Apple is always working on improving your security, and each macOS update brings new privacy features. In particular, macOS Catalina offers better control of your data. It requires apps to get your approval before accessing the camera and microphone on your Mac. Every time you open the application for the first time, you'll need to permit it to use your computer's camera.
Below we'll show you how to give camera access for any installed app. Also, you'll learn how to limit access for programs you suspect might be recording videos without your knowledge. Let's dive in!
Securing your camera and microphone
The process is similar for all web browsers, so if you're using Safari or Firefox, you shouldn't have problems with finding camera permissions settings. #3: Use Parental Controls. The parental control feature on Mac also allows you to manage your camera. Open System Preferences from the Apple menu. Choose Parental Controls. Regardless of whether you use a Mac or Windows system, you can download software for select Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, or Sony cameras and use them as a webcam. If you're on a Mac. You can decide which apps are allowed to use the camera on your Mac. See Control access to your camera. Turn the camera on: On your Mac, open an app or turn on a feature that can use the camera. A green light beside the camera glows to indicate that the camera is on.
How Do I Access My Webcam
By default, the latest macOS versions — macOS Mojave and macOS Catalina — prevent apps from getting your personal data without your permission. That's why when you open the program that wants to access your hardware, you'll receive a pop-up. To give access, you just have to click OK. If this is a reliable app from a legitimate developer, you'll need to confirm once and never think about it again.
If you clicked 'Don't Allow,' you could easily change that later on your Mac. You can check what apps are allowed to use your camera and allow or block access at any time. And here's how to do that.
How to manage your camera permissions
Now let's see a few ways that allow the apps to access your camera. If you're looking for a simple automated solution, jump straight to the last method.
#1: Use System Preferences
Follow these steps to give some apps access to your camera:
- Go to the Apple menu.
- Choose System Preferences.
- Click Security & Privacy.
- Choose Camera from the lefthand menu.
- Allow the app to access your camera by ticking the box next to it.
If the application is opened on your Mac, you'll receive a message asking you to quit it.
Click 'Quit Now' and close the System Preferences window.
#2: Use your web browser
Let's see how to enable camera permissions via Google Chrome.
- Open Chrome.
- Go to the Chrome menu > Preferences.
- Choose Advanced > Privacy & Security.
- Under Privacy and security, click Site Settings.
- Choose Camera.
- Click Ask before accessing and adjust the setting to your liking.
The process is similar for all web browsers, so if you're using Safari or Firefox, you shouldn't have problems with finding camera permissions settings.
#3: Use Parental Controls
How To Use Webcam On Mac Laptop
The parental control feature on Mac also allows you to manage your camera.
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Choose Parental Controls.
- Click Enable Parental Controls.
- Enter your admin password if you're asked.
- Click on the Apps tab and check Allow use of camera.
If you want to block camera access, uncheck the box. This will prevent all the apps on your Mac from using the built-in cameras.
#4: Use the app CleanMyMac X
We've come to the smoothest and the most intuitive way of taking care of your app permissions — with the help of an app called CleanMyMac X.
This program has a lot of useful features, like cleaning your Mac from junk files, speeding up the system, checking your computer for viruses and malware, and much more. Recently a new feature 'Application Permissions' was released, and it allows controlling all your permissions, including your camera, in a few clicks. You should check it out!
- Download CleanMyMac X (a free trial version is available).
- Launch the app.
- Go to the Privacy tab.
- Click Scan.
- Choose 'Application Permissions.'
- Check what apps have access to your camera and make changes.
Camera On Mac
Note: This feature is available only on macOS Catalina.
Once you've solved the issue with your permissions, check out other CleanMyMac's tools. We recommend you to run a Smart Scan first. It will find unneeded files, determine potential threats, and define suitable speedup tasks for your Mac.
Then feel free to try other tools in the left panel —you'll find a lot of useful tools for making your Mac as good as new.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
Although Apple has been criticized for a long time for shipping webcams with terrible video quality in their Macs, never has that been more relevant than in the last few months. More and more meetings are now been conducted online, and everyone has to sit in front these awful FaceTime cameras by default. Practically their entire Mac lineup shipping today comes with a 720p FaceTime camera, with the exception of the iMac Pro that has a 1080p webcam. Apple just doesn't give you the option to upgrade the built-in camera, which is especially crazy because Apple ships some of the best cameras in the world in their iPhones, so it's not like they don't have the know-how.
