The earliest Apple camera that I'm aware of was the external iSight webcam which had <i>both</i> an LED to tell you when it was on <i>and</i> an iris that physically blocked the lens by twisting the camera head:<p><a href="https://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/12/isight-02-100635433-orig.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://images.techhive.com/images/article/2015/12/isight-02...</a><p>That was good privacy-first design.
Just curious, why is a camera considered somehow more privacy invading than a microphone? I would rather like to have physical switch for mike. I don’t really care if someone sees my ugly mug picking boogers. Listening in on business discussions in the next room over is another story. Let alone the contents of the machine itself or the rest of the network that “they” probably already have if they are capable of turning cameras on and off.
> If your work environment requires you to cover the camera on your Mac notebook, follow these guidelines to avoid damaging the display:<p>> Make sure the camera cover is not thicker than an average piece of printer paper (0.1mm).<p>> Avoid using a camera cover that leaves adhesive residue.<p>> If you install a camera cover that is thicker than 0.1mm, remove the camera cover before closing your computer.<p>To me this sounds reasonable.
For me, covering my work computer’s camera isn’t out of concern for malware<p>Some software like Zoom has invasive defaults, where a meeting host may choose to force cameras on for participants when they join a meeting. I don’t trust software to respect me, so the tape makes sure turning my camera on or off is always my decision.
The title is inaccurate. The linked webpage says “Don't close your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro with a cover over the camera”. You can use the cover all you want, just don’t close the screen with the cover.<p>This is just common sense. Don’t close a screen and wedge something in there that occupies the millimeters of space between glass and metal. If you do so, you’re taking a risk, which maybe you’re ok with if your cover is thin, like a PostIt note.
I am surprised Apple for all its wealth in industrial design and user experience haven't figured out people need a physical cover on their cameras
Many people spend the time to cover their computer’s camera — either justifiably so or otherwise — but how many of those same people cover their phone’s front-facing camera?
> Covering the built-in camera might also interfere with the ambient light sensor and prevent features like automatic brightness and _True Tone_ from working.<p>Literally saying a Mac camera is an always-on device, regardless if the LED is illuminated or not.
> If your work environment requires you to cover the camera<p>Genuinely curious if this is a thing.<p>Between the 4 cameras in my phone and the CCTV everywhere, seems a bit of a little odd for the computer camera point directly at the operator to be the greatest concern and mandated to be covered.<p>Of course people arent just covering their camera, they are doing something to disable the audio capture as well right?
If practical I generally prefer something physical over a software solution.<p>Back in the less precision engineered days I used a cover - but since about 2015 I've been using a bit of blue masking tape. Works fine and in 7 years I've never had issues with adhesive residue
While (as others have pointed out already) there is a hardwired LED next to the camera on all portable Macs, you can buy very thin, reusable camera cover stickers e.g. from the EFF: <a href="https://supporters.eff.org/shop/laptop-camera-cover-set-ii" rel="nofollow">https://supporters.eff.org/shop/laptop-camera-cover-set-ii</a>
the camera covering never made sense to me and just seems like amateur hacker paranoia. if there truly is a "They" monitoring our every action in front of a computer, why are They more concerned about what we look like over what we're saying or doing on our computer?
This actually happened with my friend's laptop. They were using a physical camera cover for a while and it was fine, but one day the laptop fell (not very hard) and the screen LCD cracked right down the middle (half the screen was green, very gruesome).
Use a piece of light-tack masking tape. Problem solved.<p>I recommend "washi tape" if you can find it.<p>Pro tip: fold one end of the tape over onto itself to stick together, you now have a pull-tab to easily remove the tape it if you need to make a video call.