Can you turn off the camera feature in iMessages?

Hi meghan0325,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities! You can control the access to the hardware such as the camera on your device by following the steps below:

Control access to hardware features on iPhone

Review or change access to the camera, microphone, and other hardware features

1. Go to Settings  > Privacy & Security.

2. Tap a hardware feature, such as Camera, Bluetooth, Local Network, or Microphone.

The list shows the apps that requested access. You can turn access on or off for any app on the list.

Note: Whenever an app uses the camera (including when the camera and microphone are used together), a green indicator appears. An orange indicator appears at the top of the screen whenever an app uses the microphone without the camera. Also, a message appears at the top of Control Center to inform you when an app has recently used either.

Hope this helps!

Have a great day.