Operating System & Device-Specific Fixes
How to Switch Between Front and Rear Cameras on a 2-in-1 Chromebook
The native ChromeOS Camera app shows a flip-camera icon automatically whenever your Chromebook has more than one camera — typical of 2-in-1 and tablet-mode devices. In a web browser, switching cameras depends entirely on the specific website offering its own device-selection control, since Chrome has no single global "flip camera" button the way a phone's camera app does.
Camera Selection Controls in ChromeOS
Open the native Camera app from the launcher. If your device has both a user-facing and a world-facing camera, a flip or switch icon appears directly in the app's interface — tapping it swaps the active sensor immediately, the same basic pattern as flipping cameras on a phone.
This works because the Camera app is written specifically for ChromeOS and has direct access to enumerate and switch between every camera the hardware exposes, which is a simpler, more controlled environment than an arbitrary website has access to.
Changing Active Camera in Web Browsers
Websites don't get an automatic flip button — camera selection in a browser happens through the getUserMedia API, and it's up to each individual site to build its own device-picker interface if it wants to offer a choice. Many video-call platforms do include a camera-selection dropdown in their own settings menu, usually near the microphone and speaker selectors.
If a specific site doesn't offer that choice and defaults to the wrong camera, there generally isn't a way to force a different one from outside that site's own interface — the option has to exist in the page itself. Chrome's own per-site camera permission settings (accessible via the padlock icon in the address bar) show which single camera you previously granted that site, but don't provide a way to pick a different one if the site's own interface doesn't ask.
↑ The widget above uses your device's default camera; if you specifically need to test the other-facing sensor and this page doesn't offer a picker, the native Camera app remains the more reliable way to check that specific lens.
Testing Both Cameras for Diagnostics
If your goal is specifically to test whether both cameras on your 2-in-1 Chromebook are functioning correctly — rather than choosing one for an actual video call — the native Camera app's flip button remains the most reliable path, since it gives you direct, unambiguous control over exactly which sensor is active at any given moment. Run a quick test on each one individually, checking for a clear, properly focused image and normal color rendering, before relying on either one for something like a video call or a browser-based diagnostic tool that may only default to a single camera automatically.
Why Some Sites Never Offer a Camera Choice
A website only shows a camera-selection dropdown if its developers specifically built one — there's no requirement that they do, and plenty of simpler sites and tools request whichever camera the browser considers the default without offering any alternative. This isn't a bug on those sites; it's simply a feature some choose not to include, since many use cases genuinely only need one specific camera and never require switching at all.