Mac’s have an inbuilt camera that allows you to communicate with people online via video calls and also take pictures. However, sometimes due to hardware or software problems you can get the mac camera not working error.
When the camera within the Mac does not function properly, you can get a black screen with a cross on a camera logo. Along with that, a message appears “There is no connected camera”. Here you will effective answers that help to fix this problem.
Why does Mac Camera Not Working Error Occur?
You will get plenty of reasons here regarding why this problem occurs after all.
- If the camera settings are not set properly, then there is a chance for you to face this issue.
- When the camera is utilized by more than one application, then you may end up getting this problem.
- If the operating system of the Mac computer is not up to date, then also this error may occur.
- Whenever the system controller is not configured properly then this issue can crop up.
- If the ‘VDCAssistant’ does not function properly, then it can give you this problem.
Solutions to Resolve the Camera On Mac Not Working Issue
Here, there will be various methods that will help will help you get rid of this problem as quickly as possible.
One: Perform a Simple Restart
If there is some kind of internal issue inside Mac, then because of that reason you may encounter this problem. The best solution to get rid of this issue is to restart the Mac. Get steps below on how to do it.
- First, go to the top-left corner of the screen on the Desktop.
- Next, locate the ‘Apple’ logo and click on it. As soon as you tap on that logo, then a drop-down list will appear.
- From the list, find the ‘Restart…’ button and click on it. This action will immediately start to shut down the computer and then begin to boot it automatically.
- At last, once the desktop appears, next, check if the camera is working or not.
Two: Inspect the Camera Usage by More than Two Applications
At a time only one application can use the camera only, now if you try to run another software that wants to access the camera then this issue can come up. Now, the best solution to solve this problem is to check if more than one application uses the camera or not. For that, follow these steps below.
- First, from the ‘Dock’ present at the bottom of the desktop locate the ‘Finder’ application and click on the same. The ‘Finder’ can be recognized due to the ‘face’ icon.
- Once a new window opens up with the title ‘Finder’, next, go to the left side and click on the ‘Applications’ option. This will open a new page with the list of all the applications installed within Mac
- Now, from that list locate the ‘Utilities’ folder and double-click on it. As soon as you do that then another new page will come up with a list of all the utility software.
- From the utility application list, find the ‘Activity Monitor’ software and double-click on it. As soon as you do that then a new window will come up.
- Inside that window, you will get a list full of all the applications that are currently being executed, be it on the foreground or background.
- Next, from the list of all apps locate and choose the one that uses the camera, then go to the top-left edge of the window and tap on the ‘Force Quit’ button.
- Repeat the last step for all the other apps on the list that uses the camera.
- At last, test the camera by launching an app like FaceTime and see if this error appears or not.
Three: Reset the System Management Controller
System Management Controller or SMC manages and stores information regarding the functionality of all the hardware components present within Mac. If the hardware information gets corrupt somehow, then there is a possibility for you to face the camera on Mac not working issue.
The effective solution to get rid of this error is to perform a reset of the System Management Controller. In order to make it happen, follow the steps given below. One thing to note is that here you will get the SMC reset steps only for Macs from 2018 or later.
- First, click on the ‘Apple’ logo present on the top-left corner of the screen and click on it.
- As soon as you click that, then a new drop-down menu will come up. From the menu that appears, locate and click on the ‘Shut Down’ option.
- As you tap on that option, then a confirmation dialog box will appear with the following question “Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now”. Along with that, there is four distinct buttons ‘Restart’, ‘Sleep’, ‘Cancel’ and ‘Shut Down’.
- Out of those four buttons, choose the one that says ‘Shut Down’.
- Once Mac is powered off, next, press the ‘Power’ button and hold it for ten seconds.
- After ten seconds time period is over release the ‘Power’ button. Next, wait for a few seconds more
- At last, press the ‘Power’ button again to start the computer.
Four: Force Quit the “VDCAssistant” Application
The “VDCAssistant” or Apple Camera Assistant is a software that allows the Mac to activate the camera when there is a need for it. If this software does not perform normally, then you may face this glitch. Now, the best possible solution to rectify this issue is to force quit the “VDCAssistant” application. In order to that, follow the steps underneath.
- Close every application that uses the camera.
- After that, on the desktop go to the top-right corner of the screen and tap on the ‘magnifying glass’. This action will launch the search area of the mac, which is known as ‘Spotlight’
- Within that area, type the following text “terminal”. Then, a new search output section will come up.
- From that section, locate the ‘Terminal’ option and double-click on the same. As soon as you do that, then a new window will come up with the title ‘Terminal’.
- Inside that window, write the following command “sudo killall VDCAssistant” and then hit the ‘Enter’ key. Once the execution of this command is over, next, the VDCAssistant will no longer run in the background.
- After that, type another command “sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant” and press ‘Enter’. This command will stop the Apple Camera Assistant from being executed in the background.
- Once the execution of all the commands is over, next, close the ‘Terminal’ window and then start an application like ‘FaceTime’ to see if the camera works or not.
Five: Update Mac Operating System
When none of the methods presented above can rectify the Mac camera not working issue, then as a last resort what you can do is perform MacOS update. To do it, follow the steps provided below.
- First, navigate to the upper-left edge of the monitor then locate and select the ‘Apple’ logo.
- As soon as you tap on that logo, then a new drop-down list with various options will come up.
- From that list, find the ‘About This Mac’ and hover the mouse pointer over it to reveal the sublist. Next, from the sublist that appears, tap on the ‘Software Update’ option.
- Once that option is chosen, next, the operating system will automatically look for update packages then download and installs them automatically.