Education
Apple advises consumers not to close its laptops with an attached camera cover
While it might seem like an odd advice to some people, Apple has published a support page that advises MacBook owners not to close their laptop with a camera cover in place. According to the company, damage like a cracked display could result, because "the clearance between display and keyboard is designed for very tight tolerances." MacRumors spotted the advisory posted by Apple on July 2nd.
These little plastic camera coverings with a sliding mechanism are nowadays super common. Heck, I remember having one from The Verge's parent company, Vox Media, as a holiday gift.However if you shut down the laptop with the cover still on, they could mean a catastrophe for your laptop screen and Apple's laptop repairs are incredibly expensive. Also with accidental coverage by AppleCare+ the premium is not cheap.
Instead of using a cover, Apple says customers can trust the green LED on a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air next to the camera that illuminates whenever the camera is on. "The device is built so that it won't be able to activate without also turning on the device indicator light," says Apple 's support document.
That's all well and good, but sometimes it's not so much about privacy as it's about getting that layer of separation on a video conference between you and your colleagues; I never want to unexpectedly show up on camera during that first morning cup of coffee.
Apple does understand that certain people have no say in this matter and can allow their employer to use a camera cover. In those cases the company says that the cover should always be removed before the laptop is closed.
As MacRumors states, there have been instances of screen breakage by a MacBook Pro even when light pressure is applied to a closed computer with a camera cover attached. On Reddit I feel like that person cracked their new, expensive 16-inch MacBook Pro.
If your light doesn't trust fully, Apple warns against using anything "more thick than the average piece of printer paper (0.1 mm)" and also discourages camera cover that leaves adhesive residue, a band should be a safer way than a hard plastic stick-on cover.
Through going to device preferences and choosing protection and privacy you can also test what apps have access to your camera.
You can remove camera permissions for any app from the camera section there.
