TIPS + TRICKS

When in doubt, reboot

If you encounter any issues with FarPlay, the first thing to try is to restart your computer. Yes, we know that’s the oldest trick in the book, but it’s amazing how often it helps.

Manually Adjust your Latency

With the Auto button engaged , FarPlay will continuously adjust your latency to maintain good sound quality in the audio you hear. If there’s a spike in internet traffic, for example, FarPlay will automatically increase your latency to avoid glitches in the audio.
This works well for many cases, but for advanced use, when maintaining the lowest, most stable latency is important (when playing highly rhythmic music, for example), we recommend disengaging the Auto button and setting your latency manually using the slider. If there’s a spike in internet traffic, you may briefly hear some audio glitches, but they should quickly go away, and your overall latency will stay stable.

Personal Meeting Rooms

As of version 1.0.7, FarPlay features Personal Meeting Rooms, allowing you to use a permanent, dedicated session ID for all your sessions. You still have the option of creating a one-time session ID if you prefer. This feature is particularly useful for teachers, who no longer have to send individual session IDs to their students: you can give them your Personal Meeting Room ID once and keep using it for as many sessions as you’d like. To use Personal Meeting Rooms, first go to farplay.io/myAccount, then click Account Preferences. This will bring you to the Account Preferences page. If you’re subscribed to either Standard or Standard+, you’ll find an option there: Inset of screenshot of Account Preferences showing section labeled Personal Meeting Room with a blue button labeled, "Create my Personal Meeting Room" Click “Create my Personal Meeting Room”, and you’ll be given a session ID that is permanent and unique to you. If, for whatever reason, you wish to change it, you can simply delete it and create a new one. Once you’ve created a Personal Meeting Room, you’ll notice that a menu now appears when you click New Session in the FarPlay app, allowing you to choose between using your Personal Meeting Room or a one-time session ID: Screenshot of FarPlay's main window zoomed into New Session and Join Session buttons. The New Session has been clicked, revealing a context menu. The first item reads, "Create a one-time session." The second item reads, "Enter my personal meeting room (redacted)."

Chat

As of version 1.1, FarPlay features Chat functionality, allowing you to chat via text with other participants in the session. To activate this feature, the person initiating the session must have a subscription. Chat is useful during setup, particularly if a participant has not yet connected their audio; it’s also useful for behind-the-scenes communication during a live performance.

To open the Chat window, click the 💬 Chat button in the main FarPlay window, or the 💬 icon in the Video window. By default, FarPlay opens the Chat window automatically when a new message is received, but this behavior can be disabled if preferred by unchecking the “Open this window when chat is received” checkbox.

Composite screenshot. On FarPlay's main window, the Chat button is highlighted. On the FarPlay Video window, the chat icon in the column of icons near the top-left corner is highlighted. The highlighted icons are both shown to bring up a chat window with an example chat and showing, under the chat, the "Open this window when chat is received" checkbox checked.

Video recording

Subscribers can use FarPlay’s built-in video recording—no need to run a 3rd-party screen capture application! Exported combined video shows multiple participant video feeds in a single view. Standard and Standard+ subscribers can record combined video. Standard+ subscribers also get individual video tracks for individual participants (convenient for video editing). To get started, go to the Tools section and click Start Recording. Choose record multitrack video (for Standard+ subscribers) or record mix video (for Standard subscribers) in the context menu. Learn more about video recording using our step-by-step instructions.
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Microphone Permissions on Mac

If you’re not getting any sound input on macOS, this is likely due to a mic permissions issue. To fix this, do the following:
  1. Quit FarPlay.
  2. Open the Apple Menu  at the top-left corner of the screen, choose System Settings and then Privacy & Security.
  3. Click Microphone.
  4. Scroll down to FarPlay.
  5. Make sure the toggle switch next to FarPlay is ON.
  6. Reopen FarPlay, and you should now have sound input from your microphone.
Composite screenshot: In Apple menu, System settings is highlighted. Making this selection is shown to bring up System Settings. Privacy & Security is highlighted in the left column. Microphone is highlighted in the list on the right. Choosing Microphone is shown to bring up, still in the System Settings window, a list titled Microphone, listing all applications for which a toggle switch can be used to allow access to microphones. FarPlay is highlighted in the list, and the corresponding toggle switch is shown toggled to the on position, allowing FarPlay to access microphones.

