Camera/Microphone access denied (TCC) macOS Origin: Platform & cloud Last updated 5 Nov 2026

macOS: avfoundation: Could not start capture / "Terminal" does not have access to the camera or microphone — tccd denied

Privacy (TCC) blocks the app or terminal from the camera or microphone until you allow it.

Exact message you may see Camera access denied macOS Terminalavfoundation Could not start captureThis app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description[AVCaptureDeviceInput] camera access not authorizedtccd: access denied for kTCCServiceCamera
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Seen on: macOS

Meaning

Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera/Microphone and enable the app that runs the code (Terminal, iTerm, VS Code, a browser). If no prompt appears the entry may have been denied earlier: reset with tccutil reset Camera or tccutil reset Microphone, then rerun. Hardened apps need NSCameraUsageDescription in Info.plist.

Common causes

  • Permission previously denied
  • Script runs under a terminal that lacks the permission
  • Missing usage description in Info.plist (developer)
  • App re-signed so permission lost
  • Corporate MDM policy

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Enable the app in Camera/Microphone settings
  2. tccutil reset Camera / Microphone, then relaunch
  3. Developers: add NSCameraUsageDescription / NSMicrophoneUsageDescription

Detailed fix by platform

macOS

  1. tccutil reset Camera && tccutil reset Microphone

How to diagnose

  1. Host — Terminal/IDE/app?
  2. Toggle — Enabled?
  3. plist — Usage string?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description — This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description (iOS)attempted to access p…Command CodeSign failed — Command CodeSign failed with a nonzero exit code (errSecInternalComponent / resource fork, Finder information not allowed) (iOS)Command CodeSign fail…Homebrew Cask: It seems there is already an App at — Homebrew: Error: It seems there is already an App at '/Applications/Chrome.app' (macOS)Homebrew Cask: It see…ITMS-90683 — ITMS-90683: Missing purpose string in Info.plist (NSCameraUsageDescription etc.) (iOS)ITMS-90683ITMS-91053 — ITMS-91053: Missing API declaration — Your app's code references required reason APIs (privacy manifest) (iOS)ITMS-91053Not authorized to send Apple events to x (-1743) — macOS: execution error: Not authorized to send Apple events to System Events. (-1743) (macOS)Not authorized to sen…osascript is not allowed assistive access (-1719/-25211) — macOS: execution error: System Events got an error: osascript is not allowed assistive access. (-1728) (macOS)osascript is not allo…Screen recording permission required — macOS: could not create image from display / "Terminal" would like to record this computer's screen / screencapture: cannot capture without permission (macOS)Screen recording perm…Camera/Mi…

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