Q: After upgrading to Sierra the camera light is on
I upgraded to Sierra this morning. I am not using FaceTime, PhotoBooth or any application that requires the camera to be on. Any suggestions as to why this is so?
Posted on Sep 29, 2016 11:05 AM
Community Specialists
Thanks for being a part of Apple Support Communities.
I understand from your post that your FaceTime camera light is on, but you don't notice any application running that could be using it. To get started, let's go ahead and restart your Mac into safe mode and see if the issue persists:
macOS Sierra: Start up in safe mode
Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
After your Mac shuts down, wait 10 seconds, then press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, press and hold the Shift key.
You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after you hear the startup tone, but not before.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress indicator.
To leave safe mode, restart your Mac again, but don’t press and hold any keys during startup.
If after restarting in safe mode you don't see the camera coming back on, then the issue would be resolved. If you still see the camera light on, then there's likely a third-party service that's using it:
Try safe mode if your Mac doesn‘t finish starting upIf an issue doesn't happen in safe mode
If an issue doesn't happen when your Mac is started in safe mode, try restarting again without pressing any keys at startup. If the issue appears to be resolved when you start up normally, it was possibly caused by a cache or a directory issue with your startup disk that safe mode fixed.
If you restart your Mac normally and an issue comes back when you reach your desktop, try disabling any login items that automatically open when you log in.
Take care.
Posted on Sep 30, 2016 2:31 PM