How To Disable the Built-in iSight Camera
erics, Posted October 12th, 2013 at 2:23:48pm
I am tired of various programs taking control of my webcam, i.e. Skype, GoToMeeting and others…
After searching for a while I found the following website with two awesome Applescripts, one for Snow Leopard and one for Lion. Open the script in the Applescript Editor, and do a Save As. Choose Application and save someplace convenient. Double-click on the new application to disable or enable your cameras.
http://techslaves.org/isight-disabler/
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-- Intel Mac iSight Disabler -- Tested on OS X 10.8.5 and OS X 10.9.0, also tested on 10.10.2 -- Tested on 2011 13" MBP -- Version 5.0 w/ Mavericks Support -- -- Credit to fdoc for Snow Leopard fix in 3.5 -- Credit to Mike Mc for Mavericks fix in 5.0 (http://techslaves.org/isight-disabler/, Comment 90) -- -- rt@techslaves.org display dialog "Intel Mac iSight Disabler brought to you by techslaves.org. Version 5.0 Support for Mavericks Any applications currently using the iSight will continue to have access until they are quit or restarted." buttons {"Enable iSight", "Disable iSight"} with icon stop set userChoice to button returned of result set allDrivers to "" tell application "Finder" set driver to "/System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/MacOS/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL/AppleCamera.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AppleCamera" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver end if end tell if userChoice = "Enable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a+r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges else if userChoice = "Disable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a-r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges end if |
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-- Intel Mac iSight Disabler -- Tested on OS X 10.6.2 -- Tested on 1st generation MacBook & 2011 13" MBP -- Version 3.5 -- -- Credit to fdoc from techslaves.org forum for Snow Leopard fix -- -- All this does is change permission on the iSight driver files. From normal 'a+r' and 'u+rx' when enabled to 'a-rwx' when disabled. -- -- rt@techslaves.org tell application "Finder" set os_version to version end tell display dialog "Intel Mac iSight Disabler brought to you by techslaves.org. Version 3.5 Support for Snow Leopard You need to restart applications which use the iSight driver(s) after applying these settings." buttons {"Enable iSight", "Disable iSight"} with icon stop set userChoice to button returned of result set iSightDrivers to "/System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/MacOS/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC " if os_version ≥ 10.6 then set iSightDrivers to iSightDrivers & "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" end if if userChoice = "Enable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a+r " & iSightDrivers & "; /bin/chmod u+rx " & iSightDrivers with administrator privileges else if userChoice = "Disable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a-rwx " & iSightDrivers with administrator privileges end if |
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-- Intel Mac iSight Disabler -- Tested on OS X 10.7.0 -- Tested on 2011 13" MBP -- Version 4.0 Lion Support -- -- Credit to fdoc for Snow Leopard fix in v3.5 -- -- rt@techslaves.org display dialog "Intel Mac iSight Disabler brought to you by techslaves.org. Version 4.0 Support for Lion Any applications currently using the iSight will continue to have access until they are quit or restarted." buttons {"Enable iSight", "Disable iSight"} with icon stop set userChoice to button returned of result set allDrivers to "" tell application "Finder" set driver to "/System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/MacOS/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " " end if set driver to "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC" if exists driver as POSIX file then set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver end if end tell if userChoice = "Enable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a+r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges else if userChoice = "Disable iSight" then do shell script "/bin/chmod a-r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges end if |
Phred said on May 7, 2015, 8:52 am:
No effect on Yosemite.
Most of these tricks only kill the camera on FaceTime. It still works with other apps.