Level 1

8 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

8 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.

View in context

Similar questions

44 replies

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.

johndore

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2021 6:46 AM in response to Bilal_M

Sorry, this didn't work for me. I'm disappointed that the latest Big Sur update hasn't fixed this problem.

johndore

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2021 9:28 AM in response to IrishCanadian

Sorry, this did not work for me.

joe1612

Level 1

4 points

Feb 17, 2021 7:54 AM in response to Bilal_M

I started getting this issue when I upgraded to Big Sur. Your solution worked for me. Thanks.

fabnj

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2021 5:53 AM in response to Bilal_M

It worked for me. Thank you!

Feb 20, 2021 8:56 AM in response to revlev

Worked for me too, thanks

GUYPRESS

Level 1

8 points

Feb 26, 2021 1:14 AM in response to Bilal_M

Spot On 🙏🏼 !

Mar 21, 2021 3:05 AM in response to Bilal_M

This worked a charm and was very quick and easy. Thanks so much.

Mar 22, 2021 5:37 AM in response to Bilal_M

This helped and problem disappeared. Thank you.

Nov 23, 2020 4:40 PM in response to Bilal_M

I don't have a fix.

I do have the same problem.

And… I'd like to share some quirky observations.

Reinstalling 11.0.1, which Apple recommend, didn't help, merely elevated my frustration. If you're thinking about going that route, you may want to hold off.

I created a new user account— from within which Photo Booth worked as it should. But why? Inspecting as thoroughly as I could, which apparently isn't good enough, I couldn't find the answer.

Back within my normal user account, tried to drag Photo Booth to the trash. Being that's it's part of the OS, it wouldn't budge. I tried dragging it with various modifier keys, and when I did the old "option + drag," a copy of Photo Booth wad deposited right there within the Applications folder. When I opened the copy… it worked correctly, displayed the camera's output.

Tried the original version of Photo Booth, but it stubbornly refused to follow in the steps of its copy, continued not to recognize the camera. Tried the copy: worked fine. Why? What's going on here?

Worked in alternate user account. Copy worked in my normal account.

Sorry that you're having this issue, but glad to have found you.

Nov 23, 2020 4:41 PM in response to dialabrain

SMC didn't help us.

Nov 28, 2020 12:13 PM in response to revlev

Small comfort in knowing that “it’s an issue,” rather than just some random quirk in an individual’s system.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Photobooth unable to use camera