As the world is going through a global pandemic, more people are relying on video calling services to connect with their loved ones, teachers, colleagues, etc. Apple product users mostly rely on the FaceTime application developed by them for a faster video calling experience. Even though there are several popular services such as Skype, Zoom, etc. available for the video calling requirements, iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac users mostly depend on Facetime. The ease in the usability and the performance optimizations for Apple hardware is a common reason why many Apple users pick FaceTime over any other video calling application.
While FaceTime will work perfectly most of the time, like any other tools out there, it can also occasionally run into issues. One such issue is the black screen problem that frequently occurs on Mac devices. It essentially results in a black screen while trying to video call on FaceTime. If you are also facing the same issue, this guide might help you in resolving it. Here are some of the methods you can follow to fix the FaceTime black screen on Mac:
1. Restart your Mac
A simple but effective method to fix almost any problems related to electronic devices, just restart it. Whenever you face a problem with the FaceTime application on your Mac, before doing anything else that might require some advanced knowledge, you should try restarting your Mac. It takes just a few seconds and might save you hours trying to fix the problem with unnecessary steps. If the restart didn’t fix the issue, then you can continue with other methods listed below.
2. Make sure that you are video calling
This might sound stupid, but you should make sure that you are actually making a video call instead of a voice call. If you are making a voice call, FaceTime will show a black screen. This happens to me many times when I accidentally make a voice call instead of a video call. To make a video call, you should press the video icon instead of the telephone icon.
3. Check your webcam
Problems with your webcam could also result in a black screen. To check if your webcam is working or not, you can either try to open it in an alternative application such as Skype or almost anywhere where you can check your web camera. If the webcam is not working on any of the applications, that means there is a problem with the hardware of your device.
4. Ask the other person
If you can see yourself and your web camera is working fine on any other applications that you try it on, and you still can’t see the other person, the problem might be on his/her end. If any of these things happen on their side, and for some reason, if the webcam is not operating properly, it will also end up on a black screen. So you should ask them if their webcam is working fine, the software is up to date, and FaceTime has proper permissions to access the webcam.
5. Let’s play with the terminal
Now let’s move into some advanced methods that might work. We are going to type some commands in the terminal, so make sure that you do this with extreme care. Miss typing the commands may result in unwanted problems.
Before following these steps, you should make sure to close any applications that utilize your webcam. Because we are going to kill some processes that the webcam is using.
- Open the Terminal.
- Type the following command and press Enter.
sudo killall VDCAssistant - If asked, provide your password.
- Then run the following command as well.
sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant - Enter the password once again if asked.
After following the steps mentioned above, you may try reopening FaceTime once again. Your issue may be fixed based on what the actual cause is. If the problem still persists, move along to the next method.
6. Update your software
If you recently updated your software, or the operating system itself, there are also chances that a bug is causing the issue. If that is the case, you can either try to revert back to a previous working version or update them to the latest version if available. Outdated software could also cause issues if there are any bugs. Especially if you haven’t used your device for a while, you should make sure that you update everything to the latest version including your operating system and FaceTime software itself.