Why do my webcam settings reset on a Mac, and how do I keep them?

01Why the settings reset

When you change exposure, focus, or zoom in a webcam app, the new value is written to the camera itself. That is why it carries over to every app on the Mac. But most webcams hold those values only while they have power. They don't save them as their own startup settings.

So when the camera loses power, it starts over from factory defaults. Unplugging it does that. So does shutting down the Mac, and a restart often does the same. A USB switch that moves the camera between computers counts as unplugging it.

This isn't specific to macOS. People report the same thing on Windows, and the Logitech C920 family is a well-known example: unplug it or shut down, and it forgets what you set.

There is a second cause that has nothing to do with power. Some apps set camera values of their own when they open the camera, which can undo yours while the camera stays plugged in.

02What macOS does on its own

Nothing that helps here. macOS has no panel for a USB webcam's exposure, focus, or white balance, so there is nothing for it to remember. The camera settings in Privacy & Security decide which apps may use the camera, and that is all.

The video effects macOS offers during calls are a separate thing. They are applied to the picture in software and don't change or store the camera's own settings.

03Other options

• Leave the camera plugged in. If it never loses power, it usually keeps its settings. That covers a desk that never moves, not a shutdown or an app that resets the camera.
• Try your camera maker's app, if it has a Mac version. Some can store settings and put them back, but each one covers only its own brand.
• Use the video settings in your meeting app. Some have brightness or low-light options, but they usually apply only inside that app.
• Set everything again by hand after each restart. It works. It gets old by Wednesday.

04Keep them with Webcam Works

Webcam Works can't make a camera remember anything on its own. It keeps your settings on the Mac, per camera, and writes them back to the camera. So it needs to be running.

1. Turn on Open at LoginIn the Webcam Works menu, choose Open at Login. The app starts with your Mac, so it is there when the camera connects.
2. Set the camera up onceChoose your camera, then adjust Image, Exposure, Focus, and Framing until the picture looks right.
3. Save it as a presetIn Presets, click New from current. Make one for each situation, such as daylight calls or evening recording. Click a tile to apply it, and use Update Preset to keep later changes.
4. Add a ruleIn Schedule, click New rule. Under Trigger, choose App is running and add your meeting app, or choose Time of day and set the hours and days. Choose the preset, then click Create.
5. Leave rules switched onThe switch at the top of the Schedule card turns every rule for that camera on or off. It starts on. App rules fire when that app is in front, and they win over time rules.

From then on, when the camera connects, at login or when you plug it back in, Webcam Works writes back the last settings it applied: your active preset and any changes you made after it. It skips controls the camera no longer offers. Because these are camera settings, they stay in place if you quit the app, until the camera loses power again.

05Tips

• A rule applies its preset once, when it starts matching. If an app changes the picture after that, click the preset's tile to put it back.
• Open Webcam Works before your meeting app. Some apps push their own camera settings when they launch.
• Presets and rules belong to one camera. With two webcams, set up each one.
• On the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, Webcam Works also re-applies your settings right after it starts the camera's video, because that model can reset exposure at that moment.
• Built-in and iPhone cameras don't expose these controls. On a built-in camera a preset covers resolution, frame rate, and the virtual camera look, and on an iPhone just the virtual camera look, not exposure or focus.
• Presets and Schedule are part of the 14-day free trial. After that, they come with the $9.99 one-time unlock.