1898293 - messenger.com - Audio/video calls stop receiving after a short period of time

Status: NEW

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect, P2)

Description

[Raul Bucata]

Environment:
Operating system: Windows 10
Firefox version: Firefox 125.0, 126.0, 128.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Navigate to: https://messenger.com and initiate a call
2. Spend some time on the call 10-15 mins
3. Observe how the call is interrupted

Expected Behavior:
Audio/video calls are working correctly

Actual Behavior:
Audio/video calls stop receiving after a short period of time.

Notes:

• Reproduces regardless of the status of ETP
• Reproduces in Firefox Nightly, Firefox Release
• Does not reproduce in Chrome

Created from https://github.com/webcompat/web-bugs/issues/136532

Comment 1

[[e-mail]]

I was the one who filed the original bug - to clarify, I believe this may be a failure to recover from a stalled connection, but not sure. I am communicating from NZ to the USA and UK. Therefore delays and stalls may be more common than if someone attempts a call within the same country. To simulate I would recommend calling someone in a remote area with low reception, or in a distant country - if you can't reproduce within the same country.

Google Chrome recovers from stalls in delivery when they occur. If stalls are the issue, Firefox doesn't recover from them,
or it is cutting out for some reason unrelated to stalls.

Comment 2

[[e-mail]]

Anyone following this should note that Firefox is currently unsupported by Messenger/Facebook for voice and video calls. You must switch to Chrome or Edge in order to place calls.

Comment 3

[Jim Mathies [:jimm]]

In facebook, I don't have the option to start a voice or video call. The icons are greyed out. That's Bug 1896361 - www.facebook.com - Missing video and audio call buttons in encrypted chat

Where are you finding the option to start a call? Can you maybe screenshot the option you're using?

Comment 4

[Jim Mathies [:jimm]]

Attachment: image.png

Comment 5

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Jim Mathies [:jimm] from comment #3)

In facebook, I don't have the option to start a voice or video call. The icons are greyed out. That's Bug 1896361 - www.facebook.com - Missing video and audio call buttons in encrypted chat

Where are you finding the option to start a call? Can you maybe screenshot the option you're using?

That's what I'm saying - Firefox is currently disallowed in Messenger, from Meta's side.
This is a relatively recent (1 month old) change, presumably they detected that Firefox wasn't working and shut it down.

Comment 6

[Andreas Pehrson [:pehrsons]]

Messenger only disallows Firefox in encrypted rooms, presumably because they for crypto use the Chrome API of webrtc insertable streams instead of the then standardized RTCRtpScriptTransformer (chrome status). I believe you can turn off the encryption to get video calls enabled in Firefox. Also, group chats were not encrypted last I checked, regardless of encryption setting.