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There's an unusual Japanese law that prohibits iPhone owners from silencing their camera shutter button.
Japan has a well-deserved reputation for doing things its own way. From vending machines that sell everything imaginable to the famously punctual train network, the country has always had a distinctive approach to daily life.
Japan's culture also takes personal boundaries very seriously which goes a long way towards explaining a law that has been confusing tourists and iPhone users online for years.
The law recently resurfaced online after a Reddit user posed a question that many travellers have wondered about.
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They posted: "Hi guys, I’m wondering if the shutter sound can still be turned off when I go to Japan with a Japanese SIM card, even though I purchased my 17 pro max in Hong Kong? Thanks!"
Helpful users clarified that, by Japanese law, the shutter sounds are activated on iPhones by default.
"Only phones sold in Japan have force-enabled shutter sounds as its required according to japanese law," one user explained.
Another replied: "Foreign phones won’t get the shutter sound when in Japan, even if you change all the settings and SIM to Japan.
"Only iPhones sold in Japan have the shutter sound, and it’ll go away if you leave Japan and change the relevant settings/SIM.
"Also the shutter should is replaced by a much less intrusive beep if you take a Live Photo or video, so that’s what most people do here."
You might think this is a strange law, but the meaning behind it makes sense.
iPhones purchased in Japan are legally required to make an audible shutter sound every single time a photo is taken. This means no tweaking of settings or activating silent mode will turn this sound off.
According to Tokyo Weekender, the requirement is tied to Japan's privacy protection laws and was formally reinforced in 2015, when the country amended its Ordinance on the Healthy Development of Juveniles to prohibit muting camera shutter sounds on smartphones.
The feature ensures that anyone nearby is alerted whenever a photograph is being taken, making covert or non-consensual photography harder to carry out without being noticed.
However, in other ways, the law has somewhat backfired. Since the feature was rolled out on Japanese iPhones, it's also contributed to the rise of third-party apps specifically designed to take photos silently.
And since the rule only applies to phones manufactured in Japan, tourists arriving with iPhones from other countries aren't bound by the feature at all.
Meanwhile, Apple confirmed its compliance with the rule in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
“Apple respects the laws and customs of the regions where it operates. Regarding the shutter sound, we comply with the standards of Japanese telecommunications carriers," Apple Japan’s public relations department said.
