Pexip Web App release notes

This topic describes the new features, changes in functionality, and fixed issues in the current and previous supported release of the Pexip web app (Webapp3).

New features

Following are the new features and changes in the Pexip Web App in Pexip Infinity version 39:

Feature Description More information
New and improved features
Custom background image deletion Users can now delete a custom background image that they had previously uploaded. Blurring or replacing your background
Additional join options

Prior to joining a meeting, participants can now open and select from a list of alternative joining methods. By default the options are Video, Audio-only and Presentation only.

Administrators can disable this feature, and change the options that are offered and the order in which they appear, via the new availableCallTypes setting in the defaultUserConfig section of the branding manifest. Additionally, administrators can change the text that is used to describe each option via the new joining-options[...] tokens within the media section of the language file.

 Joining a meeting
Live captions speaker diarization * The Live Captions History panel now includes the name of the participant who spoke. View a live transcription of the meeting
Meeting Manager: breakout room support * Meeting Managers can now manage breakout rooms. They also have the option to join the main room or individual breakout rooms directly as an additional audio/video Host participant. Managing meetings on the web app
Participant search The Participants panel now includes a search box, allowing users to find a participant by entering the start or part of their display name. Search for a participant
Support for personal layouts When personal layouts are enabled by an administrator, the Meeting layouts menu now allows participants to select a layout that applies only to themselves. Meeting layout
Additional media statistics The Media statistics dialog includes additional information such as average encode and decode time, time to capture statistics, and quality limitation information. View diagnostic information
Spotlight indicator Participants who are currently spotlighted now have a icon next to their name in the Participants panel. View a participant's status
Changes in functionality
Settings menu

The options under the Settings menu have been reorganized and added to:

  • A new Advanced menu, which includes some options previously under Additional settings, Video and sound, and Meeting settings.
  • A new Joining menu, where users set pre-join defaults such as their name and whether their camera and mic are enabled.
  • The Quality menu includes the options to enable Noise suppression and Prioritize sharing motion.
  • The option to Lock the meeting is now available from the toolbar only.
  • The About menu includes a customizable Privacy policy link. By default this directs to Pexip's privacy policy.

Settings menu

callType changes

Previously, the callType option (which determined whether the participant was able to send or receive audio or video) was specified via a numerical list that mapped on to the available combinations. Now, this list uses enumerations, and presentation is also included as an option.

callType is used when customizing the default user settings and in preconfigured URLs to specify the call type used when joining a call. It is also used when specifying the options available when using the new availableCallTypes setting.

The previous numerical format will continue to be supported to provide backwards compatibility.

 Call types
Order of participants Within the Participants panel, all Hosts now appear first (in alphabetical order), followed by all Guests (in alphabetical order).  
Camera released when muted

When a participant mutes their video, their camera is released and no longer appears as still in use (according to the camera's indicators and the device's OS), thus reassuring users that they are no longer sending video. When video is re-enabled, the camera is requested again. However, this does mean that another application may take over use of the camera while it is muted.

This option is enabled by default, but there is a new option to disable this feature via customization, using the stopCameraAsMute setting within defaultUserConfig.

 stopCameraAsMute

* Technology preview only

Fixed issues

Fixed in v39

Ref # Resolution
   
   

Known limitations

Ref # Limitation
GL4797 The Browser close confirmation option is shown to users of Safari on iOS, even though it is not fully supported and therefore does not take effect.

New in v38

Feature Description More information
New and improved features
Meeting Manager (Control view)*

Meeting Manager is a new participant type designed for someone who needs to join a meeting via the web app as a control participant only and does not need to present, view presentation, or send and receive audio and video. The Meeting Manager participates in the meeting simply to manage the participants and control the conference — for example by muting participants, lowering raised hands, admitting participants who are waiting in the lobby, and locking the meeting.

The Meeting Manager view is a columned layout of Participants, Raised hands, Waiting to join, and expandable settings.

A participant joins a conference as a Meeting Manager by using a preconfigured conference link with /mm at the end of the URL.

Managing meetings on the web app

Creating preconfigured links to launch conferences via Pexip apps

Advanced Pexip web app branding and customization

Built-in support for Arabic and Hebrew Arabic and Hebrew are now included in the available languages and can be selected in the web app itself. Languages/text used in labels and messages
Support for right-to-left (RTL) languages

The web app interface now supports languages that are written from right to left such as Arabic and Hebrew. Although Pexip provides native support for Arabic and Hebrew, not all RTL language translations are included by default. The interface will automatically adapt, however, if you supply a custom language file with an RTL locale code such as fa (Farsi).

