Polycom RealPresence Mobile Reviews

by 412Steelerz

Tomorrow I am hoping the visit I have scheduled will finally be successful. This will be my 3rd attempt to visit with my Son!!! 1st visit no connection at all no matter how many attempts, 2nd visit over 20 attempts with audio & visual actually connecting but once connected I kept getting messages that the call was disconnected by far end. I have done my research on this company/platform and found issues dating back to 2012 so PA DOC’s choice to go to this provider is puzzling. There has to be a better option that will allow family members to actually have 45 minute virtual visits with there loved ones. There are a lot of tech wizards that I am sure could help improve this service. PA DOC has access to tech genius’s statewide. How about recruiting experts from Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, SOMEONE to help you upgrade/troubleshoot this system. Polycom please listen/read the feedback and improve or just bow out if you can fulfill your contract.

by Ncribbs

The facility my sibling is at recently switched from zoom to this. There is no front camera view so you can’t even tell if you’re in the frame, the video is extremely pixelated, the connection is poor as the audio and video randomly stopped working multiple times throughout the call. It seems that the facility switched to this program in order to save money because you can tell how cheap it is. Certainly not want you would expect from a video conferencing platform in 2020. Awful

by Munchie31

We are literally over a barrel. We don’t have a choice but use it. It fails to connect, it doesn’t even allow you to fully remove to reinstall. Bug city. I even tried to use it on a laptop and the audio cut out during it forcing us to open word and type so my connection can see it. Did we get extended visit for the inconvenience? NOPE 45mins to the second cut off! If we didn’t NEED to use it NOONE would have it on their phone. Wish I could rank BELOW 1 star

by @believenb_hsr

PolycomRealPresence is horrible! It continued to disfunction while trying to connect with the opposite party. If the video happened to work the audio wouldn’t. And same in vice versus, audio without video. I had to hang up the call plenty of times until finally I get to hear and see, while wishing on a star! I checked the setting to see if both were enabled and yes they were! PolycomRealPresence needs work. It always was glitchy at times! Frustrating to say the least!

by RL&SL

The video visit freezes, lags, drops off, poor connection, delayed voice to video, crappy camera view options; and all you end up doing is spend more time try to connect/reconnect and fix the problem that can’t be fixed by either visitor. Cheap setup to try and save money when there wasn’t anything wrong with the zoom visits they switched from. There are better apps that offer video visitations. And it’s not compatible with all web browsers or devices. All in all I would give this a negative rating if I could. You end up with maybe a 20 minute visit of complaining out of a 45 minute visit if you’re lucky and even more if the facility doesn’t cancel scheduled visits at the last possible minute with no reschedule option due to exceeding visit limits reached.
Very Single Visit it’s either cancelled or poor video service.

by Polycomsucks

I was moved to submit a comment after two failed video visits within the last two weeks.. tomorrow I’m having another so hopefully it works since everyone else seems to be getting their visits.. I even called customer service and the woman on the phone stated that because I wasn’t the person lying them and with a contract that she couldn’t help me… lol seriously?? Thanks for nothing.. anyways the PA DOC will not do anything either so that leaves me with no options.

by Liha_philly

Why would they ever switch from zoom to this for video visits? The video cut off in the middle of the conference. The video quality is blurry and it kept pausing really bad. The sound quality is bad and there’s not front camera option for you to see where you are on video while talking to the other person. This is horrific whom ever developed PolycomRealPresence need to be ashamed. Then it’s not even compatible to other peoples phones for people I know to download. It’s definitely very cheap & no point of using it at all

by Precious579

I will be attempting to use PolycomRealPresence for a scheduled visit this morning once again. I have tried 5 times previously with no success. I consistently get an error that say “far end has hung up” however I’ve been on the phone with him simultaneously and he’s not even near the screen to be able to hang up. This is absolutely ridiculous. Children are already dealing with a lot behind this situation and then to get their hopes up for a video visit and be crushed because it doesn’t work is devastating to everyone.

by Tiara117

I’ve attempted to use this service for a full month now and each time, I’m left in tears. Every time the call starts, PolycomRealPresence kicks you completely out!! I tried accessing my call doe the full 45 minutes of my visit. What is the point? Its 2021 and there are various ways to virtually connect with loved ones, why PADOC chose the worst way is beyond me. This is pathetic and beyond frustrating. I have another visit scheduled in 3 days and I’m afraid to even get excited because who knows if PolycomRealPresence will choose to work. Shameful !!!

by Philandlusa214

Using this is a complete nightmare! It is the only option I have to do a virtual visit with my son who is incarcerated. Trying to connect it gives an error half the time and just shuts down. Other times it freezes and you can’t see anything. It randomly shuts down during a call etc. I could go on but I see another review addressed the exact same issues I have. PA DOC either needs to find another platform to use or you all need to get your IT to fix these issues. It happens every time I use it. PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!!

