In this world where privacy is a luxury item and it is increasingly difficult to keep ours intact, many people end up resorting to physical solutions to prevent their lives from being invaded by digital means.
I speak, for example, of the possibility of covering the camera of Macs with some kind of cover to prevent someone from spying on you without your consent – something that went viral after an image showed Mark Zuckerberg using a tape to cover the camera of the Mac his.
There is no shortage of solutions – even elegant – for you to cover the camera, but Apple has a message for you: don’t close your MacBook (Air or Pro) with protection like this.
In a support document, the company states that «if you close the Mac notebook with a cover on the camera, the screen could be damaged». Apple argues that the gap between the screen and the keyboard is developed with “tight tolerances”, and that covering the integrated camera can also interfere with the ambient light sensor and prevent features like automatic brightness and True Tone from working.
Instead of covering the camera, Apple suggests two things to users: watching the camera’s green indicator light and choosing which apps can access the camera.
The FaceTime HD camera integrated into the Mac was developed with your privacy in mind and uses an indicator light that turns green when it is active. So, you always know when it’s on.
The camera is not activated without the indicator light also on. This is how you identify if your camera is activated.
You can also control which apps have access to the camera – since macOS Mojave, the system always asks for permission the first time you open an app that requires the use of the camera. Still, if you want to check, revoke or grant which apps are allowed to use your camera, go to System Preferences »Security & Privacy» Privacy »Camera and make the desired changes.
Now, if you still want to put physical protection on top of the camera (if your job requires it, for example), Apple asks you to pay attention to three things:
- The cover should not be thicker than a standard printer paper (0.1mm).
- If you use a camera cover thicker than 0.1mm, remove it before closing the computer.
- Avoid using a camera cover that leaves adhesive residues.
And it is good that you really follow these recommendations, because the article was not put on air for nothing. On Reddit, for example, the user koolbe said he covered the camera on his 16 ″ MacBook Pro with a very thin protector – something he did, it’s worth noting, on previous Macs without a problem.
Opera summary: the screen ended up breaking, the repair cost about 2 thousand Canadian dollars – and it still took a long time because, at the time, the 16 ″ MBP was a relatively new machine and the repair parts were not yet available in stock.
Anyway, there is little care!
via MacRumors
