Jitsi is a set of open-source projects that enables users to create secure video conferences easily.
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Go to Jitsi.org and click the ’See it in action! Start a meeting’ button.
A new window will open. It contains a calendar with your Jitsi meetings and a small window at the top of the screen where you can enter the title of your meeting. All you need to do is type the name of your conference in the designated space and click the ’Start meeting’ button to launch the session.
After that, other participants can join in two ways - the first is to type the name of the meeting in the search mentioned above, and the second is to copy the URL of the meeting that will be available once the session is created, and share the link with the participants.
Creating a conference on a mobile device can be done in two ways - via a browser and through the mobile application Jitsi Meet.
Jitsi Interface
In each room, you can put a code that you need to enter before joining the room. On
the computer, you can press the ’Security options’ button in the lower right corner of the interface, enter the code, and click the ‘Add password’ button.
On a mobile device, you can do the same by clicking ‘Three bars’ and ‘More options’ and repeating the action described above.
Note: Meeting password can be removed or changed by any meeting participant.
Exit the room by clicking the red button in the lower half of the screen.
There is a public chat in the room that can be used by all participants (both on the computer and the mobile device), as well as a private chat that can be activated by clicking the ‘three dots’ in the lower-left corner of a person’s image and then clicking ‘Send private message’. To access private chat on your mobile device, hold the image of the person you want to send a message to and click ‘Send private message’.
Next to the exit button, there are buttons for muting the microphone and for turning the camera on/off (on the PC, these two buttons contain a small arrow that shows all available video and audio devices when clicked).
The screen sharing button on the computer is located in the lower-left corner. Once you click the button, a window will open with all the ’screens’ available for sharing.
To share the whole screen, click ’Entire screen’ and ’Share’. By clicking on the other two available tabs, you will be able to share particular applications and browser tabs (make sure to check ’Share audio’ to share audio along with the visual material).
Screen sharing can be turned off by clicking the same button.
Next to the ’Share screen’ button, there is a ’Raise your hand’ button that displays an indicator on the participant’s image and can be removed by clicking the same button.
On the right side of the screen, there are buttons for ’Tile view’, ’Invite people’, ’Security options’, and ’More actions’.
The ’Tile view’ button is used to change the image orientation of the participants.
Clicking the ’Invite people’ button will open a new window with an option to copy the meeting URL or send a special conference invitation.
The ’Security options’ button is used to put a code on the meeting.
Clicking the ’More actions’ button opens a pop-up tab with several useful options.
The first option is to adjust your profile - clicking this button will open a window with three tabs, the first tab, called ’Devices’ has a window with a preview of the camera, video selector, microphone, and audio output device. They are used to select specific devices as desired. By clicking the 'Play test sound’ button, you will hear a sound that can be used to identify whether you have selected a good audio output device.
The next button in the drop-down menu is ’manage video quality’. Clicking the button will open a video with a ’slider’ containing four positions: ’Low bandwidth’, ’Low definition’, ’Standard definition’, and ’High definition’. The ’Low bandwidth’ option will adjust to your signal and automatically select the best picture quality for your Internet connection (recommended option).
Jitsi also enables users to record their meeting; however, the user needs to have a dropbox account and connect it to Jitsi.
The next option is the ’Share YouTube video’ button, which enables users to share YouTube videos by inserting a link (this option does not exist on mobile devices, mobile users are also not able to see YouTube videos shared by any other user). During the video sharing, all participants are muted.
The next option, ’Blur my background’, is in beta testing, so it can be unstable and is only available on the computer if the user has a camera.
The ’Mute everyone’ option is used to mute all meeting users, while the ’Speaker stats’ option enables users to see who is present at the meeting, as well as the time they are active in the meeting.
The ’View shortcuts’ option shows all the keyboard shortcuts that Jitsi contains.
Potential issues and how to fix them
1. If your camera on Jitsi Meet is not working, there are several ways to fix this problem: Open Google Chrome browser and click the three dots in the upper right corner, then click Settings> Privacy and security> Site settings> Camera, then click the arrow next to Jitsi Meet to check if ’allow’ is checked in the camera option.
Another way to fix the problem is to check whether Windows detects your camera. Navigate to the Start button (lower-left corner of your screen) > Camera. If you see the following message ’We can't find your camera’, this means that Windows does not detect your camera. If this is the case, see this link.
2. In case you cannot hear other participants, make sure that you are using the right microphone and speakers. In the Jitsi interface, click the three dots in the lower right corner, then Settings > Devices and mark the microphone and audio device you will use and click ’Play test sound’.
Another way to check your audio is to click Settings> Privacy and security> Site settings> Microphone in Google Chrome, then click the arrow next to Jitsi and make sure that access to your microphone is allowed.
