How to turn on the camera on a Mac and let a website use it

There’s no camera switch on a Mac

Many Macs have a built-in camera near the top edge of the display. Apple says it turns on automatically when you open an app that can use it, such as FaceTime or Photo Booth, and a green light beside it glows while it’s on. It turns off, green light included, when you close or quit every app that can use it.

A website uses the camera through your browser, so the same goes for sites: the light comes on when a site starts using the camera. If a site can’t get your picture, check that the camera works first, then the two permissions below.

Test the camera in Photo Booth

1. Open Photo Booth. It’s in your Applications folder, or you can search for it with Spotlight.
2. You should see yourself in the window, with the green light beside the camera on.
3. Quit Photo Booth when you’re done. The light goes off once no app is using the camera.

Photo Booth comes with your Mac, and Apple says apps that come with the Mac have camera access automatically. If you see yourself in Photo Booth, the camera itself is working. If a website still gets no picture, check your browser’s permission next, then the website’s.

Let your browser use the camera

Safari comes with the Mac, so like Photo Booth it already has access. Chrome, Firefox, Edge or any other browser you installed needs the Mac’s permission first:

1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings, then click Privacy & Security in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
2. Click Camera.
3. Turn on access for your browser.
4. To be heard as well, go back, click Microphone and turn your browser on there too.

The list only shows apps you’ve installed that have asked to use the camera. If your browser isn’t listed, it may not have asked yet: open a site that wants the camera in that browser, answer the Mac’s prompt if one appears, then check the list again.

You might be asked to quit and reopen the browser before it can use the camera. Chrome’s help says the same: follow the prompt to quit, or restart Chrome.

Let a website use the camera in Safari

Safari lets you set the camera for each website, plus a default for the sites you haven’t set. For the site you’re on:

1. Click the Page menu on the left side of the Smart Search field, then choose Website Settings.
2. Set Camera to Allow, or to Ask and then allow the site when Safari asks. Do the same for Microphone if you want to talk.

To see every site at once, choose Safari, then Settings, click Websites, then click Camera on the left. The sites you’ve set are listed with their choice, and the “When visiting other websites” menu covers the rest. A site stuck on Deny can be changed right there.

Let a website use the camera in Chrome

When Chrome asks whether a site can use your camera, choose Allow while visiting the site or Allow this time. If you blocked the site earlier, choose More, then Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Camera, find the site under the sites that aren’t allowed, and change it to Allow.

On the same Camera page, the drop-down arrow lets you pick which camera Chrome uses, such as an external one or your iPhone.

→How to allow camera access in Chrome, step by step

No built-in camera? Use your iPhone

Desktop Macs such as the Mac mini don’t have a camera of their own. With Apple’s Continuity Camera, your iPhone can be the webcam. Apple’s requirements:

• An iPhone XR or later on iOS 16 or later, and a Mac on macOS Ventura 13 or later.
• The iPhone and the Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, with two-factor authentication.
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on, with the two devices near each other.
• Continuity Camera turned on in the iPhone’s Settings, under General, then AirPlay & Continuity. It’s on by default.
• Neither device sharing its internet connection. Without a cable, the Mac also can’t be using AirPlay or Sidecar; with a USB cable, the iPhone has to trust the Mac.

Mount the iPhone near the Mac, locked and steady, with its rear cameras facing you. Held in landscape, apps can pick it up automatically; if one doesn’t, choose the iPhone from its camera or video menu, or from Chrome’s camera drop-down above. While it’s in use, a privacy indicator shows next to Control Center in the Mac’s menu bar.

Still no picture? Check these

• Screen Time. If you use it, choose Apple menu, then System Settings, then Screen Time. Under Content & Privacy, then App Restrictions, make sure Camera is selected. If your browser is listed under App Limits, make sure its limit is off.
• Updates. Apple’s first suggestion is to make sure your software is up to date.
• A restart. On a Mac with Apple silicon, restart it. On an Intel-based Mac, Apple suggests resetting the SMC.
• Service. If you still can’t use the camera after these checks, or the light next to it flashes green, Apple says the Mac might need service.

What LustMatch asks for on a Mac

LustMatch runs in the browser with nothing to install, so it uses the browser permissions above. What it asks for depends on the mode you choose before you match:

• Video: the camera and the microphone, as soon as you enter matching, so you can see your own preview while you wait. The camera is in use, so the green light is on.
• Voice: the microphone only. The camera stays off.
• Text: nothing at all.

If you’d rather keep the camera off, voice and text work without it.