Turn off the Mac camera - How it works

The Mac camera can be turned off quite easily. So if you're worried about your Mac's cameras being hacked and strangers spying on you, you don't necessarily need to stick a note over the lens.

Disable access: how to turn off the camera on your Mac

To disable the camera in your iMac or MacBook, you can disable access for certain apps. To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Click on the Apple icon and open the "System Preferences".
2. Now switch here to the "Security > Privacy" menu.
3. Now disable the camera for the apps. Is the access permission everywhere deaktivieret, the camera from the Mac remains switched off.

More solutions: Disable or tape off camera

If you don't quite trust the disabled function, you can additionally use a handy tool to keep the camera definitely off on Mac. Install Oversight by Patrick Wardle for free. After installation, your Mac will ask you for permission when an app wants to access the camera or microphone.There is also a solution without additional software: You can tape off the camera with a small flap or a patch and only remove it when you really want the Mac camera to record something.

Use Apple Script and disable camera

You can also disable the camera with a script. To do this, download the free script from iSight Disabler. From High Sierra and on more current versions, however, users have increased problems with this script. In addition, only very experienced users should prefer this solution.