Guide · Camera

Mac camera not working? How to fix a black picture or a camera that isn’t found

By the AI Repair team · Updated 20 October 2026

A black picture in a video call, a message that the camera is in use, or an app that can’t find a camera at all: behind almost every case is one of three things. Another app is using the camera, macOS hasn’t been told your app may use it, or the Mac doesn’t see the camera. These steps check each one, gentlest first.

In short

Quit other apps that might be using the camera, ending any call first. Then make sure your app is allowed: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Camera (on macOS 12, System Preferences › Security & Privacy › Privacy › Camera), and quit and reopen the app. Check that Screen Time isn’t blocking the camera, and try Photo Booth to see whether the camera works at all. A webcam: plug it straight into your Mac. Still black? Restart your Mac.

1. Close other apps that use the camera

If another app has the camera, yours may show a black picture or say the camera is in use. Look for other open apps that use the camera, such as FaceTime, Zoom, Teams or Photo Booth, and quit the ones you aren’t using:

Click the other app’s window to bring it to the front.
If you’re on a call in that app, end the call first.
Click the app’s name at the top left of the screen, next to the Apple menu, and choose the Quit item at the bottom of that menu.

The green light next to your Mac’s camera glows while the camera is on, and goes out when you quit every app that can use it (Apple’s guide). Check, too, that nothing covers the camera, such as a sticker or a slide-over cover.

2. Let your app use the camera

macOS asks once whether each app may use the camera. If the answer was no, the app sees no camera until you change it:

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. You may need to scroll.
Click Camera.
Find your app in the list and turn its switch on.
If a message says the app must quit first, click Quit & Reopen.

If your app isn’t in the list, open it and use its camera once: your Mac asks you, and you click Allow. FaceTime, Photo Booth and QuickTime Player don’t need this: they always have access.

On macOS 12 Monterey: choose Apple menu › System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then Privacy at the top, then Camera on the left. If the boxes are grey, click the lock at the bottom left and type your Mac’s password. Tick the box next to your app; an app that isn’t listed asks the first time, and you click OK.

For a call in Safari, choose Safari › Settings (Preferences on macOS 12), click Websites, then Camera, and allow the website (Apple’s guide). In another browser, like Google Chrome, click the icon to the left of the web address and allow the camera.

3. Check Screen Time

Screen Time can turn the camera off for every app (Apple’s steps):

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Screen Time in the sidebar.
Click Content & Privacy. If it’s turned off, Screen Time isn’t blocking the camera.
Click App & Feature Restrictions (on some Macs, App Restrictions), and make sure Allow Camera (or Camera) is on.
While you’re in Screen Time, click App Limits: if your app is listed there, turn its limit off.

On macOS 12 Monterey: System Preferences › Screen Time, click Content & Privacy on the left, then Apps at the top, and make sure Camera is ticked. If Screen Time asks for a passcode, the person who set it up knows it.

4. Test the camera in Photo Booth

Open Photo Booth (press ⌘ Space and type its name). If you see yourself, the camera works, and the problem is in your app: in its settings, under Video or Camera, choose the camera you want. In FaceTime, the camera is chosen in the Video menu at the top of the screen. If Photo Booth shows nothing either, carry on with the steps below.

5. A webcam plugged into your Mac

Unplug the camera, wait 10 seconds, then plug it straight into your Mac, not into a hub or a keyboard.
If your Mac has another port, try that one.
If the camera has its own power switch or light, check that it’s on.
If the camera came with its own app, open it once: some cameras need it.
Open Photo Booth and look for the camera in the Camera menu at the top of the screen.

With macOS 13 or later, a Mac laptop with Apple silicon may ask whether to allow the camera to connect: click Allow.

6. Camera software that needs your OK

Some webcams and camera apps add software that macOS holds back until you allow it:

macOS Sequoia or later: System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. Scroll to Extensions, click the info button (ⓘ) next to Camera Extensions, turn on the camera’s software, then click Done.
macOS Ventura and Sonoma: System Settings › Privacy & Security. Scroll down to Security: if it says software from the camera’s maker was blocked, click Allow.
macOS Monterey: System Preferences › Security & Privacy › General. Click the lock at the bottom left and type your Mac’s password; if it says software from the camera’s maker was blocked, click Allow.

