BUG: Webcam permission denial permanently blocks Face Detection using Webcam

[rohan-pandeyy]

Description

When using Face Detection Search via Webcam, denying camera permission once puts the app into a permanent failure state with no way for the user to recover.

This makes the webcam based face search feature unusable for the rest of the session (and effectively for the user), even if they later want to allow camera access.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open PictoPy
2. Go to Face Detection Search on top in search bar
3. Click Use Webcam
4. When the Camera Access permission prompt appears (http://tauri.localhost wants to use your camera), click "Don’t Allow"
5. Observe behavior after denial

Current Behavior

App repeatedly shows a popup modal:

Webcam Not Supported
Webcam is not supported or access was denied on this device.
                                                                                            Close

There is no way to retry permission. No other way is provided to re-enable camera access. Clicking “Use Webcam” again results in the same blocking popup. Webcam-based face detection becomes permanently unusable.

Video proof 👇

Unsuable.Webcam.Feature.mp4

Expected Behavior

If camera access is denied:

• The app should not trap the user in a dead-end state
• Users should have a clear recovery path, such as:
  • An option to retry camera access
  • Clear instructions on how to re-enable permissions
• The error state should be informative and actionable, not terminal

This is release critical for 1.1.0 as webcam based Face Detection is a core feature. A single accidental click on “Don’t Allow” permanently breaks it and can affects first time users.

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[github-actions]

👋 Thanks for opening this issue! The maintainers will review it shortly. Till then, do not open any PR. This is a strict rule we like to follow around here :)

[rohan-pandeyy]

Hi @rahulharpal1603, could you please assign me this issue?

It is possible that the permission prompt doesn't show up at first since it's only asked once.

In case a user mistakenly presses "Don't Allow" (maybe their mind was diverted by talking to someone else or any other reason) then the app keeps repeating the "Webcam Not Supported" popup and now the user has no other way to access the webcam and they just can't use the webcam feature anymore...

[rohan-pandeyy]

On Windows, PictoPy’s camera permission is managed by WebView2 and stored in its browser profile (EBWebView). If a user denies access once, the denial is persisted and there’s no supported way to reset it without deleting the entire WebView2 profile, which also resets onboarding and other local data. The only non-destructive fix is to intercept WebView2 permission requests (CoreWebView2.PermissionRequested) so denial doesn’t permanently brick webcam access.