Is it possible to turn iPhones IR blaster off?

This question was asked in the past, but the only answer was ‘IR is harmless’. Harmless or not, I can see/sense it. When using an iPhone 11,12and 13, I kept saying ‘my phone is watching me.’ It was a strange feeling and led me to investigate and discover that the FaceID IR blaster, which looks like a radar dish of IR light. No wonder I felt like something was watching me - I can sense the light and can faintly see it in darkness. Fine - but I don’t want it on. As far as I can tell it cannot be turned off. It is always scanning your face when you are using the phone. Please don’t tell me it’s harmless - I am not saying it’s harmful, it bothers me. I don’t care what features it adds, I want to turn it off. It bothers my perception. I do not want my face bathed in infrared when I use my phone. Is that too much to ask?


Please don’t tell me humans can’t see infrared. I can perceive that there is something up with some sort of light coming from my phone. Everyone has a range of perception - I can’t imagine I am alone in sensing this.


I recently installed a home security video camera that has night vision. While looking at recordings of myself in the low light environment I see flashes of light on my face and couch behind me as I use my phone. I experimented and realize it is coming from the sensor area on the top front of the camera and flashes every few seconds during regular browsing. There is no reason for this. Has anyone experienced the same? I disabled Face ID and see that it is still happening. This is concerning to me. I don’t think a near constant flash of IR in my face and eyes Is a good thing. I understand this is IR but I still don’t want to have this scan or flash all the time.

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Sep 22, 2023 8:28 PM

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Is it possible to turn iPhones IR blaster off?

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