Camera & Mic Troubleshooting

Here are our suggested troubleshooting steps, in order:

• 1. Butter troubleshooting tool: test your setup
• 2. Determine if it’s a hardware problem
• 3. Determine if it’s a browser problem
• Mac
• Windows
• 4. Determining if it is a browser permissions issue
• What if I’m still stuck?

1. Butter troubleshooting tool: test your setup

To make sure you are properly set up with everything working, we recommend you and your participants use the purpose-built Butter Troubleshooting tool.

The tool will guide you through a number of steps to make sure everything from your sound and video to your screensharing permissions are set up correctly and working.

2. Determine if it’s a hardware problem

First, let’s make sure your camera and/or microphone are properly connected to your computer.

Apps like PhotoBooth (Mac) or Camera (Windows) can help determine if your hardware device is properly connected.

Alternatively, try other desktop apps that use the webcam and microphone such as OBS, SnapCam, or Zoom to see if it is detected there.

If your hardware isn’t detected by these programs, there is an issue that is preventing your hardware from being recognized by the operating system.

Unfortunately, we don't have any solution for this — it could be anything from hardware-related issues, to USB hubs not connecting or powering your devices.

All good? Then let’s move to the next step.

3. Determine if it’s a browser problem

Next, let’s make sure other browser apps are able to connect to both your mic and camera.

To test your camera and mic, try webcammictest.com or open a quick meeting on meet.google.com.

To enable permissions on Safari, navigate to the URL box, click on Safari near the Apple logo, click on Settings for app.butter.us, and then make sure the it looks like this:

If it does not connect here, check your operating system permissions for Mic and Camera.

Mac

On Mac, go to your Privacy & Security settings, then check the menus for Microphone, Camera and Screen Recording and make sure your browser is checked to be given access.

Windows

On Windows, go to your Privacy settings, then Camera. Under, ‘Allow access to the camera on this device’, select ‘Change’ and make sure camera access is turned on for your camera.

Under ‘Allow apps to access your camera’, make sure your browser is on the list of approved apps.

For more Windows troubleshooting help, check out Microsoft’s help page Manage app permissions for your camera in Windows.

4. Determining if it is a browser permissions issue

If both steps 1 and 2 pass, we would suggest checking your browser permissions for Butter specifically.

While you're on https://app.butter.us, press the 🔒 (lock) icon on the left side of the browser address bar.

You'll see a dropdown that looks like this:

Make sure that the permission toggles for the Camera and Microphone are switched on. You may need to restart the browser to see the changes take effect.

What if I’m still stuck?

If you passed all three tests but your camera and mic still don't work, please contact us via live chat or email friends@butter.us!

We'll get our engineers on it ASAP.

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