If you notice that your Mac’s camera is always on, then you are not alone. There are many situations when your Mac leaves the camera on, especially if it tends to be used by other apps during your session. However, seeing the Mac camera on is a sign of concern for a lot of people. They worry that someone might be monitoring and seeing everything they are doing. So what can you do in a situation like this? Here are a list of ideas that might help.
Why is the Mac camera on?
In most cases, when an app finishes using the Mac camera, it will automatically turn the camera off. However, if you see that the camera is still in use, that might be due to malware installed on your computers. Hackers will push malware to devices and then use the Mac camera to access information and even compromise someone’s identity. It’s a serious issue, and one that you should not take lightly.
Check your Mac for any malware
A good rule of thumb is to install anti-malware software. That will help continually monitor your device for any malware. Also, if you see the green camera light active right now, use a Mac cleanup tool. That will help identify any sign of malware and remove all of its instances. It’s a great way to not only remove the malware but also ensure that the Mac camera turns off properly. It makes sense to check for malware as often as you can.
Control what apps can access your camera
You can go to the System Settings, then enter the Privacy and Security option. Here, you want to locate Camera and here you want to check what apps have access to your camera. If you think that one or more of those apps shouldn’t have access to your apps, just remove those from the list. After all, it never hurts to always have control over what apps can access your camera. This way, you can also identify any unlawful or dangerous apps that have access to your camera.
Can you turn off your camera indefinitely?
No, but you can restart the camera via your Terminal. That way, any app currently using the camera will not have access to it anymore. So while this is a last-resort approach, it might actually help you, so keep that in mind.
Enter your Terminal, and then paste this command “sudo killall VDCAssistant; sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant”. Pres Return and then the Camera process gets restarted. It’s the ideal way for you to ensure that your camera is going to be restarted properly and without any issues. Remember that your Mac might ask for your password when using this command.
If you see your camera running even if no app is using it, then you must take action. Make sure that you are implementing these ideas shown above as quickly as possible. It will help prevent any unlawful use of your camera. Plus, you get to maintain your privacy and remove dangerous malware too!
