Webcam cover made of metal already from $0.29 per piece

The whole world is in a selfie madness and video chat is now almost more common than a conventional telephone call. But what if the camera in your smartphone and laptop allows someone to see what’s going on who isn’t supposed to? To be on the safe side in case of doubt and to protect their own privacy, many people cover their cameras. More practical is a webcam cover, which is usually available for little money.

• Webcam Cover (3 pieces)
  • at Zapals for $0.89 (Coupon: FREE1102ALL02) | AliExpress for $1.86 | Amazon for $4.37 (Prime)

We don’t want to say whether it makes sense or is even advisable to tape your own webcam. After NSA and BND espionage scandals, the possibility that someone might look through the laptop camera doesn’t seem so absurd anymore. And since the cover of the camera is neither permanent nor harms the device in any way, you have no disadvantage by masking it.

In order not to smear the camera by simply sticking a sticker over it, there are now also more practical solutions. There is a small sliding mechanism in the cover so that you can simply expose the camera if necessary. Some of these covers are so small that you can even stick them on smartphone cameras. So the covers are often only a few millimeters long.

There are many different versions of the webcam covers, most of them are plain black, which is not too bad on most laptops and mobile phones. There are also covers in silver or even different colors if you prefer.

How do you see that? Are you more of a “play it safe” faction, or do you even have serious concerns and always tape your camera off? Or do you think this is absolutely unnecessary and don’t want to deface your laptop? We are looking forward to your opinion.