Camera tests

A webcam that fails in a meeting has usually not broken. It is far more common for another application to still hold the camera, for the browser to have been denied permission, or for a privacy shutter to be closed. A separate live preview settles which of those it is in a few seconds.

Once you know it works, the next question is usually how well. A camera negotiates resolution and frame rate with whatever asks for it, and browsers routinely settle for less than the sensor can manage, so the picture in a call can be noticeably worse than the hardware is capable of. The resolution test asks for the maximum and reports what actually came back.

Frame rate is the part people rarely think to check. Almost every webcam drops its rate in dim light, because the sensor holds each frame open longer to gather enough light, and a stuttering picture in an evening call is far more often the room than the camera. Testing in daylight and again at night is usually all it takes to tell the difference.

Permission is requested only when you start a test, and stopping it releases the camera immediately. No frames are recorded, stored or uploaded — everything is rendered locally and nothing leaves your device.