Signal-android: feature request: switching to back camera for video calls

[Be-ing]

I have:

• [x] searched open and closed issues for duplicates
• [x] read https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/wiki/Submitting-useful-bug-reports

It is difficult to point the camera at something other than oneself during a video call using the front camera because it is hard to get oneself out of the way while seeing the screen. It would be helpful to be able to switch between the front and back camera in the call to make it easier to show one's surroundings.

[sigenc]

This is a really important request. At the Moment it is not possible to Show anything with webrtc.

[smidm]

+1

[ghost]

@smidm please read Contributing to Signal Android: dont-bump-issues
Please use reaction emojis as I did for your comment 😉

EDIT:
@smidm has already reacted my comment with 👍

[zero77]

@sigenc
Is this still the case, that its not possible.

[trymeouteh]

This would be handy especially when the video calls get laggy.

[nrizzio]

@trymeouteh Please read the contributing guidelines and cease bumping issues.

[alanina]

How can this feature request still be open in this day and age when the majority of the messaging apps have it enabled?

[Be-ing]

@alanina the Signal developers have their own priorities. Complaining with an entitled tone does not change that. Asking nicely by adding a :+1: reaction to this request might. If this feature is so important to you, you can program it yourself and open a pull request. Signal has contribution guidelines in this Git repository.

[alanina]

@Be-ing to be honest my tone was more surprised than entitled but how complicated could be to extend the current code that defaults to the front-face camera and use the exiting Android Camera 2 API as shown in one of the Google samples....
https://github.com/googlesamples/android-Camera2Basic/blob/master/Application/src/main/java/com/example/android/camera2basic/Camera2BasicFragment.java

....
// We don't use a front facing camera in this sample.
Integer facing = characteristics.get(CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING);
if (facing != null && facing == CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING_FRONT) {
continue;
}
....

[nh2]

I agree that this is an important feature, and it's a reason why many of my contacts have recommended not to use Signal (so I can understand @alanina's stance).

I've taken a couple hours of my free time today to implement this feature, adding a button to switch between front and rear camera: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/pull/7559

Please test it if you can, and tell me if it works for you.

Here's an built APK in case you don't want to build it yourself:

Signal-play-debug-4.17.5-webrtc-camera-flipping.apk.zip

[alanina]

Niklas thank you for the effort. I will try out your debug build in a
couple days and let you know if it works as expected on my phone.

Many thanks!
Alex

On 23 March 2018 at 17:34, Niklas Hambüchen [e-mail]
wrote:

I agree that this is an important feature, and it's a reason why many of
my contacts have recommended not to use Signal (so I can understand
@alanina http:///alanina's stance).

I've taken a couple hours of my free time today to implement this feature,
adding a button to switch between front and rear camera: #7559
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/pull/7559

Please test it if you can, and tell me if it works for you.

Here's an built APK in case you don't want to build it yourself:

Signal-play-debug-4.17.5-webrtc-camera-flipping.apk.zip
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/files/1843562/Signal-play-debug-4.17.5.apk.zip

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[automated-signal]

GitHub Issue Cleanup:
See #7598 for more information.

[greyson-signal]

FYI this was implemented in #7735. Thanks!