 Languages/text used in labels and messages
Background blur and replacement improvements Improved visual experience and responsiveness when blurring or replacing your background during a meeting. Blurring or replacing your background
Large meeting performance improvements Improved stability and performance of meetings with a large number of participants.  
Tablet mode improvements Improvements to the user experience on foldable Windows laptops that can also act as a tablet.  
Accessibility improvements General improvements to the user interface to increase accessibility.  
Changes in functionality
Updates to callType parameter options for preconfigured conference links

If you use the callType parameter in preconfigured links to launch conferences via Pexip apps, note the following changes:

  • callType=none now determines that the participant will join as a control-only participant. They will have participant and conference controls but will not have presentation, audio, or video.
  • callType=presentation-only determines that the participant will join as a presentation and control-only participant. They will have conference controls and can view or share presentation, but they will not send or receive audio and video. Note: This is exactly how callType=none previously worked.
 Creating preconfigured links to launch conferences via Pexip apps
Updates to callType values for advanced web app customization

All callType values in the defaultUserConfig, used for manually customizing the user-configurable settings for sending and receiving audio, video, and presentation, have been updated. The value descriptions such as "audioonly" have not changed from the descriptions in Pexip Infinity 37 and earlier.

If you have applied custom branding that includes callType values from an earlier Pexip Infinity version, these values will no longer work upon upgrading. You must manually update the defaultUserConfig section of the application manifest file with the following values:

  • 0: ("none") to join as a control-only participant, i.e. the user will not send or receive any audio, video, or presentation.
  • 96: ("presentation-only") to join as a presentation and control-only participant, i.e. the user will not send or receive any audio or video.
  • 102: ("audioonly") to join as an audio-only participant, i.e. send and receive audio but not send or receive video.
  • 100: ("audiorecvonly") to receive but not send audio, and not send or receive video.
  • 98: ("audiosendonly") to send but not receive audio, and not send or receive video.
  • 120: ("videoonly") to send and receive video, but not send or receive audio.
  • 112: ("videorecvonly") to receive but not send video, and not send or receive audio.
  • 104: ("videosendonly") to send but not receive video, and not send or receive audio.
  • 106: ("audiovideosendonly") to send audio and video, but not receive audio or video.
  • 116: ("audiovideorecvonly") to receive audio and video, but not send audio or video.
  • 126: ("video") to join as a full (send and receive) audio and video participant.

If this value is not set, or is set to a value other than one listed above, the default 126 (full send and receive video and audio) is used.

Advanced Pexip web app branding and customization

Variable name change in language file Within the language .json file, the variables {{firstDisplayName}}, {{previousSecondDisplayName}} and {{newDisplayName}} have been replaced by {{first}}, {{second}} and {{third}} respectively. If you use any customized language files, you must update these to use the new variable names after upgrading to v38. Variable substitutions

* Technology preview only

New in v37

Feature Description More information
New features
Direct chat Participants can now send chat messages directly to other individual participants in the meeting, in addition to the existing option to send a message to all participants. Send and receive chat messages
Maximize self-view on mobile Participants on mobile devices can maximize their self-view, allowing them to see clearly the image they are sending to other participants. Self view window
Live captions transcripts Participants can now view an historical transcript of the live captions shown to them during a call. View a live transcription of the meeting
Safari background effects The background blur and background replace features are now supported on Safari browsers. Blurring or replacing your background
disconnectDestination parameters The disconnectDestination customization option now supports variables that can be replaced with contextual information about a specific call, such as the alias that was dialed. disconnectDestination
Changes in functionality
Plugin framework improvements We have made improvements to the Webapp3 plugin framework and its iframe manager concept. As part of these changes, the security of the Plugin API has been improved by making the default sandbox policy for iframes more restrictive. As a result, certain plugins (including those provided by Pexip for the VMR self-service portal, Pexip Secure Scheduler for Web, Pexip Secure Meetings for Justice and Rocket.Chat integrations) may lose functionality, but this can be mitigated by setting additional sandbox values in the plugin manifest. For full instructions, see the Pexip developer portal.  

New in v36.1

Feature Description More information
New features

Camera off when joining

Mute microphone when joining

Users can now choose to have their camera and/or microphone turned off by default when joining meetings. There are two new options in Additional settings: Camera off when joining and Mute microphone when joining.

These controls will override <muteMicrophone> and <muteCamera> parameters in pre-configured links for launching conferences. If these parameters are set to false, the user configuration for Camera off when joining and Mute microphone when joining will take priority.

Admins can configure the initial state of the toggles via advanced customization, using enforceAudioMute and enforceVideoMute.

If these flags are set to true the settings will be enabled by default for each user until they are deactivated in Additional settings.

Using the web app

Advanced web app customization

Pre-configured links to launch conferences

Changes in functionality
Large conference improvements Improvements to Webapp3's performance during conferences with a large number of participants.  

New in v36

Feature Description More information
New features
Pop-up-free authentication Administrators can now opt to remove the use of pop-up windows for Webapp3 participants when authenticating using SSO in order to join a meeting. About pop-up windows
Participant authentication indicator Webapp3 users can enable an option that indicates to them which participants were required to authenticate using SSO in order to join the meeting. Show authenticated participants
Option to disable keyboard shortcuts Users can now disable keyboard shortcuts to avoid potential conflicts with screen readers. The default setting for this option is configurable via customization.

Disable app shortcuts

Customization option: disableKeyboardShortcuts
Changes in functionality
Mute sync improvements
  • Mute indicators now show whether participants muted themselves or were muted by a Host.
  • Hosts can decide whether Guests who have been muted by a Host can unmute themselves.
  • Guests who have been muted by a Host are warned when they are later unmuted by a Host, and must choose whether or not to stay muted.