I have long hoped for a native way to use the iPhone camera as a webcam for the Mac. In my quest to find a decent Mac webcam alternative, I came across Reincubate Camo — a phenomenal piece of software that lets you use the camera on your iPhone or iPad as a webcam for your Mac over a standard USB cable. It works natively with most of the popular meeting and conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet, OBS Studio, BlueJeans, Twitch (+ Studio), Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Google Chrome, WebEx Teams, etc. without the need to run any hacky commands. It even works with the talk-of-the-town mmhmm.app. I have been using the beta over the last four weeks and I have to tell you — it's absolutely fantastic. With Camo, you get stunning picture quality for your meetings and the grainy mess from the default FaceTime cameras on the Macs will be a thing of the past.
How to Use your iPhone Camera as a Webcam for Mac
To get started, download the Camo app for iOS directly from the App Store. This app just opens up a camera feed and sends it to your Mac. There are no controls or buttons in the app, except for a status indicator which tells you whether you're connected or not.
To actually use the iPhone and iPad as a camera for your Mac, you'll need to install Camo Studio, the companion app that does the magic. It installs the relevant drivers and works as the control center for your camera. With Camo Studio, you'll be able to switch between the cameras on your iOS device. It supports all available lenses, i.e. front/selfie cameras, wide-angle, and telephoto.
Camo supports multiple iOS devices as camera sources, and you'll be able to switch between them on the fly using the dropdown. You can mirror the video, change the rotation, even zoom in digitally and adjust to get the framing just right. For advanced users, there are options to tinker with Capture settings like Exposure, ISO, Brightness, Temperature, Tint, Hue, Saturation, Contrast, Gamma & Sharpness.
How Do I Access My Webcam
By default, the latest macOS versions — macOS Mojave and macOS Catalina — prevent apps from getting your personal data without your permission. That's why when you open the program that wants to access your hardware, you'll receive a pop-up. To give access, you just have to click OK. If this is a reliable app from a legitimate developer, you'll need to confirm once and never think about it again.
If you clicked 'Don't Allow,' you could easily change that later on your Mac. You can check what apps are allowed to use your camera and allow or block access at any time. And here's how to do that.
How to manage your camera permissions
Now let's see a few ways that allow the apps to access your camera. If you're looking for a simple automated solution, jump straight to the last method.
#1: Use System Preferences
Follow these steps to give some apps access to your camera:
- Go to the Apple menu.
- Choose System Preferences.
- Click Security & Privacy.
- Choose Camera from the lefthand menu.
- Allow the app to access your camera by ticking the box next to it.
If the application is opened on your Mac, you'll receive a message asking you to quit it.
Click 'Quit Now' and close the System Preferences window.
#2: Use your web browser
Let's see how to enable camera permissions via Google Chrome.
- Open Chrome.
- Go to the Chrome menu > Preferences.
- Choose Advanced > Privacy & Security.
- Under Privacy and security, click Site Settings.
- Choose Camera.
- Click Ask before accessing and adjust the setting to your liking.
The process is similar for all web browsers, so if you're using Safari or Firefox, you shouldn't have problems with finding camera permissions settings.
#3: Use Parental Controls
How To Use Webcam On Mac Laptop
The parental control feature on Mac also allows you to manage your camera.
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Choose Parental Controls.
- Click Enable Parental Controls.
- Enter your admin password if you're asked.
- Click on the Apps tab and check Allow use of camera.
If you want to block camera access, uncheck the box. This will prevent all the apps on your Mac from using the built-in cameras.
#4: Use the app CleanMyMac X
We've come to the smoothest and the most intuitive way of taking care of your app permissions — with the help of an app called CleanMyMac X.
This program has a lot of useful features, like cleaning your Mac from junk files, speeding up the system, checking your computer for viruses and malware, and much more. Recently a new feature 'Application Permissions' was released, and it allows controlling all your permissions, including your camera, in a few clicks. You should check it out!
- Download CleanMyMac X (a free trial version is available).
- Launch the app.
- Go to the Privacy tab.
- Click Scan.
- Choose 'Application Permissions.'
