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Repair information and guides for the updated version of the 2015 Retina MacBook that was released in early 2016. Model A1534 / EMC 2991

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Possible to unplug camera and microphone(s)?

Is it possible to unplug the camera and microphone(s) on the 12" Retina Macbook?

I've used past iFixit guides to do this on older Apple devices. For example, in these Macbook Pro teardowns you can see where to disconnect the iSight camera and microphone.

Does anyone know if this is possible on 12" Retina Macbooks?

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Display Assembly Image

Guide

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Display Assembly Replacement

Difficulty:

Moderate

—

30 minutes - 1 hour
MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Dual Microphone Assembly Image

Guide

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Dual Microphone Assembly Replacement

Difficulty:

Moderate

—

40 minutes - 1 hour
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Thanks for the advice, Dan & Larry. I realize that tape/glue/etc is commonly used to "disable" these, but I'd prefer a hardware solution if one is possible -- and it has been possible with other Apple notebooks.

Checking the teardowns for last year's model, it looks like the microphones are unpluggable (and that this doesn't disable the audio jack itself, since that's a separate step). But I haven't been able to find anything similar for the iSight camera unfortunately.

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Your only hope here is tape to cover the iSight camera lens & a cut off head phone plug to kill the internal microphone!

This series uses a highly intergraded architecture to such a point there is no means to disconnect internally the camera or microphone physically.

With that said why are you worried? Unless someone has direct access to your system to RAT it, there is no means to spy on you without you knowing.

Besides you can always turn the system off or put it to sleep mode ;-}

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Are you trying to simply disable them or replace them? If you just want to disable them, use black tape for the camera and perhaps unsolder the microphone if it's not on a connector somewhere. Or just use glue or tape.

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I had no problem disconnecting the cables on my 11" MacBook.

Furthermore, I have done the same on two Dell models.

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Very different animal here ;-}

This series of MacBook is very different than your older MacBook (retina Vs non-retina).

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wizfish mcfrabblegabben will be eternally grateful.
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