Camera Permissions on Mac

If you’re not getting an image from your camera on macOS, this is likely due to a camera permissions issue. To fix this, do the following:
  1. Quit FarPlay.
  2. Open the Apple Menu  at the top-left corner of the screen, choose System Settings and then Privacy & Security.
  3. Click Camera.
  4. Scroll down to FarPlay.
  5. Make sure the toggle switch next to FarPlay is ON.
  6. Reopen FarPlay, and you should now have video input from your camera. If not, restarting your computer at this point should fully solve the issue.

Working with Windows

FarPlay supports native Windows audio devices, so you can use FarPlay immediately with your computer’s integrated audio device, without any additional downloads. FarPlay also supports ASIO devices and drivers, which will give you the best possible latency. We have more information on optimizing your Windows setup here.

Fine-tune your Hardware Buffer

When you first start a session, before anyone else connects, you’ll find your Local Latency displayed under Remote Sound. This is an estimate of the total latency in your audio hardware, from capture at the mic to reproduction in your headphones. You can fine-tune this by adjusting the Audio Buffer Size in Preferences.

⚠ If you’re using Windows, you’ll need to use an external audio interface with reliable manufacturer-provided ASIO drivers. When this is the case, the Audio Buffer Size is adjusted using the ASIO Buffer Settings button or an icon the audio interface’s software puts in the system tray.

Three screenshots show user interfaces on Microsoft Windows. On the FarPlay welcome screen, the menu labeled Menu is open, with the Preferences choice highlighted. This choice brings up the Preferences window, which is shown with the General Tab displayed. The layout of buttons and menus is largely the same as for the General Tab described above for FarPlay on macOS, but with some differences. The Microphone and Headphones pull-down menus show Focusrite USB ASIO instead of Scarlett 2i2 USB. Further, in the "Audio Buffer Size" row, the pull-down menu has been grayed out, and to the right of this pull-down menu, there is a button labeled "ASIO Buffer Settings." This button is shown to bring up a small window containing software from Focusrite for adjusting the "Buffer Size" of the USB audio interface using a pull-down menu.
Adjusting the Audio Buffer Size will have different effects depending on your hardware and platform. On Mac, you should easily be able to go to the lowest values without problems; on Windows, you may need to experiment with this value for the optimal setup.

Broadcast Output

Standard+ subscribers can use FarPlay’s Broadcast Output feature to output a separate clean audio mix (to a livestreaming application or a DAW, for example).

If you happen to know what a virtual sound card is and just need to find the Broadcast Output settings in FarPlay, click on the FarPlay Menu, choose Preferences, and then click Broadcast Output to open the Broadcast Output tab. If you’re looking for step-by-step instructions for using Broadcast Output for livestreaming, visit our Broadcast Output page.

Stuck “Connecting to …” when using restrictive networks

Most users use FarPlay without making any changes to their network settings (remember to use Ethernet!). Using FarPlay with especially restrictive networks—often found on university campus and corporate networks—sometimes requires additional steps.

Cartoon showing audio equipment connected to a computer connected to a router connected through the Internet to another router connected to another computer connected to another set of audio equipment. The routers are highlighted and labeled. On the two computer screens, FarPlay's main window can be seen. Zoomed-in insets show that the bottom of each of these instances of FarPlay's main window is stuck displaying "Connecting to [redacted name of remote user] ...". A caption, reading "Stuck, doesn't connect" points to each of these messages.
For more information, visit our step-by-step instructions for using forwarded ports. If you want FarPlay to use ports that you’ve already forwarded on your router, simply click on the FarPlay menu, choose Preferences, and then navigate to the Advanced tab. Check the checkbox to “Use specific UDP port range for P2P connections,” and use the Min and Max boxes to enter the port range forwarded on your router.