If you have a third-party still or video camera installed for your Mac using its own plug-in, you’re likely to find that stops working when you update to Sonoma 14.1, as those plug-ins are no longer supported. This article explains what has happened, and what you can do to retain use of your camera.

Plug-in

Apple introduced these camera or DAL plug-ins over 12 years ago, back in OS X 10.7. Because they rely on loading their code into an app, they’ve not been allowed to work with bundled apps like FaceTime or PhotoBooth. They’re also incompatible with some third-party apps, although some get them to work by disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP). Above all, they’re a gaping hole in security, and can’t do their bit to protect your privacy either.

DAL plug-ins were officially replaced in macOS 12.3 by new Camera Extensions, formally known as CoreMedia IO Extensions, and Apple warned camera developers that it planned to disable DAL plug-ins completely in “the next major release after macOS Ventura”. That would have been Sonoma 14.0 but for a little extra grace that postponed their removal until 14.1.

If you want your camera to continue working in 14.1 and later, check with its manufacturer to see if it has released a Camera Extension to replace its DAL plug-in. If it has, install that before updating to 14.1, and the transition should be seamless. If it hasn’t, then I explain below how you can temporarily disable this change, and let your existing plug-in continue to work.

Camera Extension

Modern Camera Extensions are a form of System Extension, so are designed to work securely within a sandbox, and can be supplied through the App Store. They should prove fast and backward compatible. They can be used as software devices to produce a test screen, to support hot-pluggable cameras connected directly to your Mac, and as a hybrid ‘creative’ camera. If the camera hardware needs to be addressed directly, then they can be combined with a driver extension or DEXT. Apple provides full details here, and in the presentation on Camera Extensions given by Brad Ford at WWDC 2022.

A modern Camera Extension should come as an app to be installed in the main Applications folder; if it’s put anywhere else, it won’t be able to install its extension. When you first run the app, you’ll be invited to open Privacy & Security settings to allow the extension to be installed and loaded. Once that is done, when your camera is connected and in use, you’ll see the green dot in the menu bar, so there’s no doubt that it’s active. You should also be able to use your camera in situations that you couldn’t before with a plug-in, including in FaceTime.

Legacy support

If the camera manufacturer hasn’t yet updated its software and there’s no Camera Extension available, there is still a method you can use to allow it to continue to function using its old plug-in. To do that, you’ll need to start your Mac up in Recovery mode, and there open Terminal. Type in the following command:
system-override legacy-camera-plugins-without-sw-camera-indication=on
and follow any additional steps as prompted.

Allowing legacy plug-ins has several disadvantages, and should only be used if there’s no Camera Extension available. When you’re able to update its software to a modern version, turn legacy support off by starting up in Recovery mode, and typing into Terminal
system-override legacy-camera-plugins-without-sw-camera-indication=off

If your plug-in also requires a traditional kernel extension (kext), then you’ll need to enable its loading for an Apple silicon Mac. That also requires Recovery mode, and its Startup Security Utility from the menu bar. You’ll there have to reduce the security mode, and enable the loading of third-party kernel extensions. That isn’t required (or available) on Intel Macs, though.

Apple’s support note provides full details.