GoPro Stealth Modes

There are many situations where you might not want your GoPro to draw attention to itself. You might be filming a theatrical performance or wildlife and don’t want the beeps to be disruptive. Or you might not want the flashing LED lights telegraphing that you’re recording. One interesting use I recently heard about was that the visual effects team of the new Blade Runner movie used GoPros hidden on the sets to provide alternate views to the action that they used as visual references to help render their realistic CGI, a method called using witness cameras. Whatever your reason, there are ways to make GoPros more discreet than with their usual beeps and flashing lights.

The GoPro HERO4 Black and Silver and HERO3 and HERO3+ models have a dedicated Blackout Housing for this very purpose. Finished in matte black and covering over the LED lights, it’s another alternative to the Standard Housing.

The new models, from the HERO4 Session through the HERO5 Black and HERO5 Session, tackle things a bit differently. Their integrated case offers protection for a wide range of uses without the need for a separate housing, and it’s also finished in a matte dark gray. You can combine that with some new options to disable lights, basically getting the same stealth effect without shelling out for another housing.

Below I’ve provided the way to access these settings for both the on-camera screen and through the Capture mobile app. For some reason that escapes me, they often use different terms to describe the same thing, with unnecessary inconsistent even with things as basic as Settings and Preferences.

The on-camera option for these isn’t available on the HERO5 Session; for that you’ll need to use the Capture app.

HERO5/6 Black and HERO5 Session Stealth Mode

Turn Off the Beeps

This is always one of the first things I do when firing up a new GoPro regardless of how I’m using it. Or most cameras, for that matter–I’m just not a fan of feedback beeps. But you’ll definitely want to do it for any situation where being quiet is important, like a musical performance or for filming wildlife.

On-Camera Settings ((HERO5/6 Black only): Preferences > Beep Volume > Off
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > Beeps > Mute

Turn off the Lights

This sets which LEDs will blink while recording and in response to button pushes. You can choose to have both front and back LEDs on, just the back one on, or both of them off (you can’t have just the front LED on).

On-Camera Settings (HERO5/6 Black only): Preferences > LED > ALL OFF
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > LED > OFF

Turn off the Back Screen

This only applies to the HERO5/6 Black models, obviously.

You can’t actually disable the back screen touch display completely, but you can minimize the time it stays on by reducing the screensave time to 1 minute.

On-Camera Settings (HERO5 Black only): Preferences > Touch Display > Screensaver > 1 MIN
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > Screensave > 1 MIN

If you like, you can also turn the Brightness down, although you can’t go all the way to black—the minimum setting is 10%.

On-Camera Settings: Preferences > Touch Display > Brightness > Slider to 10%
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > LCD Brightness > Slider to 10%

Turn off the Front Screen

HERO5/6 Black only.

There isn’t an option to turn off the small front, monochrome LCD screen on the front. So, for that, you’ll need to go the hands-on route with an adhesive LED cover or a small piece of vinyl eletrical tape or gaffer tape.

Turn off the Top Screen

HERO5 Session only.

There’s no way to turn off the small two-line screen on top of the HERO5 Session, so you’ll need to use some kind of adhesive cover.

HERO Session and HERO4 Session Stealth Mode

As I’ve noted before, it’s not coincidence that the HERO Session and HERO4 Session seem similar–they’re the same camera. So they share basically the same settings options which are, in turn, slightly different to the models above.

With these models, you’ll need to use the Capture app; you can’t adjust these settings on the camera itself.

Turn Off the Beeps

Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > Beeps > OFF

Turn Off the Lights

Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > LED Blink > OFF

Note that this does turn off both the red feedback LED and the blue flashing LED that indicates that that the wifi function option is on. If the blue light keeps flashing, check that you’re using the current firmware; some earlier versions turned the red LED off but not the blue one.

Turn off the Top LED Screen

There’s no way to turn off the small LED screen on the Session models, so you’ll need to go with the adhesive tape method (see above).

HERO4 Black and HERO4 Silver Stealth Mode

Both of these cameras have a silver-grey case, so they don’t have the benefit of the matt black finish of newer models. But you can put these models in a Blackout Housing which adds the discreet black finish while retaining the rugged protection of the standard housing. It also obscures the LEDs and comes with a self-adhesive cover for the front screen.

If you don’t see the options below, make sure you’re using the current firmware–some of them weren’t available in previous versions of the firmware.

Turn Off the Beeps

On-Camera Settings: Settings > Beeps > OFF
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > Beeps > OFF

Turn Off the Lights

On-Camera Settings: Settings > LEDs > OFF
Capture Mobile App: Settings > Setup > LED Blink > OFF

Turn Off the Back Screen

HERO4 Silver only.

Next to the bottom left corner of the back screen there’s a small, barely-noticeable button. That toggles the screen on and off.

There’s no way to turn the screen off in the settings, as such. There is an option for toggling the on-screen display, but that only applies to the information display, not the screen itself.

Other Options

If you’re using the HERO4 Black, HERO4 Silver, or earlier models, the Blackout Housing is a good option. It provides basically the same protection as the Standard Housing, including being waterproof.

Another option is a silicone skin. They cling snugly to the camera. They don’t offer much protection, and most of the don’t include a mounting point, but they can obscure lights and make the camera less visually conspicuous. GoPro doesn’t itself make a skin, but you can pick them up from third-party manufacturers. Just be sure to check that it does what you want–each is a little different. For instance, some go directly on the camera body while others are designed to go over a frame.