Overview

Increasingly, enterprises prefer to deploy business applications that are browser-based. The delivery of new features, enhancements, and software fixes is much simpler for browser-based apps. Further, most modern enterprise cloud, SaaS applications are browser-based. More than ever, it is preferred (if not expected) to carry out day-to-day business activity within the browser.

We provide to all CareAR licensed users the ability to host a CareAR Assist session on a desktop browser. The web host app supports most of the capabilities of today’s native application that relate to starting, managing, and ending an Assist session, done from within a desktop or laptop-based web browser.

Supported Browsers

The CareAR for Browser app is supported on the following browsers:

Chrome (Windows, macOS)
Safari (macOS)
Edge (Windows, macOS)
Brave (Windows, macOS)

Note that there is a technical limitation within Safari the prevents the selection of different speaker device options; whatever is the default speaker option will be used.

Scope and Limitations

This feature enables a user to host an Assist session in their browser so they can

Start an Assist session (solo mode or with an invited guest)
Manage audio and video
Invite additional guests
Annotate on the video feed presented in the session (if and only if the streaming participant is doing so with a native CareAR Assist app)
Share Desktop Screen or Images
Start/Stop Assist Recordings
End the session

Unlike similar products in the market, CareAR does not require the user to download or run any sort of plug-ins, helper apps, add-ons, extensions, etc in or alongside the browser.

Support on mobile browsers is not supported due to fundamental technical limitations of WebRTC (the underlying communications and collaboration technology) on mobile hardware platforms.

The browser app is not a full like-for-like replacement of the CareAR native app.

The following Assist functionality provided in the native desktop app is not supported in the browser app:

Contacts
Favourites
Recents or History
Surveys for Host user

Also, please note that CareAR Instruct capabilities are not included in this implementation.

Features and Capabilities

Accessing the App

To access the Assist web app, users may log into the CareAR Portal. There, they will find the home page. Select “Start Assist Session” or “Join Assist Session” buttons to host, or join an Assist session.

When “Start Assist Session” is clicked, the pre-session sequence will begin. We have optimized the pre-session sequence popup modal as follows:

If there is no properly formatted email address or phone number entered in the participant input box, we default a popup modal to let the user start a solo session. The label on the start button reflects starting a solo session.
If there is a properly formatted email address or phone number entered in the participant input box, we prepare the user to send out an invitation. The label on the start button reflects sending the session invitation.

If “Join Assist Session” is selected, the user will be prompted to enter a session code for an existing CareAR Assist session. See Join by code for more details.

Inviting Multiple Guests

We support multi-party sessions. This feature allows the host to invite additional guests to collaborate in a remote solve session. After establishing the session, the host can add Additional users by tapping/clicking the Add Participant icon in the lower left screen (). From there, the host can either invite via SMS or email or use the 6 (or 8) digit character session code found in the bottom left corner of the screen, by inputting that code into the prescribed area.

Alternatively, a link to your session can be copied to your clipboard. Anyone provided with the link will be able to join your CareAR session.

Participant controls are provided to the host to manage the session and to assign collaboration roles using the pencil icon () Viewer roles do not have the ability to share their screens.

The Host of the session may also choose to mute participants during the session by selecting to adjacent microphone icon next to their name.

Responding to an Invitation

When someone receives an invitation to a session via SMS, email, or as seen below, via another means, there will be a link presented in the invitation. The invited party is met with a landing page, provided that the options are enabled within the admin tenant options the invited party may choose between join via app, join via browser, or join via Smart Glasses.

If the guest does not have the CareAR Assist app installed, upon pressing join by app, the guest’s default browser will redirect them to the appropriate app store or web page to download the app.

If the guest does have the CareAR Assist app installed, then the app is launched. If the guest has a named user account in the tenant (that is, the guest is a registered user), then the app automatically uses the user’s name to join the session. If the guest does not have a named user account, then the guest will be prompted to enter their name before joining the session.

Selecting join by browser will redirect the invited party to a browser based session with limited functionality. Similarly, join via Glass will do the same.

Upon successful joining of a session, the app notifies all other users already in the session that the guest has joined. Note that the participant icon (lower left) indicates a badge counter of all participants currently in the session.

Session Management

Hosts can manage Assist sessions in the CareAR for Browser app in the same way that they do today using the native desktop app. Users are only permitted to host a single active Assist session inside a given browser app. For example, we prevent a user from hosting more than one Assist session inside the Google Chrome browser.

Ellipses

Start Transcription

Hosts of Assist sessions have the option to create a transcription of the Assist session. Transcriptions automatically create a text record of the spoken conversation that takes place during a CareAR Assist session. This can be a valuable tool for:

Reviewing key details: Easily refer to what was discussed, including technical instructions, decisions, or important information.
Training and quality assurance: Analyze sessions to improve processes, train new team members, or ensure consistent service delivery.
Archiving and documentation: Maintain a searchable record of conversations for future reference or compliance purposes.

