MacBook: Deactivate the built-in camera - how it works

There are more inconspicuous methods of disabling your MacBook camera than sticking a patch or PostIt over it. We'll show you which ones in this practical tip.

Turn off MacBook camera: move a single file

If you move the "QuickTimeUSBVDCDIgitizer.component" file, the camera on your MacBook will no longer work.

• Navigate in the Finder to "System -> Library -> QuickTime" and look for the file "QuickTimeUSBVDCDIgitizer.component".
• Move the "QuickTimeUSBVDCDIgitizer.component" file to another folder, for example to "Documents".
• Check whether the file still exists in the "System -> Library -> QuickTime" folder. You may have to delete the file from there manually.
• To reactivate the camera, simply move the file back to its original location. So remember where you moved it.

Disable MacBook camera with iSight Disabler

With iSight Deisabler you deactivate the webcam of your MacBook via Applescript. You can download the script here for free.

• After downloading iSight Disabler, unzip the zip file and move it to "User -> YOUR NAME -> Library -> Scripts".
• Start the AppleScript editor. You can find it under "Programs -> Utilities". To display the script in the Apple menu bar, open the "Settings" of the AppleScript editor and check the boxes for "Show script menu in the menu bar" and "Show computer scripts".
• You will now see the icon for scripts in the menu bar. Click on it and tap on "iSight Disabler". A dialog box appears in which you can simply deactivate and reactivate the webcam.

Having trouble activating your built-in laptop camera? You can find out how to do this here.