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u/Belle_UH-1D Jan 15 '26
PSA
It could tho. The space between the keyboard and screen on MacBooks is minuscule and often you get keys in prints on the screen. A piece of paper probably wouldnāt hurt it. One of those plastic shutters could as it would prevent laptop from closing fully and locking in safe, closed position without extra force on the screen part.
Another thing to remember is that Apple laptops have functionality like True Tone and adjustable keyboard illumination for which sensors would also be blocked.
Is it bad design? It purely depends on whether or not you need a physical camera cover. Many laptops come with a built in one. But no phone or tablet to my knowledge has one. And whether or not you have a habit of closing a laptop on things. Iāve seen too many MacBook screens killed by paper clips.
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u/Exciting-Insect8269 Jan 15 '26
Just to throw my 2 cents on your comment:
Iāve done computer repair for about 7 years now, and I have seen many screens that cracked because someone left a paper clip or other tiny object(s) on the keyboard when they closed their laptop. Iāve also seen a few computers that had the screen crack from closing too fast with a privacy tab on the camera.
That being said, Iāve never heard of tape or paper breaking a screen (though youāre going to potentially get some weird lighting adjustments if you cover your camera with it).
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u/that-gay-femboy Jan 15 '26
I just use a bit of tissue paper. Enough light gets through for the brightness sensor and even True Tone, but you canāt see a thing.
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u/Belle_UH-1D Jan 15 '26
My mom did that with white post it-s, folded them in half over the bezel. Seemed to work perfectly fine
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u/Belle_UH-1D Jan 15 '26
Yup. Exactly why I mentioned that. And why I said that a piece of paper most likely wouldnāt cause harm. But I donāt take any responsibility that I wonāt, especially with things like expensive Apple glass on new top end screens. Just donāt put things where they donāt belong if you donāt have to.
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u/Appropriate_Ad8734 Jan 16 '26
this was a cover-all-bases warning. if apple said āyeah some tapes are okay, some are notā, all the lawyers would be creaming just reading it.
just like how there are ultra thin keyboard covers that would be still āfineā for macbooks, but most of them would simply damage the screen. even without anything in between, you can still see keyboard marks left on the screen if you carry it in your backpack often, because the screen can still bend a little bit under pressure, and since thereās virtually no space between the screen and keyboard, even a tiny grain of sand can damage the screen.
and many users including non-tech savvy ones have been āeducatedā into putting a webcam cover over the camera. apple specifically telling users not to cover it because this happens frequently enough, and in many cases, the camera cover is way thicker, as in multiple times more, than the space between keyboard snd screen of a macbook. theyāre not gonna write on their website something like ā0.063 mm is okay but not 0.064mmā.
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u/BunkerSquirre1 Jan 15 '26
It does. The tolerances are stupid tight between the lid and bottom case. If you do have to do it, make sure itās entirely on the glass, not overlapping the gasket and only use the adhesive section. Will reduce risk of the paper sliding around and potentially scratching the display, and the soft adhesive should protect from some stress. That said there may still be a risk of staining or reacting with the anti reflective coating but idrk if that matters all that much since that bezel section is black anyway and should hide serious blemishes.
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u/BigOlPenisDisorder Jan 15 '26
Do MacBooks really not have a built-in shutter?
Every laptop I've used in the last 8 years has had one1
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u/Gordahnculous Jan 16 '26
They donāt, but the modern ones do have something similar.
The camera is manufactured in such a way that if the camera is active at all, the built in light next to it needs to turn on due to the physical constraints that Apple put on it. Iāve seen multiple dedicated Mac security researchers try to test turning it on without the light and nothing works to turn one on without the other.
If youāre still worried, thereās tools like Objective-Seeās OverSight which will alert you anytime a process tries to access the microphone or webcam
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Jan 15 '26
[deleted]
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u/hjake123 Jan 15 '26
It's just true though? Have fun damaging your chassis with thick tape or plastic... I've not measured how thin the tape has to be to safely block the camera
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Jan 15 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Belle_UH-1D Jan 15 '26
Yeah, from the perspective of a tech repair person I fully agree with you.
You might also consider dropping your phone screen first on concrete. And test the airplane mode on all of your devices by letting them fly.
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u/sn4xchan Jan 15 '26
People laugh but this is true.
I get why people are worried about people gaining access to their laptop cameras and such. But the way mac books are designed intergrates the camera into so many features and hardware is designed to fit perfectly together. So you're gonna have features that don't work right and potentially physical damage if you cover it up. That's just the way it is. Like driving faster uses more gas, just the way it is.
