This online mirror uses your camera to show you the way a real mirror does, with left and right swapped, inside a border of soft light made by your own screen. You can make the light brighter, warmer or cooler, and wider, so it brightens your face in a dim room like a small ring light. Zoom in up to four times and drag to look closer, freeze the picture to check your side profile, or switch to true view to see what others see. It works as a webcam mirror on a computer or a camera mirror on the front camera of a phone or tablet, and nothing it shows is recorded.
How to use the online mirror
- Press Open the mirror and allow the camera.
- Turn your screen brightness up. The light border can only be as bright as your screen.
- Set Brightness, Warmth and Light size until your face looks evenly lit.
- Move Zoom to look closer, then drag the picture to choose what you see.
- Press Freeze to hold the picture still, and Live again to return.
- Press Full screen to turn the whole screen into the mirror and its light.
In full screen, the Space bar freezes the picture, M flips it, L turns the light on and off, plus and minus zoom, and the arrow keys change the light's brightness and warmth.
Mirror controls at a glance
| Control | What it does | Good starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | How bright the light border is | 100% in a dim room, 60 to 80% in daylight |
| Warmth | Color of the light, from 2700 K (warm lamp) to 7500 K (cool daylight) | 4500 to 5000 K for a natural skin tone |
| Light size | How wide the light border is | 10 to 15%, or 25% and up in full screen |
| Zoom | Enlarges the middle of the picture, up to 4× | 2× for makeup or shaving |
| True view | Shows you unflipped, as a camera sees you | Use it before a video call |
Mirror view or true view: which is the real you?
A mirror swaps left and right, so a parting on your left appears on the left of the mirror. Cameras do not, so a photo puts it on the right. Most people are used to their mirror image and find their true view a little strange, which is why selfies and call previews often look "off". Neither is wrong. Use mirror view for getting ready, because your movements match, and true view when you want to check how you look to the people on a video call or in a photo.
Light your face with the screen
The light border is your screen at full white or a warm tint. In a dark room it makes a real difference, because it lights your face from the front, where the camera is. In a bright room it adds less, so face a window as well. Match the warmth to the room: around 3000 K under warm bulbs, 5000 K or more by a window, so the light on your face and the light behind you look like one color. For the most light, press Full screen and raise Light size to 25% or more. For a dedicated light with a live preview and readouts of how bright your face is, open the screen light page, or fill the whole display with a white screen at full brightness.
Use it for makeup, shaving or a quick look before a call
- Makeup and grooming: zoom to 2× and drag to the area you are working on. Check the result at 3200 K and at 5600 K, because colors shift between indoor and daylight light.
- Side profile and hair: turn your head, press Freeze, then look at the still picture in comfort.
- Before a video call: switch to True view and set the light the way you will have it on the call. Then check the camera inside your call app, for example with the Zoom camera test.
- Compare outfits: press Save picture after each one and compare the photos side by side.
The mirror does not open
If nothing happens after you allow the camera, another app may be using it. Close Zoom, Teams, FaceTime or the camera app and press Open the mirror again. If the browser blocked the camera, click the icon at the left of the address bar, set Camera to Allow and reload. A black mirror with the camera light on usually means a closed privacy shutter or the wrong camera in the Camera list. The webcam test shows exactly what the camera sends and explains each of these problems.
The mirror looks blurry, dark or slow
Zoom is digital, so it enlarges the pixels the camera sends; at 3× and 4× the picture gets soft, and a 720p laptop camera softens sooner than a 1080p webcam. Wipe the lens, sit about an arm's length away and add light: in a dim room the camera slows down to collect light, which makes movement look jerky. A phone's front camera is usually sharper than a laptop camera, so it makes a clearer mirror.
How an online mirror differs from a real one
A camera sits above the screen, so in the mirror you seem to look slightly down rather than straight ahead. The picture also arrives a fraction of a second late, which you notice when you move quickly. Colors depend on the camera's white balance, so they are close to real but not exact, and the screen gives far less light than a ring light or a lamp. To see what your camera itself can do, run a camera test.
Online mirror questions
Is this online mirror private?
Yes. The camera picture is drawn in your browser tab and goes nowhere else. Nothing is recorded or uploaded, and the camera turns off when you leave the tab or close the page. Save picture only stores a photo on your own device when you press it.
Why does the mirror look different from photos of me?
The mirror swaps left and right, the way a bathroom mirror does, so you see the face you are used to. Photos and video calls show the true view, which can look slightly odd to you because you rarely see it. Press True view to see yourself the way other people do.
Can I use the online mirror with light for makeup?
Yes. Raise the light size and brightness, then zoom in on the area you are working on and drag to move around. Check your makeup at both a warm and a cool setting, because colors that look right under a warm lamp can look different in daylight.
Does the online mirror work on a phone?
Yes, with the front camera in Chrome, Safari or Samsung Internet. Phone screens give less light than a laptop screen, so turn the phone's brightness up. On iPhone, Safari does not let web pages go full screen, so the mirror fills the page area instead.
How do I make the mirror open faster next time?
Turn on Open the mirror right away next time above the mirror. Once you have allowed the camera for this site, the mirror starts as soon as the page loads, with no button to press. If the browser asks again, it means the permission was reset.
Can I save a picture from the mirror?
Press Save picture to store exactly what you see, including the zoom, as a JPEG in your downloads. Freeze the picture first if you want to choose the moment. For more photo options, such as a timer and bursts, use the webcam photo page.