Cimkiz Ultra Thin Magnetic Webcam Cover Review

Some high end webcams come with covers like the Logitech C930e that I have but my kids laptops with their built in webcams do not have covers and my kids keep having to rip off the electrical tape and sticky notes repeatedly to Skype with their friends and recover the webcams when they are done which also leaves sticky residue on the webcam lens itself and is just not practical if you want to use your webcam repeatedly and often.  So I decided to try a three pack of the Cimkiz webcam covers for laptops or tablets and phones and see how they work.  These are very small adhesive webcam covers that you stick over your laptop or tablet webcam and it has a little magnetic cover slide that you can slide open and closed so you can easily switch between your webcam being active and usable and closed for privacy.

Inside the Box

What you get inside the box is a lint free cleaning cloth, and 3 of the small sticker based webcam covers.  You also get the instruction manual telling you to clean your camera area on your laptop or phone/tablet thoroughly.  Yes, this webcam cover is so small and thin that it can be used as an iPhone camera cover as well if you want.

They are actually so tiny and they are magnetic, this is how the open/close disc slides so easily, but they also magnetically adhere to each other so be careful pulling them apart and don’t take the backing off of them trying to pry them apart.  Only take the backing off when you are ready to stick them over the webcam you want to secure.

You can clearly see they have a circular hole on one side which is where you have fit over the camera lens on your webcam or iPhone.  Be very careful that you aren’t covering any LED light, flash or sensor with the other part of this webcam cover.  Make sure when installing it the long part of the webcam cover goes on the opposite side of where the flash is or other potential sensor on your phone webcam.

Installing the Webcam Cover

So I was primarily getting these for my kids 2 laptops, and their webcams are of course at the very top center of each laptop.  The black laptops made it very hard to see the sticker even in daylight without shining a flashlight or other light source at the laptop webcam.  To make installation easier I opened the Windows Camera app so I can see what the camera saw in real time while I was trying to fit and place the webcam cover sticker over the laptop webcam.

You can see I didn’t have it perfectly level in my first attempt and it was slightly angled, but it still worked perfectly and fully allowed the webcam to capture everything without any interference or image being blocked when the webcam cover was open.  Then I close the webcam cover and viola.

Camera instantly blocked and only sees darkness.  Whats better is how easily the Cimkiz webcam cover closes and opens, and the adhesive stays put as long as you cleaned the surface well or else it would stick to dirt and particles weakening the bond.  So I immediately applied the webcam cover to my sons ASUS ROG laptop which is on the other side of the same room.

Overall I found these to be very effective webcam covers and avoid the hassle of having to apply tape or sticky notes over and over where my kids would rip them off and whatnot.  The only thing is that they are very dark and almost impossible to even notice on a black laptop of which most are.  My kids ages 11 and 14 do take advantage of it though still need reminders to block their webcam when not on Skype or Discord so that they don’t leave their camera lens exposed the entire time.  At $10 for the three pack they are more expensive than using say electrical tape but they are long lasting and don’t come off, you simply slide the circle to block the cam and back to open, so the convenience factor alone makes it worth the small investment.  Plus it is so flat and slim it works as a good phone camera cover or tablet webcam cover that won’t get torn off easily even if you keep your phone in your pocket or purse.  Just know if you use a case like the Otterbox Defender case you put it over the case screen cover, not under or you can’t slide it open and closed (obvious right?).