My Camera and Microphone aren't working

By clicking on the room name button in your room, you can select the microphone or camera that you'd like to use for your meeting under the Device tab. However, in some cases Whereby won't detect a camera or microphone, the devices could be blocked, or the device selection won't save, as demonstrated in the image below. In these cases, there are a few things you can do to get everything working again!

First Steps 

Update Your Browser

The first thing to check on is if your browser is up to date. We support the two most recent versions of our supported browsers, so double check that there isn't an update for the one you're using! There are links below that walk you through updating your browser if you don't know how to: 

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Opera
• Microsoft Edge - This browser is updated automatically when you update Windows

Accidentally Block Permission?

When Whereby first asks permission to access your camera and microphone, you may have chosen "Block" instead of "Allow" by mistake. 

In this case, please press the camera icon in the browser's address bar to undo the block, then press "Try Again." The icon looks slightly different on different browsers, but here are some examples:

Clear Your Cache and Cookies

Finally, it's possible that this is caused by a stale mic/cam permissions cookie, or possibly because of another application that's taking priority access over Whereby.

In this case we recommend clearing your cache and cookies for your entire browser and then restarting your computer. Sometimes a reset of your system environment will resolve these types of issues, so this is a "catch-all" solution before further investigation is required! Instructions for clearing your cache and cookies for our supported browsers are linked below:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Opera
• Microsoft Edge

Check your system and browser settings 

Confirm the Mic/Cam settings for your operating system

macOS

macOS

Apple has some system-level privacy controls for your mic and camera. These are great for privacy, but it is possible that your browser was mistakenly blocked from accessing your devices. You can check on this and allow your browser to access them from the Privacy & Security section in your System Settings. 

To access these settings, do the following: 

1. Click on the Apple in the top left > select System Settings.
   
2. Click on the Privacy & Security section.
3. Click on Camera in the list of options, and enable the toggle next to your browser to allow access.

   

4. Repeat Step 3 for your Microphone
5. After doing this, restart your browser for the updates to take effect

Windows

Windows

In Windows 10, you're able to set a default Microphone, but there are also system-level Camera permissions on what applications can access your camera. For either of these settings, the first thing to do is open up your system settings by clicking on the Start menu and selecting the Settings gear.

Default Mic

You can adjust the microphone settings by typing "Mic" into the search bar and going to the Sound settings. Scroll down to Input and use the dropdown to select the proper input device

Camera Permissions

Camera permissions can be accessed by typing "Cam" into the search bar. These settings are under your general Privacy settings, but search is the easiest way to access them. From here, be sure that your browser has permission to access your camera.

Confirm the Mic/Cam settings for your browser

Chrome

Chrome

Mic and Cam defaults can be accessed in a number of ways in Chrome, but the easiest is to paste the following links into your URL bar:

Cam:  chrome://settings/content/camera

Mic:  chrome://settings/content/microphone

From these areas, you can manage the default cam/mic for Chrome, and also whitelist or block websites from accessing your cam/mic! Be sure that Whereby is listed under the Allow section.

Firefox

Firefox

In Firefox, you can also use a URL link to get to your privacy settings. Start by going to about:preferences#privacy, and then looking under the Permissions section. Here you can adjust which websites are allowed to use your camera, and you'll want to see Whereby listed as Allow.

To adjust which camera or microphone Firefox is accessing, you'll need to go into a Whereby room. From here, click on the icon that's just to the left of your URL bar, and you'll have a dropdown menu where you can select the camera you want to use.

Opera

Opera

In Opera you can get to settings by typing " settings" into your URL bar. From here, click on Websites in the left hand menu list. Then scroll down to the Microphone and Camera area, and use the dropdown menus to select the default devices. You can also adjust your permissions preferences and set up Exceptions as necessary.

Still not working? A couple more things to check...

Adjusting your Firewall: Some browsers are not able to connect through strict networks/firewalls. Also there may be bugs in the browser causing problems with connection. If you are experiencing this, try switching to another browser. Currently Firefox is not supporting connections through very strict firewalls, so if you are on a corporate network, try to get all participants to use Chrome or Opera. 

Browser Extensions: Interfering browser extensions: It is not uncommon for some third party extension to cause problems with some websites. To test this, try using your browser through an Incognito tab or Private browsing window. If all works normally then you know that an extension is causing an issue. Unfortunately there is no way to identify which one easily. A process of elimination will need to be done on each extension to fine the one causing the problem.