Camera Test Online — Check Your Webcam or Phone Camera
Open this camera test online before the call and check the picture you actually get. It shows a live preview and the video resolution delivered to your browser, whether you use a phone camera, laptop webcam or USB camera. You can see straight away whether the page has an image to work with.
Look at your face in the preview before worrying about the numbers. A clear, usable picture is the point. The FPS counter follows video frames presented in this browser when supported. A dash means there is no usable sample yet; it is not a zero-FPS diagnosis. The preview stays in your browser and is not uploaded.
How to run the test
Press Start camera and approve the permission prompt. The preview appears in a second or two. Three things are worth reading: the picture itself (is it there, right way up, bright enough, does it freeze?), the resolution of the video track the browser handed over, and the frame rate.
Mirror flips the image left-to-right, the way you normally see yourself in a video call. Snapshot saves the current frame to your device as a PNG so you can zoom into it. Stop camera releases the device and the indicator light beside the lens goes out — that light is the honest confirmation the page has let go.
Front camera or rear camera — which one you get
The test asks for a camera without naming one, so the browser picks the default: the built-in webcam on a laptop, and on a phone almost always the front (selfie) camera — usually the one you want, since it is the camera every video call uses.
To reach a different camera on a desktop, use the browser's own picker: in Chrome and Edge, click the camera icon in the address bar after granting access, choose another device and reload; Firefox lists the cameras inside the prompt itself. Phones hand over the front camera and offer no picker, so check the rear lenses in the stock camera app. For the rest of the hardware, the phone test online suite covers the sensors, the vibration motor and the digitizer.
What the resolution and frame rate actually tell you
The resolution is the size of the video stream delivered to this page, not the camera’s maximum hardware resolution.
The FPS counter uses presented video frames and elapsed callback time. It describes playback in this browser, not the sensor’s capture rate. Unsupported browsers or a stalled stream show a dash rather than an invented value.
Look at the picture before comparing numbers. Try similar lighting and watch a slow movement in the preview; a clear, usable image matters more than a high counter.
Focus, dust and scratches
Hold something with small text about 30 cm from the lens; a healthy camera settles on it in under a second. Most laptop webcams and many front phone cameras are fixed-focus at arm's length, so slight softness very close up is normal — constant hunting, or a picture that never resolves at any distance, is not.
For dust and scratches, point the camera at a white wall or the sky. Flaws in the optics stay in the same place on screen when you move the camera; anything that moves with the scene is just the room. Take a snapshot and zoom in: a still frame shows soft blobs and hairline scratches the moving preview hides. Then wipe the lens with a dry microfibre cloth and look again — skin oil or a badly cut screen protector over the selfie cutout explains most "my front camera went blurry" complaints. A mark that survives cleaning is inside the module.
"Camera in use by another application" and other failures
This is the failure people hit most, and it is usually literal: on Windows one program holds the camera at a time, and the browser is second in line.
- Close the other camera apps. Teams, Zoom, Discord, OBS and the Windows Camera app often keep running in the tray after their window is closed. End them in Task Manager, then reload.
- Check the other browser tab. A meeting tab in another window counts as another app.
- Check the system permission, not just the site one. Windows: Settings › Privacy & security › Camera, with access on for the device, for desktop apps, and for your browser. macOS: System Settings › Privacy & Security › Camera.
- Reset the site permission. Once you deny the prompt the browser remembers and stops asking, which reads like a broken page. In Chrome, click the icon left of the address bar and set Camera back to Ask; in Safari, use Settings for This Website.
- Works in Zoom but in no browser? The camera is fine and the browser path is blocked — a privacy shutter or vendor utility set to desktop apps only, antivirus webcam protection, or a driver offering a format browsers refuse.
One more rule catches people out: browsers only grant camera access on a secure page, so any camera test online served over plain http:// fails regardless of the hardware.
