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macosautomationcameraperipherals

MacOS - detect when camera is turned on/off

I want to automate a personal workflow that is based on camera usage on my MBP.

Basically I want to know if any of the cameras (built-in or USB) has been turned on or off, so I can run a program or script I'll create.

I think it's OK if I need to poll for the cameras statuses but an event or callback based solution would be ideal

Solution

  • This seems to work.

    ❯  log stream | grep "Post event kCameraStream"
2020-12-01 14:58:53.137796-0500 0xXXXXXX   Default     0x0                  XXX    0    VDCAssistant: [com.apple.VDCAssistant:device] [guid:0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX] Post event kCameraStreamStart
2020-12-01 14:58:56.431147-0500 0xXXXXXX   Default     0x0                  XXX    0    VDCAssistant: [com.apple.VDCAssistant:device] [guid:0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX] Post event kCameraStreamStop
2020-12-01 14:58:56.668970-0500 0xXXXXXX   Default     0x0                  XXX    0    VDCAssistant: [com.apple.VDCAssistant:device] [guid:0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX] Post event kCameraStreamStart

    Some of the numbers in the output are redacted with Xs because I don't know what they mean. :)