Troubleshooting Panopto Playback in Canvas within Safari on macOS

Summary

Panopto Video is unable to load in Safari for video playback from within Canvas. The error appears saying, "We were unable to sign you in because your browser is not accepting cookies. Click here to sign in. To open this page in a new tab, click here." This article describes how to resolve this common issue.

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Issue: Panopto Video Is Unable to Load in Canvas in Safari on macOS

As shown below, Panopto Video is unable to load in Safari for video playback from within Canvas. The error appears saying, "We were unable to sign you in because your browser is not accepting cookies. Click here to sign in. To open this page in a new tab, click here."

An image showing the error: We were unable to sign you in because your browser is not accepting cookies. Click here to sign in. To open this page in a new tab, click here.

Issue Description: This stems from Apple's approach to privacy to safe guard user information on the web. This same feature is used to pass information from one site to the other in certain cases (e.g. Canvas to Panopto).

Solution #1: Change Safari's Privacy Settings

Navigate to Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Website Tracking. Ensure that Prevent Cross-site Tracking is unchecked (as pictured).

An image showing "Prevent cross-site tracking" as disabled.

After changing this setting, reload the page and it should appear as pictured below.

An image showing Canvas successfully passing the information to Panopto Video resulting in the course folder appearing.

Solution #2: Use an Alternative Browser

If you do not want to change your privacy settings, we recommend installing another browser in addition to Safari on your computer. Both Google Chrome and Firefox are more permissive of cross-site tracking, resulting in an easier time for users in this kind of a case.