Discreet - Black screen camera hidden cam App user guide

Discreet is a black screen camera app designed to let you take photos and videos using a minimal, distraction-free interface. Please use it responsibly and only in situations where recording is legal and respectful of other people’s privacy.

Home screen

When you open Discreet, you land on the Home screen. This is the starting point of the app and gives you quick access to the main areas: the black screen camera, the private gallery, and the settings.

From the Home screen, swipe left to open the Camera screen. This is the black screen interface used to take photos or record videos, depending on the output mode selected in Settings. The screen is designed to look discreet while still allowing you to capture content.

Swipe right to open the Private Gallery. This is where you can store your photos and videos inside the app instead of saving them directly to the iPhone Camera Roll. This is useful when you want to keep your files separated from the standard Photos app.

The Settings button opens the configuration panel, where you can choose which camera to use, select photo or video mode, manage flash, zoom, vibration, private gallery behavior, screen style, and other advanced options.

The How it works button gives users a quick explanation of how to use the app and understand the main gestures.

Settings screen

The Settings screen lets you customize how Discreet works before using the black screen camera.

General settings

Camera
Choose which camera the app should use. You can select Front or Back camera.

Output
Choose whether the app should capture Photo or Video. This setting controls what happens when you use the black screen camera.

Mute shutter sound
Enable this option to mute the camera shutter sound where supported. On some devices or in some regions, the shutter sound may still be enforced by iOS or local regulations.

Flash
Choose the flash behavior for the camera. Available options are Off, Auto, and On.

Zoom
Select the default zoom level used by the camera. Standard available options are 1x, 2x, and 3x. On some devices also 0.5x and 5X is supported

Preview
Enable or disable the preview on the black screen.

Vibration
Enable vibration feedback when using the camera controls. This helps confirm actions without relying on visible UI feedback. Photo snap : one small vibration, Video recording started: one small vibration, Video recording stopped: one long vibration, burst mode: no vibration.

Use private gallery
When enabled, captured photos and videos are saved inside the app’s Private Gallery instead of the iPhone Camera Roll. Note: uninstalling the app will erase all files too, please back up your private gallery before uninstall.

Start from camera
When enabled, the app opens directly from the camera screen instead of the Home screen.

Use volume buttons only
When enabled, capture actions are controlled only with the iPhone volume buttons, reducing the need to interact with on-screen controls.

Screen
Choose the appearance of the discreet camera screen. Available options are Black, Lock, and Custom.

Video settings

Swipe lock while recording
Enable this option to lock the swipe while recording video, in this way accidental video interruptions will be avoided.

Video helper
A small, discreete text will be shown on the black screen to give feedback about the recording status (recording/not recording).

Double Tap to stop recording
When enabled, you can stop a video recording by double tapping the screen. This is another feature to avoid accidental recording interruptions

Max video duration
Set a maximum duration for video recordings.

Theme

Theme
Choose the app appearance. Available options are Auto, Light, and Dark. Auto follows the system appearance setting.

Private Gallery

The Private Gallery is the section where you can store the photos and videos captured with Discreet without saving them directly to the iPhone Camera Roll.

You can access it from the Home screen by swiping right. This area is useful when you want to keep your captured files separated from the standard iOS Photos app. If the Use private gallery option is enabled in Settings, the app will save new photos and videos inside this private area instead of adding them to the iPhone gallery.

From the Private Gallery, users can review the files captured with the app and manage their content in a dedicated space. This helps keep the app workflow simple: capture from the black screen camera, then access the saved files later from the private gallery.

If you prefer your photos and videos to appear in the iPhone Camera Roll, you can disable Use private gallery from the Settings screen.

Black screen camera

The Black screen camera is the main capture screen of Discreet. You can open it from the Home screen by swiping left.

This screen is designed with a minimal black interface, allowing you to take photos or record videos without a traditional camera preview. The capture behavior depends on the options selected in Settings. For example, the app can use the front or back camera, capture either photos or videos, apply the selected zoom level, and use the configured flash mode.

If Output is set to Photo, the black screen camera will take photos. If Output is set to Video, the same screen will be used to start and stop video recording.

The black screen camera can also work together with other settings such as Vibration, which gives feedback when an action is performed, Preview, which controls whether a preview is shown after capture, and Use volume buttons only, which allows capture actions to be controlled using the iPhone volume buttons.

The Screen setting lets you choose the style of the capture interface. You can use a plain Black screen, a Lock screen style, or a Custom screen depending on how you want the camera screen to appear.

Always use the black screen camera responsibly and only in situations where taking photos or recording videos is legal and respectful of other people’s privacy.

Apple Watch control

Discreet also supports Apple Watch, allowing you to control the black screen camera directly from your wrist.

The Apple Watch app works as a remote controller for the iPhone camera. This is useful when you want to keep the iPhone still while managing the main capture actions from another device.

From Apple Watch, you can take photos, start and stop video recording, change the capture mode between Photo and Video, and switch the active camera between Front and Back.

The Apple Watch control follows the camera settings configured on the iPhone, such as zoom level, flash mode, private gallery saving, screen style, and vibration feedback. For example, if Use private gallery is enabled, photos and videos captured using Apple Watch will also be saved inside the app’s Private Gallery.

For the best experience, make sure your Apple Watch is paired with your iPhone and that Discreet is installed and available on the watch. Open Discreet on the iPhone first, then use the Apple Watch app to control the camera.

As always, use this feature responsibly and only in situations where taking photos or recording videos is legal and respectful of other people’s privacy.