Then quit the camera’s app, if it has one, and open it again. Since macOS Sonoma 14.1, Macs no longer use the older kind of camera software. If a camera stopped working after that update, its maker may have a newer version (Apple’s note).

7. Use your iPhone as the camera

A Mac mini, Mac Studio or Mac Pro has no camera of its own. With macOS Ventura or later and iOS 16 or later, your iPhone can be your Mac’s camera (Apple’s guide):

On the iPhone, open Settings, tap General, then AirPlay & Continuity (or AirPlay & Handoff), and turn on Continuity Camera.
Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on both the iPhone and your Mac, and check that both use the same Apple Account (Apple ID).
Put the iPhone near your Mac, on a stand, sideways, with its back camera facing you.
In your app, choose the iPhone as the camera. In FaceTime it’s in the Video menu at the top of the screen.
Still missing? Connect the iPhone to your Mac with a cable once, and tap Trust on the iPhone if it asks.

8. Restart your Mac

Save your work and close your apps, then choose Apple menu › Restart. When your Mac is back, try the camera again. On an Intel Mac, Apple also suggests resetting the SMC; Apple’s steps differ by model.

When the camera needs a repair

If your Mac’s own camera still shows nothing after these steps, or its green light flashes, Apple says it may need service: contact Apple Support or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. For a webcam, its maker’s support can help. If your Mac belongs to a school or a company, its IT people may have turned the camera off, and only they can turn it back on.

Advice you can skip

Typing Terminal commands to restart the camera. Quitting the apps that use it, or restarting your Mac, does the same safely.
Resetting every app’s camera permission at once. You’d have to allow each app again. Turn on the one app that needs it instead.
Bringing back the older kind of camera software from Recovery. Apple explains how, but macOS then can’t show the indicator for that camera when it’s on. Ask the camera’s maker for an update first.
Keeping a cover over a MacBook’s camera. Besides a black picture, Apple warns that closing the lid with a cover on may damage the screen; the green light tells you when the camera is on (Apple’s warning).

Let AI Repair check the camera

Type “my camera is black in Zoom” and AI Repair checks the three things behind most camera problems: whether your Mac sees a camera at all, whether another app is using it, and whether macOS has told your app no. It never turns a camera on itself.

It can quit the app that has the camera, the normal way, so the app can ask you to save anything first. For a video-call app, AI Repair always asks you before it quits it, even if you’ve set that kind of fix to Auto, since a call in it would end
When macOS said no to your app, it can let the app ask for the camera again, so you can allow it this time
When your Mac doesn’t list your camera, or the picture stays black, it can restart your Mac’s camera system: apps using a camera may lose the picture for a few seconds
It shows you the steps for what only you can change: the camera switch in Privacy & Security, Screen Time, a webcam’s cable, or your iPhone as the camera

Each change waits for your OK unless you’ve set that kind of fix to Auto. Restarting the camera system needs the app’s helper, which you allow once; on macOS 12 it isn’t offered.

Download for Mac

Asking and checking are free · Apple silicon, macOS 12 or later

Common questions

Why is my Mac’s camera showing a black screen?

Most often another app is using the camera, or your app isn’t allowed to. Quit other video-call apps, then check Privacy & Security › Camera and quit and reopen your app. If Photo Booth is black too, check Screen Time and restart your Mac.

Why isn’t my app in the Camera list in Privacy & Security?

An app appears there only after it has asked for the camera. Open the app and start something that uses the camera, such as a test call: your Mac asks, and you click Allow (OK on macOS 12).

Can I use my iPhone as a webcam for my Mac?

Yes, with Continuity Camera, on macOS Ventura or later and iOS 16 or later. Turn it on in the iPhone’s Settings under General › AirPlay & Continuity, keep both on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with the same Apple Account (Apple ID), and choose the iPhone as the camera in your app.

Why does my Mac mini have no camera?

A Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro don’t have a camera built in; MacBooks and iMacs do. Plug in a webcam, use a monitor that has one, or use your iPhone as the camera.