None of the MacBook Airs, MacBooks or MacBook Pro’s have anyway to physically disconnect the iSight/FaceTime camera’s. Just like the iPads they are hardwired not only for the data streams (Vid & Audio) but also SMC services which monitors both thermal as well as power conditions.
+
None of the 2016 onward MacBook Airs, MacBooks or MacBook Pro’s have anyway to physically disconnect the iSight/FaceTime camera’s. Just like the iPads they are hardwired not only for the data streams (Vid & Audio) but also SMC services which monitors both thermal as well as power conditions.
Disconnecting the connection on the logic board will set your system into CPU Safe Mode, lowering the CPU’s clocking and ramping up the fan/s. This is done to protect your system from over-heating as SMC has lost access to one or more sensors. The newer current M1 series systems are no different!
'''OK is there a way to disable the camera and microphones?''' '''Yes!'''
Apple offers a few tools which can do it and there are a few 3rd party tools as well. These tools are used to control and manage corporate and school Mac systems. Basically, these are Admin level controls at the OS level. You’ll have two accounts the Admin and the given user accounts. The Admin account prevents the access and usage of the camera and microphone/s the given system has to the users. As the Admin level is the only access the settings and risk of spyware is just not possible by the users. You still need a second system to manage this system,
'''I have yet to find any system infected by spyware from El Capitan and newer''' as Apple really did do a good job locking things down. The only thing I have seen is people forgetting to shutdown FaceTime so the connection is still open to the other party which could peep a little but that’s user error not a system failure.
Frankly, I just use a strip of electrons tape across the camera and using a dummy mini plug in the headphone jack will enable the headphone mic (which is not present). This how we dealt with the issue with the older 2011 ~ 2015 MacBook Pro’s. I have not tested it on newer 2016 and onward Mac systems.
None of the MacBook Airs, MacBooks or MacBook Pro’s have anyway to physically disconnect the iSight/FaceTime camera’s. Just like the iPads they are hardwired not only for the data streams (Vid & Audio) but also SMC services which monitors both thermal as well as power conditions.
Disconnecting the connection on the logic board will set your system into CPU Safe Mode, lowering the CPU’s clocking and ramping up the fan/s. This is done to protect your system from over-heating as SMC has lost access to one or more sensors. The newer current M1 series systems are no different!
'''OK is there a way to disable the camera and microphones?''' '''Yes!'''
Apple offers a few tools which can do it and there are a few 3rd party tools as well. These tools are used to control and manage corporate and school Mac systems. Basically, these are Admin level controls at the OS level. You’ll have two accounts the Admin and the given user accounts. The Admin account prevents the access and usage of the camera and microphone/s the given system has to the users. As the Admin level is the only access the settings and risk of spyware is just not possible by the users. You still need a second system to manage this system,
-
I have yet to find any system infected by spyware from El Capitan and newer as Apple really did do a good job locking things down. The only thing I have seen is people forgetting to shutdown FaceTime so the connection is still open to the other party which could peep a little but that’s user error not a system failure.
+
'''I have yet to find any system infected by spyware from El Capitan and newer''' as Apple really did do a good job locking things down. The only thing I have seen is people forgetting to shutdown FaceTime so the connection is still open to the other party which could peep a little but that’s user error not a system failure.
Frankly, I just use a strip of electrons tape across the camera and using a dummy mini plug in the headphone jack will enable the headphone mic (which is not present). This how we dealt with the issue with the older 2011 ~ 2015 MacBook Pro’s. I have not tested it on newer 2016 and onward Mac systems.
None of the MacBook Airs, MacBooks or MacBook Pro’s have anyway to physically disconnect the iSight/FaceTime camera’s. Just like the iPads they are hardwired not only for the data streams (Vid & Audio) but also SMC services which monitors both thermal as well as power conditions.
Disconnecting the connection on the logic board will set your system into CPU Safe Mode, lowering the CPU’s clocking and ramping up the fan/s. This is done to protect your system from over-heating as SMC has lost access to one or more sensors. The newer current M1 series systems are no different!
'''OK is there a way to disable the camera and microphones?''' '''Yes!'''
Apple offers a few tools which can do it and there are a few 3rd party tools as well. These tools are used to control and manage corporate and school Mac systems. Basically, these are Admin level controls at the OS level. You’ll have two accounts the Admin and the given user accounts. The Admin account prevents the access and usage of the camera and microphone/s the given system has to the users. As the Admin level is the only access the settings and risk of spyware is just not possible by the users. You still need a second system to manage this system,
I have yet to find any system infected by spyware from El Capitan and newer as Apple really did do a good job locking things down. The only thing I have seen is people forgetting to shutdown FaceTime so the connection is still open to the other party which could peep a little but that’s user error not a system failure.
Frankly, I just use a strip of electrons tape across the camera and using a dummy mini plug in the headphone jack will enable the headphone mic (which is not present). This how we dealt with the issue with the older 2011 ~ 2015 MacBook Pro’s. I have not tested it on newer 2016 and onward Mac systems.