Fix · Google Chrome

Camera not working in Chrome: black video or a blocked camera

When your video stays black in a Chrome call, the camera is usually blocked for the site, blocked for Chrome by the computer, held by another app, or simply the wrong camera.

What you are seeing

In a video call in Google Chrome your picture is black or frozen, the call says it cannot find a camera, or a crossed-out camera sits in the address bar.

The likely causes, most common first

Work down the list; most people find theirs in the first two.

1. The site is not allowed to use the camera

  1. A crossed-out camera at the right of the address bar means Chrome has blocked it for this site. Click it, allow the camera, and reload the page.

Google: “Make sure you allow camera access on the site you want to use.” — support.google.com/chrome/answer/2693767

2. Another app is holding the camera

  1. Only one app can use the camera at a time. If its light is already on before you join, something else has it — Zoom, FaceTime, Photo Booth, another browser tab with a call open. Quit it and reload.

Apple: “The camera (and the green light) turn off when you close or quit all apps that can use the camera.” — support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-to-your-camera-mchlf6d108da/mac

3. Your Mac has not let Chrome use it

  1. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera, and switch Google Chrome on. While the camera is working, a small green light shows beside it.

Apple: “A green light beside the camera glows to indicate the camera is on.” — support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/control-access-to-your-camera-mchlf6d108da/mac

4. Windows has not let Chrome use it

  1. Settings → Privacy & security → Camera: turn on Camera access, then Let desktop apps access your camera.
  2. If the switch will not move, the computer is managed and its administrator has to change it.

Microsoft: “If the Camera access setting can't be changed, an administrator on the device needs to change the setting.” — support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/manage-app-permissions-for-a-camera-in-windows

5. Chrome picked another camera

  1. A laptop with a webcam plugged in has two cameras, and phones, capture cards and virtual cameras can show up too. Under Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Camera, choose the one you want.

Google: “You can select a default camera or switch between cameras.” — support.google.com/chrome/answer/2693767

6. Your work or school controls Chrome

  1. On a managed Chrome only the IT team can change camera settings. Ask them to allow the camera for the sites you meet on.

Google: “only your network administrator can set or change the camera and microphone settings for you” — support.google.com/chrome/answer/2693767

Every quote above is from Google’s, Apple’s and Microsoft’s own help pages, read on 10 November 2026. Something changed? Tell us.

Other Google Chrome problems

Microphone not workingWhen a call in Chrome cannot hear you, three things each get a say — the site, Chrome and the computer — and Google’s own checklist starts with simply being muted.Screen share not working on a MacOn a Mac, Chrome can only share your screen once macOS has given it permission to record the screen — and the sound comes along only when you share the right thing.Transcript missingA Google Meet transcript is saved to the organiser’s Drive, only starts from a computer or an Android phone, and waits for the host to join on the web.Recording missingGoogle Meet saves recordings to the organiser’s Drive, only records from a computer or an Android phone, and stops by itself after eight hours.Notes or summary missingGoogle’s automatic notes need an eligible plan, a meeting of about fifteen minutes or more in one supported language, and somebody from the host’s organisation to start them.Breakout rooms missingBreakout rooms in Google Meet need an eligible Workspace edition and a host on a computer, and Google never records what happens in them.

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