Don’t cover your camera, Apple has warned MacBook users — it could break your display.
Consumers should rely on the green camera indicator light adjacent to their laptop camera, Apple told owners of MacBooks, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros this month. Putting a sticker, Post-it note or other covering in front of the camera itself impedes the tightly designed computer’s ability to close and could shatter the screen.
One MacBook Pro owner’s internal display broke after he applied a webcam cover in April, MacRumors reported.
“If you close your Mac notebook with a camera cover installed, you might damage your display because the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances,” Apple wrote on its website. Camera covers can also interfere with the machine’s ambient light sensor and prevent features, including automatic brightness and Apple’s Retina display True Tone technology, from working properly.
The camera light can be trusted, Apple reassured in its post: If the green light isn’t on, your camera isn’t either. Thus, an additional covering, the company implied, is excessive.
Those looking for additional security to the camera light can go to their system preferences and manually set which apps have access to the computer’s built-in camera.
Although Apple does not mention the possibility that digital privacy-minded individuals may not trust its reassurance, it does offer a possible route for those whose “work environment requires a camera cover at all times.” These individuals should make sure their camera cover is extremely thin, will not leave adhesive residue and take it off before closing their computer, Apple wrote.
Apple’s sudden post about the issue likely comes due to numerous recent complaints from MacBook Pro owners, MacRumors wrote. Damage caused by the issue is an expensive fix but is considered accidental and is covered by AppleCare+ insurance.