Troubleshooting

Common problems and how to solve them.

No NVRs are found, or the NVR cannot be reached

PanoPaper needs your permission to use your local network. Without it, no NVR is found and signing in fails with "The NVR could not be reached."

Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network.
Turn PanoPaper on. If it is on already, turn it off and on again.
Quit PanoPaper and open it again.

PanoPaper only finds NVRs on the same network segment as your Mac. If your NVR is behind a router or on another VLAN, click + in Settings ▸ NVRs and enter its address.

The sheet says why in red; When signing in fails explains each message. Most often the account uses two-factor authentication, which PanoPaper cannot answer: make a local account on the NVR for PanoPaper - see Which account to use.

The wallpaper shows a message instead of the video

The message says what PanoPaper is waiting for - see Messages on the wallpaper. The usual fix is to sign in to the NVR again in Settings ▸ NVRs.

A camera is greyed out in the menu

UniFi Protect reports it offline. Once it is back online, it becomes available within a few minutes, or as soon as you open the menu again.

Mission Control shows the normal wallpaper

That is how macOS draws Spaces in Mission Control; the video is back as soon as you pick a Space.

The desktop keys do nothing

The keys only steer the wallpaper while no window is in use. Check that:

the display under the pointer has a clear desktop and shows a camera;
the app in front has no window open on any display - clicking the desktop brings the Finder to the front, so an open Finder window keeps the keys with the Finder, even on another display;
no Spotlight, launcher or menu is open;
the wallpaper is not paused.

See When the keys work.

There is no sound

The sound is muted at first: choose 'Mute Sound' in the menu bar menu to turn it on.
You hear the camera of the main display only, on the Space you are looking at there.
Check the volume - behind windows, the sound plays at its own, lower volume - and the Output in Settings ▸ General.
The NVR account needs the right to hear sound, and the camera's microphone must be on in UniFi Protect.

See Camera Sound.

The mute shortcut does nothing

If Settings ▸ General shows "Another app uses this shortcut." under it, that app has the keys: record a different shortcut. A shortcut also does nothing while you are recording a new one.

An AirPlay display stays black

If an Apple TV used as a display stays black while the preview in the Screen Mirroring menu shows the video, AirPlay is stuck: restart the Apple TV.

If Settings ▸ General says "PanoPaper needs your approval in System Settings to open at login.", click 'Open Login Items Settings…' and turn PanoPaper on there.

Diagnostic messages

PanoPaper reports what it does to the system log. To read along, open Console (in Applications ▸ Utilities), click 'Start streaming', and type subsystem:com.panopaper.mac in the search field.