- Check what apps have access to your camera and make changes.
Camera On Mac
Note: This feature is available only on macOS Catalina.
Once you've solved the issue with your permissions, check out other CleanMyMac's tools. We recommend you to run a Smart Scan first. It will find unneeded files, determine potential threats, and define suitable speedup tasks for your Mac.
Then feel free to try other tools in the left panel —you'll find a lot of useful tools for making your Mac as good as new.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
Although Apple has been criticized for a long time for shipping webcams with terrible video quality in their Macs, never has that been more relevant than in the last few months. More and more meetings are now been conducted online, and everyone has to sit in front these awful FaceTime cameras by default. Practically their entire Mac lineup shipping today comes with a 720p FaceTime camera, with the exception of the iMac Pro that has a 1080p webcam. Apple just doesn't give you the option to upgrade the built-in camera, which is especially crazy because Apple ships some of the best cameras in the world in their iPhones, so it's not like they don't have the know-how.
I have long hoped for a native way to use the iPhone camera as a webcam for the Mac. In my quest to find a decent Mac webcam alternative, I came across Reincubate Camo — a phenomenal piece of software that lets you use the camera on your iPhone or iPad as a webcam for your Mac over a standard USB cable. It works natively with most of the popular meeting and conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet, OBS Studio, BlueJeans, Twitch (+ Studio), Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Google Chrome, WebEx Teams, etc. without the need to run any hacky commands. It even works with the talk-of-the-town mmhmm.app. I have been using the beta over the last four weeks and I have to tell you — it's absolutely fantastic. With Camo, you get stunning picture quality for your meetings and the grainy mess from the default FaceTime cameras on the Macs will be a thing of the past.
How to Use your iPhone Camera as a Webcam for Mac
To get started, download the Camo app for iOS directly from the App Store. This app just opens up a camera feed and sends it to your Mac. There are no controls or buttons in the app, except for a status indicator which tells you whether you're connected or not.
To actually use the iPhone and iPad as a camera for your Mac, you'll need to install Camo Studio, the companion app that does the magic. It installs the relevant drivers and works as the control center for your camera. With Camo Studio, you'll be able to switch between the cameras on your iOS device. It supports all available lenses, i.e. front/selfie cameras, wide-angle, and telephoto.
Camo supports multiple iOS devices as camera sources, and you'll be able to switch between them on the fly using the dropdown. You can mirror the video, change the rotation, even zoom in digitally and adjust to get the framing just right. For advanced users, there are options to tinker with Capture settings like Exposure, ISO, Brightness, Temperature, Tint, Hue, Saturation, Contrast, Gamma & Sharpness.
I've spent a lot of time speaking about the functionality, but that's not all Camo is good at. It's also really well crafted and is a delight to use. For example, I love how when you launch the iOS app for the first time, there's a handy link to AirDrop the link to download Camo Studio on your Mac. I also like how depending on which lens you choose in Camo Studio, it tells you the aperture of that lens just under the setting. Camo Studio also has a beautiful Dark Mode that looks stunning on the Mac.
Camo Studio's Dark Mode on Mac (via @preshit)
I've compared the video quality from Camo with a couple of third-party webcams that I could gather and found Camo's quality to be far better. I think that's largely due to the fact that the iPhone already has such a good quality camera hardware, but the ease in which I can adjust settings in Camo Studio definitely helps.
Camo is available in a Free edition with limited functionality by default. In this version, you can use the basic webcam functionality for Free as long as you want, but you'll see a small Camo watermark on the camera feed and some lenses and resolutions are restricted. By upgrading to the Pro version, you unlock all the restrictions and also get access to all the Capture settings listed above. Camo is currently available only for the Mac, but Reincubate says that a Windows version is coming soon.
Unfortunately, Camo's pricing will put off a lot of users owing to the fact that it requires a yearly subscription to use all the Pro features. Camo Pro is priced at $40 per year per Mac, which does sound a bit on the higher end, but when you consider the practical ease in which you can get setup with a high-quality webcam with your existing hardware, I think that's a fair ask. Using your iPhone as the camera also makes it easy to mount it on a tripod or stand in a position of your liking.
The company has also stated that some features like 4K support, Wi-Fi pairing, Portrait mode, etc. are already on their roadmap.
