Video & Voice

Overview

The Video & Voice module brings real-time communication to your Helpon chat widget. Located under Helpon → Settings → Video & Voice, this module enables agents and visitors to escalate text conversations into live video or voice calls directly within the browser.

Key capabilities include:

• WebRTC-powered calls — Peer-to-peer video and voice with no third-party plugins required
• Vapi.ai voice agent — AI-powered voice assistant that handles calls when human agents are unavailable
• Call recording — Automatic or on-demand recording with optional transcription
• Screen sharing — Share screens, windows, or individual browser tabs during calls
• In-call controls — Mute, hold, transfer, and in-call messaging

WebRTC Setup

WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is the technology that powers browser-based video and voice calls. Helpon uses WebRTC to establish direct peer-to-peer connections between agents and visitors without routing media through a central server.

Enable WebRTC

STUN Server:  stun:stun.l.google.com:19302
TURN Server:  turn:your-turn-server.com:3478
TURN Username: your-username
TURN Password: your-credential

Video Calls

Video calls allow face-to-face communication between agents and visitors directly within the Helpon chat widget. Calls are initiated from an active chat session and open in an overlay window.

Initiating a Video Call

Both agents and visitors can start a video call depending on your permission configuration:

• Agent → Visitor: Click the video camera icon in the agent chat console toolbar. The visitor receives an in-widget prompt to accept or decline the call.
• Visitor → Agent: If enabled, visitors see a video call button in the chat widget header. The call is routed to the assigned agent or the next available agent in the queue.

Video Quality & Bandwidth

Voice Calls

Voice-only calls provide a lightweight alternative to video calls with lower bandwidth requirements. They are ideal for quick consultations, follow-ups, or situations where video is not necessary.

Voice calls use the same WebRTC infrastructure as video calls but transmit only audio. Visitors can switch between voice and video during an active call if both modes are enabled.

Audio Settings

Vapi.ai Voice Agent

Helpon integrates with Vapi.ai to provide an AI-powered voice agent that can handle incoming voice calls when no human agents are available. The Vapi voice agent can greet callers, answer common questions, collect information, and transfer calls to a live agent when needed.

Setting Up Vapi.ai

Call Recording

Helpon can record video and voice calls for quality assurance, training, compliance, or patient record-keeping. Recordings are stored securely and accessible from the conversation history.

Enable Recording

Navigate to Helpon → Settings → Video & Voice → Recording and configure the following options:

Recording Options

• Automatic: All calls are recorded by default. Participants see a recording indicator.
• Manual: Agents click the record button during a call to start/stop recording.
• Disabled: No recording functionality is available.

Accessing Recordings

Recordings are linked to their parent conversation and can be found in Helpon → Conversations. Click on any conversation that included a call to find the recording player and download link. If auto-transcription is enabled, the text transcript appears alongside the recording.

Screen Sharing

Screen sharing allows agents and visitors to share their screen during an active video or voice call. This is useful for troubleshooting, walkthroughs, form assistance, and visual demonstrations.

Enable Screen Sharing

Go to Helpon → Settings → Video & Voice → Screen Sharing and toggle the feature on. You can configure who is allowed to share and what sharing modes are available.

Call Controls

During an active video or voice call, both agents and visitors have access to an in-call control bar. The available controls depend on call type, permissions, and enabled features.

Browser Compatibility

WebRTC is supported by all modern browsers, but feature availability varies. The table below outlines compatibility for Helpon's video and voice features.

Troubleshooting

Common issues with video and voice calls and their solutions:

Camera or microphone not detected

• Ensure the browser has permission to access the camera and microphone. Check the address bar for a blocked camera/microphone icon and click it to grant access.
• Verify that no other application (e.g., Zoom, Teams, Skype) is currently using the camera or microphone.
• On macOS, check System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Camera / Microphone to ensure the browser is listed and enabled.
• On Windows, go to Settings → Privacy → Camera / Microphone and verify browser access is allowed.
• Try selecting a different device from the in-call settings menu if multiple cameras or microphones are available.

Poor call quality

• Check network bandwidth. Video calls require at least 1 Mbps upload and download for 720p quality.
• Enable Adaptive Bitrate in video settings to allow Helpon to automatically adjust quality.
• Reduce video resolution from 720p to 480p or 360p if bandwidth is limited.
• Close other bandwidth-heavy applications or browser tabs during the call.
• If using Wi-Fi, move closer to the router or switch to a wired Ethernet connection.
• Check the call quality indicator during the call. One bar indicates a poor connection.

WebRTC connection failed

• Verify that your site is served over HTTPS. WebRTC will not work on HTTP connections.
• Check that STUN/TURN servers are correctly configured in Helpon → Settings → Video & Voice.
• Run the Test Connection tool to diagnose connectivity issues.
• Ensure required firewall ports are open (UDP 3478 and UDP 49152–65535).
• If behind a corporate firewall or VPN, contact your network administrator to allow WebRTC traffic. A TURN server with TCP fallback on port 443 can help bypass restrictive firewalls.
• Try using a different network (e.g., mobile hotspot) to isolate whether the issue is network-specific.

Recording not saving

• Check available disk space on your server. Recordings are stored in wp-content/uploads/helpon/recordings/.
• Verify that the recordings directory has write permissions (755 or 775).
• If using external storage (Amazon S3), confirm that your API credentials are valid and the bucket has proper write permissions.
• Check the maximum upload size in your PHP configuration (upload_max_filesize and post_max_size). Long recordings may exceed these limits.
• Review the error log at Helpon → Settings → Video & Voice → Logs for specific failure messages.