Website using camera access does not show access to rear camera

PradyGee

My work website uses camera to assess properties and timestamps the photos when taken using the website. The webpage only comes up with front camera (no way I can see to change it to rear / world-facing camera). Please advise if this is already an available feature or if it isn't please add this one.

I use this website on a Lenovo Tablet and on settings there is an option to choose front or rear camera. This option would help. Thanks.

iPad OS 26

jeanetienne

Hi PradyGee, thank you for taking the time to report this bug!

Would you be able to share the website you use where you see this issue? Would I be able to use the website and see the same problem?
Being able to reproduce the issue on my device would go a long way in helping understand and potentially fix or improve the situation!

Thank you for your help in making Orion a better browser!

laiz

Hey @PradyGee
Could you check how Safari behaves in this regard? Does it allow choosing which camera is used?

PradyGee

Safari does not show either camera and does not even come up with 'allow camera' pop up. I have allowed access to camera in Settings > safari, but still doesn't work.

I have also tried this website on chromium browsers such as Brave, Chrome, and others like Edge, Opera, Firefox and none of them come up with either cameras. Orion is the only one that at least bring up the front camera. Would be great if I can toggle to rear camera.

RoxyRoxyRoxy

PradyGee To clarify, when you say you've tried on other browsers, is that referring to other iOS browsers? If so and they don't work this might be a WebKit issue, as all browsers on iOS use WebKit.

PradyGee

RoxyRoxyRoxy Hi Roxy, yes, browsers on iPhone and iPad.

PradyGee

PradyGee Also Roxy, the issue might be because all browsers on iOS use WebKit , but my ray of hope is, for the first time, one browser; Orion, is able to access at least the front camera. Just wanted to see if the developers can give me access to rear camera as well.

RoxyRoxyRoxy

PradyGee I've forwarded it to the team, I'll update you here :)

PradyGee

Thanks for your reply #RoxyRoxyRoxy and #Jeanetienne. This is work website and is proprietary. I don't think I am allowed to share this in public and you won't be able to log into the site. Would screenshots help?

jeanetienne

PradyGee Ok, I understand the limitations.
In the interim, yes screenshots would absolutely help better narrow down the scope of this.
If you could take the same screenshots on Safari and Orion to showcase the differences this would be extrenely helpful!

PradyGee

I have attached a screen recording I did when I was on call with Apple trying to see if the issue can be resolved from their end. Please let me know if there is any further information you need. Thanks.

PradyGee

Hi #Jeanetienne and #RoxyRoxyRoxy, did you get a chance to look at the screen recording? Any updates?

jeanetienne

Hi PradyGee, thank you for you patience!

I had a look at your video and first off, thank you for the very detailed walk through and comparison with several browsers. It appears you were even describing the walkthrough during the recording? Unfortunately it seems the audio didn't make it through. That's not an issue as the screen recording is quite self explanatory. Thank you for that!

I'll investigate more and get back to you on that when I find something.

jeanetienne

Hi PradyGee, I think I made progress but I'm not sure you're going to like it unfortunately...

From my understanding it is something that is decided by the website's javascript (or potentially the OS), but not by the browser.
In your detailed video, we can see the website zoom.us offers to pick which camera, it looks very much like a control Zoom designed, it matches their other buttons.

I put together a test page with simple Javascript to display the video feed from the camera, and with a camera selector. Please have a look at this page:
https://jeanetienne.net/orion/camera.html

I am still curious about your mention of your Lenovo tablet offering this option. Where in the settings does your lenovo tablet let you pick the camera? In the browser settings (which browser?), or in the OS settings?

Thank you for your help in troubleshooting this issue!

PradyGee

Thanks jeanetienne. The test website works well both on Safari and Orion on my iPhone and iPad. It gives me option to choose which camera to use and this is exactly the option I am looking for.

Lenovo tablet is a full fledged Windows tablet with Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome offering similar options to the test site you have created within the browser itself to select which camera to use.

jeanetienne

After a bit more research I am almost certain this is not something we can do on a WebKit browser on iOS.
If the website doesn't offer this option, there's nothing we can do in Orion iOS to change it unfortunately.

At this stage I think your best option is to contact the developers of the website and ask them to add this feature to their camera support code in JavaScript.

I am sorry this is probably not the answer you wanted, but I'm afraid this is all I can do for now.

PradyGee

jeanetienne Thanks for your time regarding this issue. I will speak to my IT team and see if they can implement camera support code as you have noted.

jeanetienne

PradyGee great! Please let us know if oyu get a satisfactory resolution to this pain point!