Fix · Firefox

Camera not working in Firefox: a black picture or no camera found

If your video is black in a Firefox call, look at Firefox’s saved answer for that site first, then at whether the computer lets Firefox near the camera, then at what else has it open.

What you are seeing

Your picture stays black in a video call in Firefox, the call says no camera was found, or the camera icon in the address bar is crossed out.

The likely causes, most common first

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

1. The site is blocked from the camera

  1. A call cannot show your video while Firefox is blocking the camera for that site. Click the permissions icon at the left of the address bar to see what is saved for it.
  2. Press the ✕ beside the camera entry to clear it, then reload. Firefox will ask again, and you can allow it.

Mozilla: “You can click the ✕ next to any permission entry to clear the status.” — support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/site-permissions-panel

2. Blocking it broke the call

  1. Some meeting sites will not let you in at all without a camera answer, or leave you stuck on a preview screen. Allowing the camera is the fix — you can still turn your video off inside the call.

Mozilla: “You may not be able to use certain features or the site altogether if you block camera and microphone access.” — support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-manage-your-camera-and-microphone-permissions

3. New camera requests are switched off

  1. In Settings → Permissions and data, click Camera under Permissions. A ticked Block new requests asking to access your camera stops every site you have not already allowed.
  2. Untick it, or add your meeting site to the list as Allow, and press Save Changes.

Mozilla: “Select the Block new requests asking to access your camera checkbox if you do not want to give any other sites access to your camera.” — support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-manage-your-camera-and-microphone-permissions

4. Your Mac has not let Firefox use it

  1. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera: switch Firefox on, then quit and reopen Firefox. When the camera is really running, the small green light next to it comes on.

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

5. Windows has not let Firefox use it

  1. Settings → Privacy & security → Camera: turn on Camera access and the switch that lets desktop apps use it.
  2. On a work laptop that switch may be locked; only the person who manages the computer can 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

6. Another app already has the camera

  1. If the camera light is on before you join, something else is using it — a Zoom or Teams app, FaceTime, or a call open in another browser. Close it and reload the Firefox tab.

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

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

Other Firefox problems

Microphone not workingFirefox remembers a yes or no about your microphone for each website, and can refuse every new site at once — so a call that cannot hear you is usually a saved Block somewhere.Screen share not workingSharing a screen from Firefox can be held up by Firefox’s own safety warning, by an old Firefox on a new Mac, or by macOS never having given Firefox permission to record the screen.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.

Every fix →

Try Meetful

Meetings that take their own notes

Free video meetings in the browser: every line of the transcript under the name of who said it, and the summary and action items when you hang up. Nothing to install — guests just open the link.

Try Meetful freeSee what it does