Select the Apple icon in the top menu barįor M1 Macs, to restart you press the Apple menu > Restart.A restart will almost certainly resolve the issue, giving you full access to the camera once again. If quitting apps didn’t help, there might be a chance that some processes are using the camera in the background. If you’re not sure which applications might be accessing your camera, save your work and close all the open apps to rule everything out.

Quit all other open apps or utilities that might be using the camera (e.g.

Launch Activity Monitor from Applications.

So when you have your Mac webcam not working, make sure you’re not being denied access to the camera because some other app is using it at the moment: But what’s also important to note is that only a single app can utilize the camera at the same time. We know that Mac camera is turned on automatically by the apps that use it. Check for apps using the camera simultaneously Just type it in when prompted by the Terminal.Īlthough this one might be limited to OS X and the process was not recognized on our Big Sur macOS. We were asked for our admin password for the command to apply. This one stops the VDCAssistant process that helps run the camera. Open the app through Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal and type in the respective commands: This means you might need to employ Terminal to quit the process. Sometimes your camera might have been in use by an app and did not quit properly for the new app to try and use the webcam. Scroll down to Camera and make sure the app you want to use camera with has a checkmark next to it: If you are experiencing camera issues on your Mac, the first thing to do is check permissions for webcam use.Ĭlick on the Apple menu in the left corner of your Menu bar and select System Preferences.įind Security & Privacy and go to the Privacy tab.

Even if you think it might be a hardware issue, you can usually resolve the problem of Mac camera not working quite quickly on your own with the help of a few little tricksīelow is a comprehensive guide to the tips you can use to get your camera back up and running should it misbehave.

Most apps that use the Mac camera come with their own configuration options, so there’s no on-and-off switch - neither physical nor software.

macOS doesn’t come with a camera settings app.

But don’t rush to assume that now you need to somehow “connect” the camera back on or that there’s a hardware issue that requires warranty service: The “There is no connected camera” error might surprise you anytime with any app if it finds your camera not working on MacBook.

When you have your MacBook camera not working properly, it’ll say disconnected or unavailable. Possible Reasons For Webcam Not Working On Mac

Mac use external webcam