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Macbook Pro camera doesn't work. "No Video".

For some months already, I have been facing a problem where I can't use the Mac built-in camera. It doesn't work with Facetime, Skype and either Photo Booth.


The message that I get after opening Facetime is "No video. FaceTime has not received any video from the connected camera. Restarting your computer may fix this issue". Only green light is blinking every couple of seconds.



I have been using this laptop for 2 months and it doesn't have any damages that could affect the hardware. Camera and other minor problems started in January 2020 after additional Catalina updates.


I have Googled solution for this problem and tried different solutions but none of them didn't work. Here is the list of solutions that I have tried:


  1.  Kill VDCAssistant in Terminal. It didn't work because I even can't find VDCAssistant from Activity Monitor which should control the camera.
  2. Simply restarting my Mac.
  3. Done all software updates.
  4. Run First Aid option in Disk Utility


Could anybody suggest any other solutions that can be done at home buy general user?


Thanks in advance!


MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 15, 2020 9:06 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 15, 2020 9:42 AM

Hello, Laurii112.


Sorry to know you're having this problem with your MacBook Pro.


If you haven't rebooted into safe mode anytime recently you should try that to see if it helps. Let the Mac OS do drive directory repair, cache clearing and other misc housekeeping. Often just booting into safe mode and logging in, then immediately rebooting normally will resolve an issue.  You should do this with all your external peripherals disconnected but the keyboard and mouse.


Booting into Safe Mode… 

Use safe mode to isolate issues - Apple Support


What Safe mode does:

  • Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
  • Loads only required kernel extensions
  • Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically
  • Disables user-installed fonts 
  • Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


Restarting in Safe mode can often eliminate a problem or help identify the cause.


You can verify that you have started in Safe mode by clicking the Apple () menu > About This Mac > System Report. Then find >Software< in the left column and look at >Boot Mode: Safe vs Normal< in the right pane.


Note– starting up in Safe mode could take 10 minutes or more. Be patient.


Does the problem persist while in Safe mode? 

Restart your Macintosh and re-evaluate the issue.

399 replies

Oct 6, 2020 7:08 AM in response to julie_sd

I've just had a similar problem. Zoom meeting two weeks ago was ok, today sound only, no video. Tried Photo-booth - no camera connected ! Spent an hour on the phone to a very helpful Apple guy in Portugal (!). I think he was coming to the conclusion it was Apple's latest Catalina update when we took a look at my Kaspersky settings - webcam blocked !!! This must have happened when Kaspersky updated last week. Probably not going to help many people on here but worth mentioning anyway.

Oct 6, 2020 10:15 AM in response to nataliaccar

Thanks a lot nataliaccar for pointing out the Display Backlight Service Program. I wasn't aware of it and had not reflected on the issues with the screen that obviously weren't too bad in my case but clearly visible when knowing what to look for. It's a Macbook pro 13" from end of 2016 and the camera issue appeared this spring. No results from any of the suggested software fixes and in my case there was no camera seen at all anymore in the system information. I handed in the Macbook without mentioning the camera issue but referring to the display issues. My display was exchanged for free, since my model falls within this program and now the camera works. So, clearly a hardware issue, still strange that it seems to have happened at the same time as for so many others.

Oct 10, 2020 6:11 AM in response to meghanlcutler1989

Now, it happen to me... your case exactly same with me... I just bought this MB last year and no problem at all... until yesterday once I signed in to Zoom, camera was gone... I have tried all the suggestion here but no one give positive result.


Apple, please take it as serious problems, I don’t want to pay for screen replacement. It seems issue in software because happened to many product with many types of MB all around the world.


Apple... please do something to solve and fix this problem... I am in Indonesia and fully work from home during this pandemic. I really need my MB back.


I hope it can be solved very very soon.


🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Oct 11, 2020 8:57 AM in response to HrJv

My machine is a 2018 13 inch MacBook Pro (4 Thunderbolt ports) which is running on High Sierra 10.13.6. My camera died several months ago. I proceeded to try to find some solution in this listserv. Tried several of those offered. Nothing helped. I did discover how to see if my camera was actually "alive" and while it was not, I could still connect an external camera and proceed with my life.


Now that is no longer working as well. The boot-up cycle of the machine now also includes a little "stutter" where it goes almost dark and then powers back up to normal and completes the boot-up. Not sure what any of this is - software or hardware -- but I will have to purchase a new machine after Thanksgiving. I guess I got two years out of it when I should have had four.


Perhaps that is the most annoying aspect. This is still the "new" computer and my "old" MacBook Pro from 2012 (Catalina since I reformatted it for my husband) runs like a charm. Although there is no Apple word on our problem, I suspect it is a known design flaw in the effort to make notebooks thinner and lighter. If I I didn't need to be able to travel to family with my computer in tow, I would buy a desktop and be done with it.

Oct 18, 2020 11:36 AM in response to lauri112

My situation is - everything was working perfectly - and then it wasn't. All of a sudden I did not have a working camera - the Mac device list said there wasn't one there. The light had been green many times, Zoom has worked perfectly - now it isn't. No app shows a camera. A full OS reinstall did nothing, safe mode did nothing and creating a new user did nothing. I have even taken the back off and reseated the plug. No change.

I have seen no helpful answers. I am running a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) with 10.15.7 (19H2) Catalina.

Apple - what's up ?

Oct 19, 2020 12:47 PM in response to kashyap243

What is going on? now my Touch ID doesn't work on my MacBook Air late 2018 13 inch model. anyone having the same issues I'm having with the keyboard back light not working FaceTime camera not working? anything would help me out. I've taking a look on the inside of the computer everything looks like its connected. I'm hoping that Mac OS Big Sur will fix everything.

Oct 23, 2020 8:11 AM in response to lauri112


This problem is not solvable on the user's end. I have had numerous phone call, tried all the suggestions, spent hours on the phone and apple support chat to fix this. Apple had me send it in and supposedly repaired but it came back, with no mention of the camera issue and still had "no camera detected" problem. I sent it in again at the end of last week and am hoping to receive it today or tomorrow. Very frustrating.

Oct 23, 2020 11:53 AM in response to lauri112

I have recently - October 2020 - contacted Apple about this. My camera failed between Zoom events - I can not be sure of any action I took that could have caused it. I have tried everything mentioned both online and on phone, including taking a hard drive from a machine that ran the camera. However the camera still did not work. This proves that the problem is either a hardware fault or down to software that is not on the hard drive ( because I swapped it ). So, is there any such software that is held in NVRAM etc - answer -yes, but, resting it also failed. Before the HD swap I reinstalled the OS, first from the recovery partition, then from the network - no luck - hence the HD swap attempt.

I hope this helps narrow down the investigation !

Oct 28, 2020 10:06 AM in response to jiannisw

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)


same as you, no warranty.


did they fix your computer free of charge?


apple store Genius Bar told me there are two repairs, one is $900 CAD for display and $180 CAD for some cable.


I just picked up my computer from them after giving it to them two days ago on Monday October 26.


they didn't do anything besides determine the cost I have to pay if I were to have it fixed..

Oct 28, 2020 11:12 AM in response to abe120

My box is a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) so I've had almost seven years out of this one. I have an older box, dead graphics board- software patch got it working well enough - but no camera. I have just resurrected a 13 inch. Its camera works but is very low res. So, as a stopgap until an external webcam arrives I use EpocCam HD on my iPhone7+. That give great pics but the phone gets hot and crashes after an hour or so. I intend to get a new risc Apple when they come out - and are stable !

Macbook Pro camera doesn't work. "No Video".

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