Camera not working?
Nine times out of ten it is a permission your browser is quietly refusing, not a broken webcam. Work through these in order — they are sorted by how often they turn out to be the cause.
1. You dismissed the permission prompt
The most common cause by far. The prompt appears once; if you clicked away, pressed Escape, or ignored it, the browser records that as "not now" and will not ask again on its own. Reload the page and watch for the prompt in the top-left of the window, near the address bar — not in the middle of the page where you are looking.
2. Permission was denied earlier and is now remembered
If you ever clicked Block for a site, that decision sticks and there is no prompt to retry. Resetting it takes a few seconds:
- Chrome / Edge: click the icon at the left of the address bar (a padlock, sliders, or "View site information"), find Camera, set it to Allow, then reload the page.
- Firefox: click the padlock, then the arrow next to the site name, then "Clear permissions and reload" — or open the permissions panel and remove the Blocked entry for Camera.
- Safari (macOS): Safari menu → Settings for This Website, then set Camera to Allow. Site-wide settings live under Safari → Settings → Websites → Camera.
- Safari (iPhone/iPad): tap the "AA" or page-settings icon in the address bar → Website Settings → Camera → Allow.
On Chrome you can also go straight to chrome://settings/content/camera and
remove the site from the "Not allowed" list.
3. Another app is holding the camera
On Windows especially, a camera can only be used by one application at a time. Zoom, Teams, Slack, OBS and Discord all keep the device open in the background long after you think you have finished with them — often minimised to the system tray rather than closed.
Quit them properly (check the tray, not just the taskbar) and reload. If the camera's own indicator light is on before you start, something else already has it.
4. The operating system is blocking it
This one catches people out because the browser prompt never even appears — the OS has already said no on your behalf.
- Windows 11: Settings → Privacy & security → Camera. Turn on "Camera access" and "Let apps access your camera", then check the "Let desktop apps access your camera" list further down — your browser must be enabled there too, and that last toggle is the one usually missed.
- macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera, and enable your browser. macOS requires a full quit and reopen of the browser after changing this — a reload is not enough.
5. The page is not on HTTPS
Browsers only grant camera access in a secure context. Any page served over plain
http:// is refused outright, usually with no prompt at all. Check for
https:// in the address bar. (localhost is treated as secure,
which is why developers sometimes miss this.)
6. An extension or content blocker is in the way
Aggressive privacy extensions, some VPN browser add-ons, and a few antivirus "webcam protection" features block camera access or stop the chat loading at all. Try the page in a private window with extensions disabled. If it works there, re-enable your extensions one at a time to find the culprit rather than leaving them all off.
Antivirus webcam shields are worth checking separately — they sit below the browser and will not show up as a browser permission problem.
7. The wrong camera is selected
If you have more than one camera — a laptop's built-in one plus an external webcam, or a virtual camera from OBS or NVIDIA Broadcast — the browser may have picked one that is covered, unplugged or inactive. You get a black picture rather than an error, which makes this look like a broken camera when it is a selection problem. Choose the right device in the chat's own settings, or in your browser's camera preferences.
8. Your phone is being your phone
On iOS, camera access needs a real tap to start — it cannot begin on its own when the page loads. Low Power Mode, another app in picture-in-picture, or an active call can also hold the camera. Close other apps, take it off Low Power Mode, and try again.
Still nothing?
Confirm the hardware itself works somewhere neutral — the built-in Camera app on Windows or macOS is the quickest test. If it fails there too, the problem is the device or its driver, not the site.
One last thing worth knowing: a video chat embedded inside a page has to be granted camera access by every frame between it and the browser. If a site embeds a chat badly, your camera can be blocked no matter what you do at your end — and there is nothing you can fix from your side. That is a fault in the site, not in your setup.
Try it now
The chat on this site asks for your camera only after you press start: