Sometimes, your camera or microphone might not be working in the Sherpa Classroom. This is always a problem that can easily be fixed, and in this article we'll break down what might be causing this problem, from the mostly-likely causes to the least-likely causes.
Work through this list in order and you'll have your camera or microphone working in the classroom in no time.
The Most Likely - Your Browser Doesn't Have Permission
Browsers have to request access to your camera and microphone for security reasons on the classroom.
When you join the classroom, you'll see a popup like this in the top right of your screen:
You may have accidentally clicked 'Block', or your browser may have blocked access by default.
Not to worry - you can always update your settings to allow Sherpa to access your camera and microphone later.
How you do this varies by browser. Google "How to give camera permissions to website in <your browser> <your device>" to get more detailed instructions on how to do this.
For example, in Chrome, you can click on the 'Padlock' icon next to the URL to toggle permissions:
Once you've updated the settings, remember to refresh the page.
Slightly Less Likely - Another App Is Using Your Camera or Microphone
Sometimes, apps like Zoom can hog the camera and microphone and prevent other applications from accessing them.
If you've recently used Zoom and the classroom is reporting that it can't access your camera or microphone, make sure to close Zoom (or the offending app) down.
Closed the app but still getting the same error?
Make sure to refresh the page. If that's still not working, it may be the app is still running in the background and hogging the camera & mic.
In that case, it is sometimes easiest to restart your device in order to properly close the offending app and free up the permissions on your device.
Slightly Less Likely - They're Being Blocked at the Hardware Level
Some laptops and devices come built in with a manual switch to turn off your camera and microphone for security reasons. Make sure this isn't on your device!
If you're on a Windows device, check out this guide.
If you're on a Mac, check out this guide.
Unlikely - A Background Program is Running or Hardware is Faulty
At this stage, we start to get to extremely niche problems that you may require some help with.
If you're stuck trying to get your camera and microphone to work, book in for a troubleshooting call with the Sherpa team here, where a member of our tech team will help solve your issue.
We've built a troubleshooting tool to test your device and network connection in order to be able to use the Sherpa classroom trouble-free.
Our tool will walk you through granting camera and microphone permissions, testing your speakers and microphone and finally testing your network connection to ensure that you'll be able to communicate in real-time with no lagging or latency problems.