Unexpected Continuity Camera behavior on Mac mini without built-in webcam
Dear community,
I’d like to report an unusual behavior related to the Continuity Camera feature on a Mac mini (M4 chip, running the latest available macOS version) paired with an iPhone 16 Pro (also fully updated).
After many personal tests, I managed to find a temporary workaround, though unfortunately it's not a definitive solution. I'm still new to the Apple ecosystem — this is my first Mac, and I recently switched to an iPhone — so I regret not being able to offer more advanced help.
Here’s the issue: the iPhone camera is only recognized by the Mac mini after physically connecting a USB webcam.
It seems that at startup, if a built-in webcam is present—or if an external one is connected after login—the system activates some underlying service that enables Continuity Camera to work wirelessly, as its name suggests.
Connecting the iPhone via USB forces detection, but wireless Continuity Camera does not work if no other video device is available.
This makes me think that on Macs without built-in webcams (like the Mac mini), Continuity Camera is not treated as a primary video input, but only as a secondary extension, initialized after some video-related service or driver is manually triggered.
It would be great if macOS could recognize Continuity Camera as a primary source even without a physical webcam, especially on desktop Macs — though perhaps this isn't how the feature was originally intended.
I'd appreciate any feedback or quick troubleshooting advice that might help bypass this limitation for now. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to send a more detailed report directly to Apple — their feedback form has a character limit — but I hope this issue can be considered for a future patch.
Thank you to anyone who can help!
Luca
Mac mini, macOS 15.5