Go live from the browser

No OBS needed

You can go live right from your browser – on a desktop with your webcam, on a phone with its camera. There is nothing to install and no stream key to copy: you are logged in, so BoozedBunny knows it's your channel. Your stream shows up at the top of your profile with the live chat next to it (on a phone below it), exactly like a stream from OBS.

Streaming needs the creator status – see Becoming a creator.

On a desktop

1. Open your stream dashboard (Go live in your user menu, or Stream dashboard in the bar at the top of your profile). The Browser tab opens first.
2. Press Turn on camera and allow camera and microphone when the browser asks. Pick another Camera or Microphone from the lists if you have more than one.
3. Check the preview. The line under it says what will go out, e.g. camera 1280×720 · 30 fps. Mirror my preview only flips what you see – viewers always see you the right way round.
4. Press Go live. Within a few seconds you are live; the line now shows what really goes out, e.g. sending 1280×720 · 2.4 Mbit/s (right after the start it says starting up – the browser begins small and works its way up to the full picture in about 15 seconds).
5. Close the dashboard: your stream goes on, and where viewers see the player you see your own camera with End stream. Read and answer the chat next to it.

Leaving your profile ends the stream – you can switch between its tabs (videos, images …) and use the chat window, but keep the page open. Up to 4 Mbit/s go out, about 1.8 GB an hour.

On a phone

1. Open your profile in the phone's browser (Chrome or Safari), then Stream dashboard → Browser → Turn on camera.
2. Hold the phone upright for a portrait stream. The button with the two arrows switches between the front and the back camera, the microphone button mutes you.
3. Go live, then close the dashboard – your camera fills the player at the top of your profile, the chat runs below it.

Good to know on a phone:

• Keep the screen on and the page open. Switching to another app or locking the phone pauses the camera – viewers see Back in a moment until you are back (see below). While you are live the page asks your phone to keep the screen on.
• Battery: streaming uses the camera, the screen and the radio all at once – plug in your charger for longer streams.
• Mobile data: a phone sends up to 2.5 Mbit/s, about 1.2 GB an hour. Wi-Fi is better and more stable.
• Turn the phone sideways and the stream turns with it.

What viewers see

• Upright streams fill the width of a phone, with the chat below. On a desktop viewers see the whole picture, with dark sides.
• Wide streams (a webcam, or a phone held sideways) play as usual. If your phone's camera only gives a wide picture, the dashboard says so: phones show viewers a cut from the middle, desktops the whole picture.
• Your picture is never cut or changed for the stream – a phone only shows a part of it on its screen.
• Your stream reaches viewers about one second behind, or a few seconds when their player uses the fallback. Your sound comes along both ways.

If the connection drops

• Your browser tries to reconnect by itself three times. Meanwhile viewers see your last picture (blurred), Back in a moment and a countdown – the chat stays open.
• Nothing comes back within 3 minutes: your stream ends. Reconnect in time and it simply goes on – the same stream, no second is live note for your followers.
• If it gave up, press Go live again. In the dashboard and under your stream you also see Your stream dropped with End stream now, if you don't want to come back.

The same 3 minutes apply to OBS when its connection drops.

Breaks and "Starting soon"

• Take a break (under your stream or in the dashboard): pick 2, 5, 10 or 15 minutes and, if you like, a line for your viewers (“Grabbing a drink”). Viewers see your last picture blurred, Be right back, the time left and your line; the chat stays open. From the browser your camera goes off for the break; with OBS the stream keeps running in the background. Press I'm back to continue the same stream. When the time is up viewers see any moment now; without a picture 3 minutes later, the stream ends.
• Starting soon (while you're offline): pick 5, 10 or 15 minutes and a line. Your profile shows Starting soon with the countdown and opens the chat so fans can gather. Going live ends the countdown; Cancel removes it. Your followers' is live note only goes out once you really are live.
• Neither is available while a private show runs.

Good to know

• OBS works exactly as before – the OBS tab in the dashboard has your server and stream key. One way at a time: while you stream from OBS the browser can't go live (and if you start OBS while live from the browser, OBS takes over).
• Live from two tabs or devices at once? The second one asks first and can Take over here – the first one then stops.
• Your stream key never goes to the browser for this – BoozedBunny adds it on its server.
• Streams are not recorded.