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iPhone as Mac webcam (Continuity Camera) not working

My iPhone SE (3rd gen, running iOS 16.1.1) is not working with my 2018 MacBook Pro (running Ventura 13.0.1) as a webcam. Should it work?


As far as I can tell, in Continuity Camera: Use iPhone as a webcam for Mac - Apple Support

the 3rd generation iPhone SE (March 2022) appears to be among the iPhones which should work as a Mac webcam. And I believe the rest of the System Requirements listed in that Apple Support article have been met. I know that most video effects won't work with an iPhone SE; those will typically require an iPhone XR or iPhone 12 at least.


When the iPhone is connected (either wired via USB cable or wirelessly) to the Mac, I see its camera in the Video settings in the PhotoBooth, FaceTime, and Zoom apps. And when the iPhone's camera is selected (either manually or automatically) in any of those apps, I get a notification on the iPhone that it's connected to the Mac (which I've previously been ask to acknowledge that the iPhone should trust the Mac), and I see the orange video privacy indicator at the iPhone's forward-facing camera.


But the the app's window on the Mac shows no video, just black.


Before I contact Apple Support, can anyone tell me if I'm reading that support article wrong? Should the 3rd gen iPhone SE be working for this ... and if so, has anyone else gotten it to work (with the current iOS and Ventura MacOS)?


iPhone SE, iOS 16

Posted on Nov 12, 2022 12:26 PM

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4 replies

Nov 14, 2022 12:56 PM in response to bob32

Some progress. Apparently the MacOS Ventura 13.01 firewall, is where the problem occurs.


If I turn the Mac's firewall off, using my iPhone SE gen 3 works as a webcam; with the firewall on, it doesn't.


... A problem which I anticipate will also appear when using other iPhones (besides my iPhone SE gen3) running iOS 16.1 or iOS 16.1.1. If you have your MacOS firewall turned on.


I discovered this issue after doing a *lot* of troubleshooting. With no joy until I remembered that back when Universal Control first came out post-beta and I had problems using it when the Mac firewall was on. Turns out that there was a problem with connections being blocked by default by the macOS Monterey firewall.


[As of Ventura and later releases of Monterey, the Universal Control connection is now allowed in the Mac firewall by default. Specifically, in Ventura's System Settings -> Network -> Firewall -> Options, look for what is now called the "Universal Control.app" option. Set to which needs allow incoming connections and Universal Control between the Mac and another Mac or iPad will work; set to block it will block Universal Control whenever the Mac firewall is turned on. The original issue, in macOS Monterey involved the setting for rapportd as well, and I don't know whether that still needs to be turned on too.]


What I don't yet know is which setting (or possibly settings plural) in the MacOS Ventura firewall might need to be changed to allow Continuity Camera using an iPhone for a webcam to work. Checking that now before calling Apple Support ...




Nov 12, 2022 12:50 PM in response to bob32

Also, all the other, usual Continuity Camera features seem to work:


I can use the iPhone SE as a camera, and take pictures to insert into documents in apps running on the Mac.

I can scan documents with the iPhone SE to insert into apps running on the Mac.


... And yes, I realize that the Continuity Camera system requirements for these features are similar to, but different than the Continuity Camera requirements for using an iPhone camera as a webcam for a Mac.


Nov 12, 2022 1:19 PM in response to bob32

Correction:


"... and I see the orange video privacy indicator at the iPhone's forward-facing camera."


I do not see the video privacy indicator. I just get a notification on the iPhone that it is "Connected" to the 2018 MacBook whenever an app on the MacBook tries to use the iPhone's camera.

iPhone as Mac webcam (Continuity Camera) not working

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