Ever have that sinking feeling when you click “Call In” and the Co/Host accepts you and you can’t seem to get connected? No one can see you! You see your profile-icon pulsing! Everyone is talking at you… wondering where you are and what’s going on!?
Let me explain what happens when you click “Call In”. (All of which happens in about 1 second).
- Your browser sends notification back to blab.im that you want to join
- Blab.im requests access to your Camera and Microphone from your browser
- Your browser checks to see if blab.im has been granted permissions to access your Camera and/or Microphone from your computer system
The 3 browser permission options are:
- > Ask — This will always present you with a popup asking if you “Allow” the browser to access the Camera and Microphone. If you select “Allow”, your browser will request permissions to access the Camera and/or Microphone from your Computer System
- > Always Allow — (No popup’s) Your browser will automatically request permissions to access the Camera and Microphone from your Computer System
- > Always Block — (No popup’s) Your browser will not request access to the Camera and Microphone
Hardware devices attached to your computer (like the Camera and Microphone) are typically allowed to be shared equally with any/all apps & programs at the same time. The exception is when you have a Secure App / Program or one that needs Exclusive Access to the hardware. If this is the case, other apps / programs will not be allowed to “SHARE” access with the hardware that needs to be secured.
Your computer system will check to see if there is another app / program that has exclusive access to your Camera and/or Microphone. What your computer system will NOT do is tell you or your browser which app/program has the exclusive access to the hardware.
If your browser cannot locate a Camera and/or Microphone to connect with, it might be because another app/program has exclusive access to them. As a result, you may not receive any notification / popups.
Here are just a few examples of apps/programs that often tell your computer that they need Exclusive Access to your Camera and/or Microphone;
- SKYPE (Secure communications app)
- Safari (sometimes; depending on what communication websites you use)
- FireFox (sometimes; depending on what communication websites you use)
- Even some Browser Extensions / Add-ons can cause issues.
… Ad Blockers,
In the example of SKYPE, many people use it, but forget that it’s active or running on their computer. If one quits / kills the app, sometimes it doesn’t alert the computer system that it is shutting down nor tells the system to release the permissions on the Camera and Microphone. Sometimes the only way to resolve this is to reboot the computer. If/when you reboot, ensure that SKYPE does NOT auto-load.
FINALLY, if permissions are unsuccessful, you will likely continue to see your Blab profile-icon pulse forever and ever….
That said, if permissions to access your Camera and Microphone are successful and your browser is able to access them, then your browser will interface with the Camera and/or Microphone and you will be Live on Blab!
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Summary
When you attempt to “Call In” to a Live Blab, a few things need to be in place before you are ‘live’ using your Camera and Microphone. In short, one of the Hosts will need to accept you. Your browser will then need to have access to the correct Camera and Microphone. Sometimes there are other apps / programs that may have Exclusive Access to the Camera and/or Microphone and may prevent your browser from accessing them. If permissions are good and browser has access, you should be able to take a seat in the Live Blab and enjoy the the conversation…
Here are some quick wins. If your browser is unable to detect / access your Camera and Microphone, try to Quit or Force Quit your browser, wait 10–15 seconds, then relaunch. If that doesn’t work, try a reboot of your computer, as this will often take care of many permission related issues.
