Block students access to macbook camera

expand collapsive

Hey guys,
We are a bunch of IT guys and we need to block our students access to camera servcies, wonder if Hexnode have a restriction policy to disable the native camera in macbooks for a given period. also, we want to lift the restriction once our requirement is done.
Someone suggest me a method to disable the camera during the students vacation period and then reverse the action once it’s over. We’ve like around 12000 macbooks in our school environment and we don’t prefer messing things up.
Thanks in advance

All Replies

  • Hey @Matilda, thanks for reaching out to us!

    Hexnode does support restricting access to camera services with its ‘Restrictions’ payload.

    All you’ve to do is head on to Policies, navigate to the Restrictions pane under the macOS platform, and uncheck the Camera option to disable access to the camera directly or from other apps. Next, associate the policy with your students’ MacBooks. Your students will no longer be able to access the camera again.

    Once the vacation is over, you can either delete the policy or remove your MacBooks from the policy to enable camera access again.

    Note that disabling camera services works only on macOS 10.11+ devices.

    Block access to macOS camera services via Hexnode

    Hope this answers your query.

    Cheers!
    Jeff Morrison
    Hexnode UEM

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by  Jeff Morrison.
  • Hey @Matilda,

    You can make use of the grouping feature to create a device/user group containing only the necessary devices whose camera access is to be restricted. The dynamic grouping feature is yet another add-on that can be utilized to automatically add your 10000+ devices based on several condition filters. It also allows you to exempt those 150-200 devices from the device group by adding an ‘exclude criteria’ common to all these devices. Then, you can target the policy to this device group.

    Feel free to check out our device group management articles to know more.

    Hope that helps!

    Thanks again,
    Jeff Morrison
    Hexnode UEM