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description: Fix common AVream issues: phone not detected, no virtual camera, Wi-Fi mode fails, and microphone problems.

AVream Troubleshooting

Use this page when Android webcam/microphone setup on Linux is not working as expected.

Daemon unreachable

Run:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now avreamd.service
systemctl --user status avreamd.service

No phone detected

  • Use USB cable (data-capable).
  • Enable USB debugging.
  • Unlock phone and accept debugging authorization prompt.
  • Run adb devices and confirm state is device.

Quick check:

avream devices

Phone detected as unauthorized/offline

  • Reconnect USB cable.
  • Revoke USB debugging authorizations on phone and re-authorize.
  • Restart adb server:
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices

Wi-Fi setup/connect fails

  • Select USB phone, switch mode to Wi-Fi, then click Connect.
  • Ensure phone and computer are on the same local network.
  • Verify endpoint manually:
adb connect <IP>:5555
adb devices
  • If endpoint changed (DHCP), reconnect using Connect in Wi-Fi mode or run avream wifi setup again.

CLI fallback:

avream wifi setup --serial <USB_SERIAL> --port 5555
avream wifi connect <IP>:5555

No AVream Camera in apps

  • Click Reset Camera in AVream, then start camera again.
  • Ensure v4l2loopback is installed (v4l2loopback-dkms on Debian/Ubuntu).
  • Close apps already using /dev/video* and retry.

CLI fallback:

avream camera stop
avream camera reset
avream camera start --lens front

Preview not visible in AVream window

  • Camera streaming may still work even when preview window is unavailable.
  • Preview window relies on scrcpy (separate window), not embedded GTK preview.
  • Ensure scrcpy is installed and available in PATH.
  • Restart AVream after installing scrcpy:
sudo apt install scrcpy

Microphone does not appear

  • Start camera in AVream first (mic follows camera lifecycle).
  • Install missing tools: pulseaudio-utils and/or pipewire-bin.

Polkit / authorization issues

  • Ensure desktop authentication agent is running.
  • If errors mention pkexec setuid, set AVREAM_HELPER_MODE=systemd-run in ~/.config/avream/avreamd.env and restart user service.

Passwordless mode not active after enabling

  • Check status: avream-passwordless-setup status.
  • Confirm rule exists: /etc/polkit-1/rules.d/49-avream-noprompt.rules.
  • Confirm your user is present in /etc/avream/passwordless-users.conf.
  • Ensure daemon uses pkexec runner:
systemctl --user show-environment | grep AVREAM_HELPER_MODE

If needed, set in ~/.config/avream/avreamd.env:

AVREAM_HELPER_MODE=pkexec

Then restart daemon:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user restart avreamd.service

To disable passwordless mode:

pkexec avream-passwordless-setup disable --user "$USER"

Update install fails

  • Run avream update check --force and verify latest release is reachable.
  • Check logs: avream update logs.
  • Ensure pkexec and apt are available on system.
  • If camera/mic is running, allow AVream to stop streams before update.
  • Fallback: install monolithic package manually from release assets:
sudo apt install ./avream_<version>_amd64.deb