Checking the camera on a used phone
Run this test first: ten seconds catches the dead cases — no preview, a picture that freezes, a black frame with the light on. Then snapshot a plain bright surface and view it full size for fixed marks, which is how you spot dust and scratches the seller's photos never show.
Finish in the stock camera app for the rear lenses: switch between every lens, watch for a crash or "camera failed", shoot one close subject and one across the room, and fire the flash. While the phone is in your hands, a touch screen test takes another minute and finds dead digitizer zones, which are worse to live with than a soft selfie camera.
The video stays in your browser
The preview is not recorded and not uploaded. The page requests the camera stream, attaches it straight to a video element on screen, and does nothing else with it: no recorder, no request carrying video or frames anywhere, no copy kept anywhere. Nobody, including us, can see what your camera sees.
Snapshots work the same way — the frame is drawn onto a canvas in your own tab and handed to your browser as an ordinary download, so the image exists only if you save it. Press Stop camera or close the tab and the camera is released. A web page cannot open your camera without the prompt, keep it after the tab closes, or reach it over an insecure connection. Run the camera test online, then watch the light go out: a guarantee you can see for yourself.
Frequently asked questions
My camera works in Zoom and Teams but not in the browser. What is wrong?
The camera is fine — something is blocking the browser's path to it. The usual causes are a privacy shutter or vendor utility set to allow desktop apps only, antivirus webcam protection, an OS setting where camera access for desktop apps is off, or a driver that offers a format the browser rejects. Test a second browser to confirm it is not one browser's profile, then check the vendor utility, the antivirus and the driver in that order.
Why do I get a black screen when my camera is on, and why does it turn off after a few seconds?
A black picture with the indicator light on means the browser or app holds the camera but receives no frames, which is usually a second app fighting for the same device or a stalled driver. Quit every other camera app, reload, and run this test: if the preview appears here, the fault is in the calling app, so sign out of it and restart the machine. If it is black here too, the driver or the camera itself is the problem.
How do I solve "camera is being used by another app"?
Close the app that is holding it. On Windows the camera is handed to one program at a time, and Teams, Zoom, Discord, OBS and the Camera app frequently keep running in the tray after their window is closed — end them in Task Manager, then reload the page. If nothing is obviously open, check that camera access is enabled for your device and for desktop apps in Windows privacy settings, and that the Windows Camera Frame Server service is not disabled.
Why is my selfie camera blurry?
Nine times out of ten the lens is dirty or covered. Skin oil from your face, a screen protector cut slightly over the camera hole, or a case lip across the cutout all soften the image; wipe the glass with a dry microfibre cloth and look again. If a mark stays in the same spot on screen when you move the phone, it is dust or a scratch inside the module. Also remember most front cameras are fixed-focus at arm's length, so very close shots are meant to be soft.
Why is my webcam only getting 10-15 fps and looking choppy?
Low light, almost certainly. Cameras run auto-exposure by default, and in a dim room they hold the shutter open longer per frame to gather light, which cuts the frame rate — the same camera that hits 60 fps outdoors can drop to 10 fps indoors. Add a light in front of you, not behind, and watch the number recover. If it stays low in bright light, lower the resolution to 720p or check for a USB bandwidth limit.
The camera permission prompt does not show again after I denied it. How do I get it back?
The browser saved your "no" for this site and stopped asking. Reset it manually: in Chrome or Edge, click the icon at the left of the address bar and set Camera to Ask or Allow, then reload. In Safari on a Mac, open Safari › Settings for This Website and change Camera back to Ask; on iPhone, tap the page settings icon in the address bar and change it there. The prompt returns on the next load.
How should I check the camera before buying a second-hand phone?
Open this test on the phone first: it proves the front camera streams at all, shows the resolution the hardware reports, and a snapshot of a white wall reveals dust or scratches inside the lens as marks that stay put when you move the phone. Then use the stock camera app for the rear lenses — switch between every lens, check focus close up and across the room, and fire the flash. Watch for crashes or "camera failed" on a lens switch.