Help Disabling the cameras

[TTPaws]

Because of work I need to be able to either disable disable or remove the cameras.

I was thinking maybe rooting and then renaming camera.apk to something else. Anyone know if this takes out both cameras?

I saw on Samsungs website a note that the S3 is SAFE MDM which allows enterprise to disable he camera, but not how.

Worst case I epoxy over the lenses, but i really hate to do this (Had to do it to my DroidX)


Any help would be appreciated. Mine ships next week and I want to be able to take it to work.

 

[Crafty]

low tech approach - put a bit of tape over the lens on the back of the camera. If a security guard wants to check you simply show him the phone and the fact any picture you take is black.

 

[ScootD]

I think there are some apps that will disable the camera but I don't know if that is a robust enough solution for you.

 

[sherlock5545]

Not sure, but if you root, you may try to freeze the camera app, that should work.

 

[Doit2it]

As a last resort, instead of putting epoxy over the lens, you could open the S3 and place something opaque between the lens and the protective glass of the body. Yes this will void your warranty, but epoxy probably does too.

YouTube disassemble video

Spoiler

Samsung Galaxy S3 Disassembly & Assembly - Drop Test Repair - YouTube

Also, the rear camera can be removed (@6.05) but the front camera harness also includes the light and proximity sensor (@8.00).

 

[Rachel A]

Not sure, but if you root, you may try to freeze the camera app, that should work.

Wouldn't one be able to download an alternative camera app to get around this?

What are the checks being made here? I assume you're working at some sort of military facility. Experience has told me in the past that it's rather dependant on the branch in question - for example I found in my case RAF security in the UK a lot more lax than the British Army.

Are they just going to be checking the physical setup of the phone or software as well?

Sometimes you can over plan these things and sometimes you can't go far enough. We had one situation where we had to further lock down the military grade version of HPUX and Informix BLS. We spent months hacking into it to secure it only to be asked by the (old) men 'in dark sunglasses' "So, what is this Unix thing?" :banghead:

 

[TTPaws]

We'll have to see. I would prefer not to open it up.

 

[CrimsonPride]

best way is to probably root and freeze or delete the camera.apk using titanium backup