Apple recently said that it is not safe to close the screen of your MacBook when you have a cover over the camera . This statement caused a wave of reactions and criticism, while there was no shortage of suspicions about the purpose of the statement.
To put things in perspective, Apple never said, "Don't use a camera cover." As we've reported in the past, it said, "Don't cover the screen of your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro with a cover over the camera."
Following the uproar and suspicion surrounding this warning, the company stated:
«Closing Mac Notebook with the camera cover in place can damage display , as the distance between the keyboard and the display is designed to be very tight. Covering the built-in camera can also affect the sensor and block the auto-brightness and True Tone features.»
An Apple engineer told ZDNet: "What they told us is that as people started working and reading more from home , the use of camera covers increased dramatically. It makes sense, people are using video calling more and more often, and it can be annoying at times. So being able to open and close it with one motion is quite convenient."
"As a result, the number of screen failures has increased. The breakage caused by the screen cover is very characteristic, and it creates a bright white line in the center of the screen. That's why we can know exactly what happened and warn users," the Apple technician said.
He even mentioned that the 16-inch MacBook Pro has the thinnest bezels he has seen and said that anything that gets between the screen and the keyboard can break it in seconds.
«I recently saw a screen that was broken because someone stuck a coin in it. It even left a nice coin mark on the screen.»
So you understand that it's not just the screen cover that causes damage to Apple laptops , but anything in these areas that is thicker than 0.1mm .
«We see MacBooks with all sorts of junk stuck to the camera. In the very first days of the pandemic, a guy came in with a MacBook who had a piece of plastic stuck to the camera, but now he wanted to take it off because his boss was going to use Zoom. Of course, there was no way he could take it off, it was cheaper to just buy a webcam.»
As Apple's support guide states, covers should also not leave adhesive marks, while those that exceed the recommended thickness are advised to be removed before the screen is closed.
«Another time someone put a band-aid on the camera, and it looked used.»
Apple, of course, claims that the MacBook cameras are designed so that they do not activate without notifying the user.
