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How to plug in your iPhone without it chiming or buzzing

Charge like a ninja.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms
Matt Elliott
2 min read
Sarah Tew/CNET

There are times when you don't want your iPhone to make a sound when you plug it in to charge.

You could be sitting in a silent library. You could be in class listening to to a lecture. You could be slipping into bed next to your slumbering significant other. The last thing you want is for it to chime -- even the buzz of a charging iPhone in silent mode can be too much.

You could, of course, turn down the volume, plug it in and then turn the volume back up later. But if you forget to do so, you could miss your next call or text or sleep through your alarm in the morning. Luckily, there's an easier way.

To charge your iPhone without disturbing or awaking others, you just need to open the Camera app before you plug it in. And you can do this whether your phone is locked or not.

From the lock screen, swipe left to open the Camera app. After plugging in your iPhone, just hit the home button to close the Camera app and return to the lock screen.

From an unlocked phone, just launch the Camera app, plug in your iPhone and the close the Camera app.

This trick will make you an iPhone-charging ninja, so it should come as no surprise that this trip comes from Mac Kung Fu.

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