MacBook Neo Camera Indicator Runs in Secure Exclave — Software Indicator Now Hardware-Equivalent

simonwillison.net·medium signal

Developer Guilherme Rambo revealed that Apple's software-based camera indicator light on the MacBook Neo runs inside the chip's secure exclave, making it nearly as tamper-proof as the hardware indicator light on prior MacBooks. This means even a fully compromised OS cannot suppress the camera-on indicator without defeating the secure enclave — a meaningful security property for any developer or agent running vision-enabled local models. Simon Willison surfaced the detail on March 16.