Why test your camera and microphone before a call
You join the meeting, the host asks if you can hear them, and the camera light is off. You spend the first three minutes apologising and clicking around the system settings while everyone waits. It's a small moment, and it happens to almost everyone — the kinds of things that break right before a call (a paused webcam, a mic stuck on the wrong device, a Bluetooth headset that connected as a phone instead of headphones) only show up when you actually try to use them. A 30-second pre-flight check fixes that.
This tool runs the same browser APIs the major video apps use, so if your camera works here, it almost certainly works in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and our own video calls. If it doesn't work here, the diagnostic report will tell you why.
What this tool checks
The tool exercises three independent systems: camera input, microphone input, and speaker output. For the camera it shows a live preview, the active resolution, and the measured frame rate. For the microphone it shows a volume meter and the peak level in decibels (dB) so you can tell if your voice is too quiet or too hot. For the speaker it plays a short test tone and lets you confirm whether you actually heard it. Each device is selectable from a dropdown, so if you have multiple cameras, mics, or output devices, you can find which one your browser is using right now.
Common issues and fixes
Permission and access
The browser asks for permission and you click Block by mistake. Open the site permission settings (click the lock icon next to the URL), set Camera and Microphone to Allow, and reload the page.Camera issues
The preview is black. Another app is using the webcam exclusively. Quit Zoom, Teams, OBS, or any other tool that grabbed the camera and try again. The webcam light is on but the preview is just static. The webcam driver is misbehaving. Unplug and replug a USB webcam, or restart the browser. Resolution shows lower than expected. Most laptop webcams max out at 720p. Higher-end webcams (Logitech Brio, modern iPhones used as webcams) can hit 1080p, but the browser still defaults to 720p for performance. FPS reads as 15 or lower. Either the room is too dark (most webcams drop frame rate to compensate) or another tab is running heavy video. Close other tabs and turn on a light.Microphone issues
The microphone meter doesn't move. Check the device dropdown — the browser might be using your laptop mic when you have a headset plugged in. Switch and speak again. On macOS, also check System Settings → Sound → Input. Echo or feedback during a real call. That's a speaker/mic interaction, not a hardware fault. Use headphones or check that your video app's echo cancellation is on.Speaker issues
The test sound doesn't play. On iOS Safari, autoplay is blocked. Tap the Play button directly. On desktop, check that the system volume isn't muted and that the correct output device is selected.Browser compatibility
Nothing happens when you click Start test. Your browser is too old. Use Chrome 90+, Edge 90+, Safari 14+, or Firefox 88+. The diagnostic report says getUserMedia is unsupported. You're on a very old browser, an unusual configuration, or you're viewing this page over plain HTTP (camera and mic require HTTPS).Privacy and security
We do not record, transmit, or analyse the contents of your camera or microphone stream. The video preview is rendered locally by your browser, the microphone meter reads the current sample window in memory, and the speaker test plays a tone we generate on the fly inside your browser — there is no audio file downloaded from a server. The diagnostic report is plain text containing only the device labels your browser exposes (e.g. "Built-in Microphone"), the measured resolution and FPS, the peak dB level you reached during the test, and your browser/OS user agent. It is not sent anywhere unless you copy or download it yourself.
If you'd like to verify any of this, open your browser's network tab while running the test — you'll see no outgoing connections related to media.