FaceTime camera "gone"?

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

The other day I went home a bit early and planned to attend the last Teams meeting of the day from home. (Lucky enough to have a job where I can do that.)

But, when starting the Teams meeting I just couldn't get it to use the camera (in stead it wanted to use my iPhone). Now, in itself not a big problem, I attended the meeting with sound only, but after the meeting I did a little digging.

I tried restarting the Mac, toggling the Privacy & Security settings, and even reinstalled the OS. Nothing helped. The built in Facetime camera appears to be completely gone and doesn't even show up in the System Report > Camera.

I have a MacBook Air M1, recently upgraded to macOS Tahoe 26, then 26.0.1. I have no idea when or how the camera "dissapeared", nor if it's a hardware or software issue.

So, I can live without the camera (either using my iPhone as camera or just do Teams-meetings using my iPad), but I was wondering:

* Has this happened to anyone else's MacBook?
* Has anyone managed to fix it (without delivering it to service)?

 

[casperes1996]

Try this

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

Just to get an idea if the tool catches it as a hardware issue. The internal cable to the camera may have gotten disconnected.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Try this

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

Just to get an idea if the tool catches it as a hardware issue. The internal cable to the camera may have gotten disconnected.

I might do that, though I'm not too optimistic that it will help me:

Apple Diagnostics reference codes

NDC001 NDC003 NDC004 NDC005 NDC006

There may be an issue with the camera.

Contact Apple or take your computer to an AASP or Apple Store to learn which service and support options are available.

Apple Diagnostics reference codes - Apple Support

Get more information about the reference codes shown in Apple Diagnostics test results.

support.apple.com

Though it might be nice to see it there's an actual hardware error...

 

[casperes1996]

I might do that, though I'm not too optimistic that it will help me:

Apple Diagnostics reference codes - Apple Support

Get more information about the reference codes shown in Apple Diagnostics test results.

support.apple.com

Though it might be nice to see it there's an actual hardware error...

Back in the day AHD (Apple Hardware Diagnostics) gave pretty good output. These days, you're right that it's not the most useful output, however, it at least can act as a really quick way to see if the system itself thinks there's a hardware fault or not. If it gives you an error code, you at least know the system recognises a hardware issue. Then you can investigate further from there.

 

[adrianlondon]

If you're feeling a little bit brave, and opening the basic Photo Booth app doesn't turn on the green light, you could try giving that part of the display a bit of a squeeze in case it's a slightly loose cable.