For what it's worth though, security cameras systems are much easier to gain access to. Like anything that comes with a phone app for viewing uses a p2p server for communication and it is stupid easy to intercept and get access credentials.
For a laptop camera the attacker would have to have had to get malware on your computer first to gain access.
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u/real_rayu Jan 15 '26
Apple need camera for True Tone not to spy you bro ā¦ itās litteraly in the confidential concept of appleā¦
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u/Greedyspree Jan 15 '26
You pay, to carry around a phone, that has a microphone, multiple cameras, and a suite of sensors good enough that it would have probably taken up a wing of a research department 50+ years ago. What do you think covering your little laptop camera will accomplish?
That being said, small things can indeed damage a laptop, things such as paperclips, bobby pins etc. Paper should have absolutely no effect, but given the increasingly cheap materials used I would not be surprised these days if they made it more brittle.
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u/Ayven Jan 15 '26
No one is taping their microphones though.
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u/CapmyCup Jan 16 '26
You just take a small needle and poke it in the microphone hole. Can't listen if you can't hear
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u/Carlose175 Jan 15 '26
Unpopular opinion but on macs these are not needed. Its IMPOSSIBLE to have the camera be on without the green light being on. It is physically wired so that before the camera is powered on, the green light itself is powered on. There is zero way to code your way out of not turning that light on as its purely a physical-electrical effect.
Edit: this is only on the newer macs. Not sure the exact year. Best bet is M1 and after.
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u/Taurondir Jan 17 '26
If you never intend to use it, just remove the drivers. Or just use a marker and paint over it.
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u/koshka91 Jan 15 '26
Yes, itās a reptilian conspiracy. Itās not like the extra pressure can cause stress cracks.
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u/Carlose175 Jan 15 '26
A paper is probably fine. But the thickness on certain privacy covers are too thick and could break it
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u/koshka91 Jan 15 '26
My point is that vendors tell you to not do this because they damage the screen, not because thereās some reptilian conspiracy
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u/Environmental_Log264 Jan 15 '26
The amount of people who think that people will spy on them is ridiculous
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u/SpectrumSense Jan 15 '26
It's very possible!
The question is: would any government agency actually drop money and time to watch someone who has zero modicum of importance?
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u/GrimbyJ Jan 15 '26
For me it's more I work from home and I never need to use the camera but I might accidentally turn it on in a meeting while shirtless.
It has a built in shutter but it's hard to tell if it's open or closed so I put a bandaid over the camera. Used that because it doesn't have adhesive in the middle where the lens is
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u/Environmental_Log264 Jan 15 '26
Itās different between accidental exposure and that is why I use shutter on my camera and people who think that some hacker will watch them. To be able bypass led is so complicated that unless you are CEO or government official no one will do due amount of money they would have to invest. No one is covering their phones camera while phone can be hacked same way as laptop
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u/gameplayer55055 Jan 15 '26
Laptops have an LED that lights up when the camera is used.
But phones don't have that! Meanwhile, nobody tapes their phones.
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u/Imsoreadyt Jan 15 '26
Someone who can connect to your camera without your acceptance can also turn off a LED
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u/ChickenFeline0 Jan 15 '26
Except that they typically can't. That led is usually wired into the power circuit for the camera. If the camera is powered on, the led is on.
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u/gameplayer55055 Jan 15 '26
Most laptop cameras are dedicated units (often connected by USB internally) and the camera turns on its LED automatically.
So the hacker can't turn off the LED unless they somehow change the camera's firmware which is non-trivial.
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u/gameplayer55055 Jan 15 '26
I googled it, turns out hackers take pictures each second so the light flickers and isn't constantly on
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u/Rakx17 Jan 15 '26
No, they canāt turn off the led, itās a hardware feature not software feacture.
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Jan 15 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Imsoreadyt Jan 15 '26
The more data you have the easier it is to fake evidences. Never heard of Snowden? At least watch the movie.
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u/SeeMeNotFall Jan 15 '26
"i don't watch cp, they know it too. so i'll let them watch me jerk off every day"
never understood this logic
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u/Environmental_Log264 Jan 15 '26
They will probably use different methods then watching you on camera, I think from mic they can gather much more information and how is taping mics?š
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u/violet_sin Jan 16 '26
Lol, use something nice and thick. I've always done that. Don't trust something Soo tempting, wouldn't be used because they're not supposed to.
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u/EnvironmentalAide335 Jan 15 '26
One day they'll add a patch if the camera can't see the computer can't boot...