Muting a participant's audio

Allow guests to unmute themselves

View a participant's status

Participants panel improvements
  • Meeting-wide controls (such as muting all guests and ending the meeting) are now under the participants panel Settings menu.
  • Participant-specific controls that were adjacent to participant names (such as muting and disconnecting) are now under the options menu for each participant. Icons next to participant names are now indicators rather than controls.
 Participants panel
Chat panel improvements
  • Information about participants joining and leaving the conference is now shown in the chat panel.
  • When writing messages, pressing Shift+Enter on the keyboard enters a new line.

View information about participants joining and leaving the meeting

Send and receive chat messages

Direct media improvements

When a call changes from a being a direct media call to a transcoded call and vice versa:

  • chat messages are preserved
  • any active presentations are preserved.
  
Default branding colors Some colors used in the default branding package have been updated. Default branding packages

Fixed in v38.1

Ref # Resolution

45991

GL5505

 Fixed an error in the translation file that caused placeholder values to appear in place of participant names in the chat panel when multiple participants joined or left the meeting.
45785 Guest participants in a direct media call are now able to share presentation.

45091

GL5377

 When using Chrome and selecting an alternative camera to the system default, the camera selection is now remembered when connecting to a subsequent meeting.

Fixed in v38.0

Ref # Resolution

44581

GL5333

 Fixes an issue in breakout rooms that allowed Guests to see control-only Host participants in the participants list of the breakout room they were in. Guests can no longer see control-only Host participants in their breakout room's participant list.

43864

GL5276

 Fixes an issue that caused an error message to incorrectly appear in white text even though the Webapp3 theme included "overlay": "light". Now, when the theme includes "overlay": "light", the message is in dark text.

42958

GL5202

 Fixes an issue that caused live captions to obstruct the in-meeting buttons when using the web app in landscape mode on mobile.
GL5233 Fixes an issue that could cause the web app to stop sending video when the close browser confirmation was rejected while background blur was enabled.

GL5386, GL5387, GL5388, GL5389, GL5390, GL5391

 General fixes and improvements to the user interface for accessibility.

Fixed in v37.0

Ref # Resolution

43292

GL5245

 Fixed an issue where the app did not request microphone access if there was no camera device attached.
GL5190 Fixed an issue where, in certain circumstances, it was not possible to join a VMR through a Virtual Reception if the VMR had a PIN.

42474

GL5174

 In previous versions, when using &callType=audiovideorecvonly as a parameter in a preconfigured link for joining a conference, Webapp3 failed to send the video_muted signal and the non-video participant could appear as a full tile in the conference layout. This has now been fixed.
GL5158 Fixed an issue on Webapp3 when used in a browser on a mobile device, where self-view could sometimes disappear when the user flipped their camera.
GL5157 When using Firefox, some Webapp3 calls failed to connect when the microphone and camera selection was remembered based on previous permissions granted by the user. This has now been fixed.
GL5151 Fixed an issue on Webapp3 when used in a browser on a mobile device where maximizing self-view during a conference could cause the self-view video to turn black.
GL5139 The Dual-screen mode button now has an associated data-testid, so can be hidden via customization using the hiddenFunctionality setting.
GL5120 Fixed an issue where an end user in a direct media call had to select live captions twice for it to be successfully enabled.
GL5090 Fixed a misspelling in the German translation for "noise suppression".
GL4613 In previous versions, an unusable Chat panel could be opened by users in a conference waiting room. This panel can no longer be opened.

35820

GL4422

 When SIP devices that are joining a meeting from an IVR are shown in the Participants panel, they now have Admit and Deny buttons next to their name.
GL3740 Previously, users with a backslash ( \ ) in their display name could not be displayed in the participants list. This has now been fixed.

Fixed in v36.1

Ref # Resolution
41886 Resolved an issue that caused an "Invalid PIN" error when certain combinations of <PIN> and <role> parameters were used in preconfigured links for launching conferences in Webapp3.
41820 Resolved an issue that caused Webapp3 to become unresponsive in conferences with over 500 participants.
41560 Resolved an issue where presentation may have be sent to endpoints at a very low frame rate.
39045 Resolved an issue that sometimes caused users of Chromium-based browsers on Windows devices with an Intel GPU to experience black video or frozen self-view when enabling background effects such as blur or replacement.

Fixed in v36.0

Ref # Resolution

40796

GL5045

 Resolved an issue whereby a Webapp3 participant whose video or audio was administratively muted and who then experienced connectivity issues would subsequently start sending video or audio.

39138

GL4902

 Resolved an issue that affected direct media conferences joined via a webapp3 path with branding applied which included shouldMaskConference, whereby if a third participant joined, none of the participants received media after it was escalated to a transcoded conference.

38808

GL4871

 When a Webapp3 participant joins a conference with their bandwidth set to `Auto`, change their bandwidth to a different setting, and then change their bandwidth back to `Auto`, the correct bandwidth limitations are now applied.

37887

GL4743

 There is now a differentiation between administrative muting and self-muting of participants, and these states are now controlled separately.