Plus, it can also be useful if you don’t want to replace an existing Dock app with the Camera app icon.
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