The transcription is saved as a .vtt file, a standard format for storing timed text data, and can be downloaded from the CareAR Assist session report. You can open a .vtt file with any text editor to view the transcription. You can also use it to add captions to a video recording of the session. The host can start and stop transcription at any time. If done repeatedly during a session (making more than one transcription), then a .vtt file is created for each transcription action.

To find your transcription, simply navigate to the session report in your CareAR portal after the call has ended. From there, you will be able to download the .vtt file containing the conversation transcript.

Start Captions

When enabled, captions automatically transcribes the conversation during a CareAR Assist session, displaying the text on your screen in real time. This is especially useful if you or a participant are in a noisy environment, like a factory floor or a server room. It ensures everyone can follow along and fully engage in the conversation, even when it's difficult to hear. It’s helpful, too, for participants who may have challenges speaking the spoken language in the session; often it’s easier to see the written form of your non-native language for better understanding.

A user of the CareAR Assist application can easily enable captions.

Click the ellipsis menu (...) in your session.
Select Start Captions.
Choose the Spoken language for the call.

Once enabled, captions will appear automatically for the participant. If you prefer to read the captions in a different language, you can change your individual display language at any time by setting the Captions Language. This activates the captions to be translated to your preferred displayed language.

Note that captions is a local feature, meaning that by activating, it is only activated for the user enabling it – not for all users in the session. That said, there can only be one spoken language set for the session; if it needs to be changed, it is set for all users in the Assist session. (This may be obvious as typically all participants would speak – or attempt to speak – the same language in the Assist session.)

Audio Device Management

Selecting the ellipses found in the bottom of the Desktop Session will open the Audio Device Management Menu.
From this menu, the user may choose which audio device (microphone or speaker) to use during the CareAR Session.

Mute Microphone

Microphone Mute Off: In this state, the microphone is active, and the audio path is transmitted into the active session.

Microphone Mute On: In this state, the microphone is disabled and there is no audio path transmitted into the active session. This is the default setting when joining a session.

Disconnect Session

Tapping or clicking the disconnect icon will disconnect the user from a Remote Session with another user. If the user was in a standalone session, this action ends the session.

Camera Flip

If multiple cameras are detected, users will have the option to flip between cameras during an Assist session. If possible, the default camera will always be the back camera when available.

Annotation Tools

While a Guest is streaming video, the Annotation tools menu will be available at the top of the window. Users may select the tools dropdown to view tools available to them, or select the color dropdown to view the colors available to be used for anchored annotations. Available tools are as follows:

Zoom

Selecting the zoom tool will reveal a slider on the bottom of the video stream. To zoom into the video stream, move the slider left to right. Subsequently moving the slider right to left will zoom out.

Arrows

This annotation allows the user to anchor an arrow on the frozen view or on any real-world 3D object.

Highlight

Selecting the Highlight icon allows the user to anchor a pulsating sphere on the frozen view or on any real-world 3D object.

Undo

Selecting the Undo icon undoes the last annotation action that was done with drawing, arrow, highlight or text box annotation tools. Each successive tap/click of the Undo icon undoes the previous action. Long press of the undo icon will allow users to clear all annotations.

Laser Pointer

A long press will display a red dot on the screen wherever the cursor is located. This displays a laser pointer like behaviour for a see what I see experience shared through the live stream.

Drawing

This annotation allows the user to create and anchor a free styled drawing on the frozen view or on any real-world 3D object.

Text Box

Selecting the Text Box icon allows the user to anchor a text box on the frozen view or on any real-world 3D object with customized text inside the text box.

Snapshot

Selecting the Snapshot icon takes a snapshot of the current view including all the annotations and saves it to the following places:
The device’s default downloads folder;
CareAR portal under that specific session record;

Freeze Mode

Selecting the Freeze Mode icon can be done by any user in the session. It freezes the camera view and shows this view to all participants in the session.
Annotations done during the live view are retained as part of the screen freeze and
Annotations can be done by either of the users on top of the frozen view
Annotations made in the frozen view persist when transitioning back to live view.
Clicking the “Live” button exits the “Freeze mode” and takes both the user back to live view

Share Screen/Share Image

Selecting Screen share will present the user with the option to either share their screen, or an image. If Share Screen is selected, the Host user will be prompted to select either to share their screen or a window. If Share Image is selected, the user will be prompted to select an image saved locally on their computer to be shared within the Assist session.

Limitations:

The CareAR screen share feature, by design, does not permit remote control of another user’s screen or device.

Users who share an application that includes audio (e.g., streaming a video) will not be able to share the audio into the session.

Effective date: 10/27/2025