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Bilal_M Author

Level 1

7 points

Photobooth unable to use camera

Hey everyone,

I recently upgraded my MacBook (2017) to MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1

Everything is working perfectly fine except for Photo Booth. My camera works fine in other applications such as Microsoft teams, but it doesn't work in Photo Booth for some reason.

In the app, it shows a black screen and the take picture button is unable to be pressed. However, there is still a green light next to my webcam. All my privacy settings allow Photo Booth to use the camera and this only occurred after I updated my mac.

(red bar was added by me)

Are there any fixes to this problem?

Thanks,

Bilal

MacBook

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 8:32 PM

Top-ranking reply

Bilal_M Author

Level 1

7 points

Posted on Feb 1, 2021 9:24 PM

Update:

This problem was fixed for me until yesterday. I tried the established solution and it worked again!

For those of you not understanding the solution from the thread, here it is:

Quit photobooth (I'm not sure if this is necessary)
Locate to the applications folder and find Photobooth
Right-click on the icon and press "duplicate"
Check if the copy works (it should work)
Quit the copy, move it to the trash and now open the original app... it should be working fine now

If this doesn't work for you, I apologize. Try contacting Apple or refer to the solutions in the thread below.

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44 replies

johndore

Level 1

4 points

Dec 30, 2020 1:36 AM in response to johndore

Since my earlier post I did a restart and now find PB is working normally. I have done numerous restarts and the app seems to be stable.

Dec 30, 2020 4:42 AM in response to johndore

Confusing, right?

Have done a bajillion restarts, and still no go. (Okay, okay, not a bajillion; four.)

Awaiting a fix.

johndore

Level 1

4 points

Dec 30, 2020 10:07 AM in response to ameera1010

Update on my last post yesterday, PB has stopped working again. I'm not wasting any more time on this, it's up to Apple to fix it.

Jan 6, 2021 10:43 AM in response to iggipop

Woah! That totally worked! Thank you iggipop for mentioning this! I saw your comment, made a copy (it worked), threw it away, then the original worked! What a crazy little quirk.