Get Started with Camfrog Webcam Chat

Get Started with Camfrog Client

This is a very basic guide to get started with Camfrog. If you want to know the more advanced features go back to the help page and view the user guide. If you need help view the frequently asked questions page.

See People and Be Seen

The first thing you probably want to do with Camfrog is see some people live on webcam to test out the video and audio streaming. The first window you will see is your "contact list". At the bottom it says "video chat room list". Click that link and a web page will open with all available video chat rooms. Join the "Camfrog" room by clicking the link. If it will not let you join press "join chat" in your contact list and type in the word "Camfrog" and press "OK" to join.

You are now on webcam and everyone can see you. To see other users click their names in the user list on the right. If you don't want people to see you press the webcam icon in your local video window to pause your video. To unpause press the webcam icon again.

Press the "talk" button to send audio to the room. You can only talk when someone else isn't talking already. If your audio is too loud press "audio settings" to adjust your recording level.

To send an instant message to users right click their name and choose "IM User". From the IM window you can block users, send a snapshot (webcam photo), view their online profile, and add them to your contact list to see when they are online. If someone is making a loud noise or typing bad text in the room you can right click their name and choose "ignore".

If you don't like multi-user videoconferencing in the chat rooms you can also find users to talk to one on one in the user directory. Go to your contact list then click "user directory" to see everyone who is currently online.

Can't get your webcam to work or have another technical problem? View our frequently asked questions page.

Ignore and Punish Annoying People

If someone sends you a rude IM you can easily stop the person from bothering you. First you can click the sad face at the middle of the IM that says "karma" next to it. If you give this person four negative karmas he can't IM anyone for 15 minutes. After the user gets the first negative karma he will probably not IM you again.

If the user continues to bother you then press "block" in the upper right part of the IM to stop this user from bothering you.

To stop getting IM's from people not in your contact list upgrade to Camfrog Pro then click "IM Catcher" in your contact list. Now IM's from people you don't know will still cause pop-ups on your screen so you can answer them if you want, but the IM's will go into the IM Catcher so they will not disturb you.

Host a Room

You can host your own video chat room for free if you have a broadband (cable or DSL) Internet connection. To host the room from your computer your default XP firewall must be disabled, and you can't be behind a router or on a wireless network.

Go download our free server software and install and register, then anyone can join your room. The most popular rooms use Celeron Windows 2003 servers at The Planet for around $100 per month. This is what we use for our main Camfrog room and it works great.

Upgrade to Camfrog Pro

Once you have learned the Camfrog basics you can upgrade to Camfrog Pro. With Pro you can see many video windows at once, send files, change your status, and make your video windows huge! Learn more on the upgrade page.

Back to the help page.