Telescope 3.3.0

Telescope 3.3 can stream several cameras at once, stream from a browser when there's no Android phone at hand, and turn the camera off while the mic keeps going. Update both the desktop and the phone app.

New

Several cameras at once. While one stream runs, the + next to Stop starts another phone or browser, up to four. Each one gets its own virtual camera (Phone Camera 2 to 4 on Linux, Telescope #2 to #4 on Windows), and a row of tiles shows what's streaming where. Click a tile to change its settings. A phone gets the same virtual camera as last time when it's free, so for example OBS scenes keep pointing at the right one.

Browser camera. Stream from an iPhone, a tablet or another laptop, with nothing to install. Pick Browser camera in the phone picker, scan the code on its card and tap Start on the page. The browser's mic works too. The browser often warns that the connection isn't private, because Telescope makes its own certificate. Just tap Advanced (Show Details on iPhone) and go on to the page. If you would like to learn why that happens, see Browser camera for the details.

Mic only. The camera button under the preview turns the phone's camera off while keeping the mic streaming. During that, apps viewing the camera see the wait screen. Press it before Start to get Start mic only. With the mic on, Automatic streaming now only turns the camera off when apps stop using it, so a call that switched its camera off still hears you.

Changed

• The tray icon shows what's live: a red dot for the camera, a mic for the mic (crossed out when muted).
• A stream that stays gone for 10 seconds shows the wait screen instead of a frozen frame, and after 30 seconds a banner says which phone it can't reach.
• When battery or temperature stops a stream, the window says why and gives an option to Start anyway.
• Picking another phone in the picker mid-stream switches the stream to it.
• After reinstalling the phone app, pairing it again asks whether it's the same phone and keeps its old settings.
• The ? next to Add phone opens the setup checklist again.
• The Linux launcher always needed Python 3.11 or newer but now it clearly says that instead of just failing.

Fixed

A lot of bugs, mostly around streams starting, stopping and switching:

• When another app on the phone takes the camera the stream waits for it instead of failing.
• Changing Connect via mid-stream checks the phone answers that way before moving the stream.
• ISO, shutter, exposure and focus stay within what the lens can do, and a setting that didn't reach the phone gets sent again.
• On Light, the resolution list only offers sizes the phone's encoder takes.
• Updating: a logout during the first start no longer counts as a failed update. A rolled-back update notifies you about it, and a new version waits for the old one to let go of its port.
• A damaged config file no longer resets your settings silently. Telescope keeps a copy and shows you where to find it.
• Two users on one Linux machine can each run Telescope.
• A long computer name no longer breaks Add phone.
• Phone app: buttons grow with a larger font size and Remove no longer touches its neighbour in right-to-left languages.

Found something broken? Open an issue and paste your Copy diagnostics report into it.