What you need to know if you're using Apple's Safari 12+ browser to access Coviu.
Last Updated: April 2022
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What you need to know
We're pleased to announce that it's now possible to use Safari 12+ on both Mac and iOS devices to conduct in-browser calls as a part of our Safari Beta.
We still recommend using Google Chrome on Mac Computers
Here's what you need to know:
- Support for Safari is still experimental. We've been working hard to ensure Safari works as seamlessly as our other supported platforms, but due to issues with the Safari browser itself (or how it interacts with other browsers) there may still be some technical restrictions, or performance impacts. Check the known issues list below for more information.
- Requires Safari 12 (or higher). Older versions of Safari do not support some of the technology that are required to conduct in-browser calls. If you've upgraded to iOS 12 (for iOS devices), or OSX Mojave (for Macs) then you'll already have Safari 12. If you don't, you can easily update using the App Store.
Limitations and known issues
Limited support
- Adjusting call quality settings. Some restrictions with the device capture systems in Safari means that the full features of call quality adjustments is not available. In particular, the Bandwidth Restricted setting that allows for very low quality video cannot support the low resolution required. Instead, in Safari, this setting uses the same quality settings as Low quality, but with a reduced frame rate (the video will appear a bit choppier).
Not yet supported
- Adding screenshares. Safari does not yet support the underlying technology that allows screensharing to take place, so you can't add a screenshare from Safari. Safari users can still receive screenshares however.
- Audio call recording. Our audio call recording system is still being updated to support Safari.
- Selecting a different audio output device. Safari does not currently support the ability to output audio to different audio device. In the interim, you should utilise the native support in OSX and iOS for choosing your audio output.
Technical issues
- Firefox 62 or lower shows a frozen video from a Safari user. Firefox 62 and lower currently has an issue with decoding video streams from Safari that results in a frozen video after a second of playback. To identify this issue, Firefox users will be presented with a notification indicating the problem where the Safari users video would normally appear. Audio is not affected.
- Firefox 63+ shows an extremely choppy video from a Safari user. A continuation from the prior issue, Mozilla has partially fixed the decoder issue that was in Firefox 62 so it no longer freezes completely. However, the video decoder is operating at substantially reduced efficiency, resulting in a video playback of approximately one frame per second (FPS), resulting in a very choppy video playback. Audio is not affected.
- Device switching taking longer. Switching your camera/microphones may take a little while longer than with other supported platforms due to Safari's media capture implementation. Not to worry though - it'll get there in the end!
More support options
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