2021 MacBook M1 Pro Webcam Blurry? (Low Quality Image)

MacBook Pro M1 Max webcam blurry

MacBook Pro M1 Max webcam blurry


Are you experiencing MacBook M1 Pro webcam issues? Are the images provided by the new 1080P camera low quality? They look blurry or oil painted? You’re not satisfied by the webcam quality of your brand new $3000+ Apple notebook?

2021 MacBook Pro Webcam Blurry

Olivia has reported this issue on our MacBook Pro 2021 review page:

“I expected more from the 1080p webcam. Most of the times I find the image blurry and low quality. Anyone else?”

She doesn’t seem to be the only one bothered by this issue. I’ve found similar reports on the MacRumors forums:

“I have the MacBook Pro 16″ m1 max and I love it but the webcam is so bad even now being 1080p its worse than my old intel model…”

Apparently Apple is using the same smoothening filter that it applies in post-processing to photos shot on new iPhone models. We’ve already reported about the ‘allegedly’ iPhone 13 blurry photos issue.

Many iPhone owners aren’t fans of the automatic beauty filter that’s applied to their photos, because it makes them look oil painted and heavily processed!

How To Fix MacBook Pro Webcam Issues

Unfortunately, there is no option to disable the smoothening filter that macOS Monterey currently applies to images picked up by the M1 Max and M1 Pro webcam.

1. Avoid Low Light

Based on above reports, you can improve the MacBook Pro webcam quality by shedding more light on your face. This will reduce the amount of image processing and your camera feed will look less blurry and more natural.

Fact: Apparently when lighting isn’t good enough, the MacBook Pro 2021 tries to avoid a noisy image by applying noise reduction filters. This causes the image to look oil painted and blurry!

2. Mind The Light Source

It’s not just about low light. You also have to make sure that the light is projected towards you and not from behind. For example, if you’re next to a window that’s caught by the webcam angle and the light shines towards the MacBook from behind you or another inappropriate angle, it will cause more harm than good.

Are you also not happy with the MacBook M1 Pro webcam quality? Do you have a better solution? Use the comments section and share your feedback.

Related: Here are other 2021 MacBook Pro issues covered:
MacBook M1 Pro not charging when powered off.
MacBook Pro M1 crashing during YouTube 4K HDR video playback.