by Superman_718

I had a visit with my dad today and due to PolycomRealPresence my visit didn’t happen. This is a time that we really want to see our loved ones and it seems as if the system is taking that away with PolycomRealPresence. I have been trying to connect for 30 minutes and PolycomRealPresence keeps on hanging up without even connecting. I don’t know who needs to fix this but this needs to get fixed fast. I will be sending a complaint to the governor of Pa as well as City hall. This is horrible.

by Busted-one

No doubt a freemason run business that scratches the backs of other mason run assets; namely the pa doc. Note the six six six in the polycom icon. What a poorly run company with no customer service to boot. So the result is heart wrenching failed visits. My advice to those who are struggling with PolycomRealPresence: you must use the ever increasingly evil google chrome browser with an up to date windows 10 or apple iPhone or iPod or iPad. Always use the link sent to your email. Be sure to set google chrome as your default browser before you click on the link.

by Woodard74

Why why why Polycom this is so frustrating and super disappointing we are in pandemic and why doesn’t this work when it time to do visits with your loved ones! I have set a dozen visits but guess what I have only had one visit and it too was interrupted and cut off before the 45 min. It’s so devastating especially to those who look forward to this and to get to the day and over and over again it doesn’t work fix this please! Grace everyone wants it but doesn’t know how to extend it when the shoes on the other foot! So devastating! Please please fix this for all the families that are having issues and challenges!

by Ryanh312

This is the 5th visit that has worked for about 5 mins and then the audio goes out. It does not work on my phone, or either of my two computers. My boyfriend can see and hear me, but I cannot hear him. This is increasingly frustrating and there is no way to directly contact polycom to address this issue. The new version w bug fixes does not address this and with so many complaints about the same issues it is a disgrace that nothing has been done by the company, developers or DOC. How is this helping keep people in touch w their loved ones? This growing frustration is NOT BEING ADDRESSED!!!!

by I Try Yio

I agree with the last reviewer. This application is terrible. I’ve contacted the IT staff at the PaDOC and they have exhausted whatever options they w had to troubleshoot and fix this the connection and voice issues experienced by the majority of people ‘attempting’ to use this application. I’ve been able to connect using my laptop however there’s no voice from my end (yes, I’ve checked all my settings and did a test call using Skype and zoom and voice works fine) but trying to connect via the mobile app has not been possible. Come on Polycom, DO SOMETHING! Maybe hire better developers or network folks?

by CortezIsHerName

PolycomRealPresence is terrible! The developers of PolycomRealPresence knows that loved ones & prisoners are dependent on it. How dare you not fix PolycomRealPresence!? It is inhuman & degrading. I’ve never felt so disrespected and hurt by an app in my entire life. I wasn’t even able to speak to my loved one today because the bugs PolycomRealPresence has. Where is your compassion for connecting others? Or do you simply care about the money you make? I honestly hate PolycomRealPresence. I wish there were other options yet apparently there isn’t. While you’re able to speak to your loved ones in peace, people like me have to be frustrated and hurt because you failed to connect us to our loved ones. This is beyond selfish.

by 51peanut

This is the only way for me to “visit” with a loved one who is incarcerated. There is no way to see if I’m on the camera so I have to keep asking if he can see me. The sound quality is horrific. It freezes up throughout the call. It will drop at least once and I’ll have to rejoin. There are issues getting the call started and I’ve lost the first 10 minutes every single time. I use a variety of apps for video calls every day at work and have never experienced issues. It feels like the DOC purposely picked the most useless piece of garbage app they could to let us all know exactly where we stand in their eyes. PolycomRealPresence is full of 1 star reviews for a reason!

by Anger Wife

App was working great and next thing you know it keep kicking me out once it launch for my visit. It’s been a month that I haven’t been able to visit with my husband and no one can tell me why it all of a sudden stop working. If this is a App that you made how do you not know how to fix the problem they have no live person you can talk to so they can trouble shoot PolycomRealPresence . and the prison have no idea what to do because no one came out to teach them. The prison system need to get a new App so we can video visit our loved ones without the fear of not knowing if PolycomRealPresence is going to work one week to the next. This is the worst App ever it’s doing more harm then good it’s depressing.

by Abluvsfit

I have been using PolycomRealPresence for a while. It freezes every time. It’s choppy and pixelated and can’t see my loved one well. You guys we really need to start a petition to get the PADOC to do better for these virtual visits. I know they don’t care but they need to be put on blast. They had zoom before and that worked perfectly. I guess that was going too well. Whoever is developing PolycomRealPresence, shame on you. I couldn’t see my loved one at all today on our visit. It just showed me the whole time and he had a blank screen on his. Seeing family is a very important part of someone rehabilitation. If PADOC really cared they would make sure that happened but they just care about the numbers. Sad

by LRD82

This is hand down the most frustrating app I’ve ever used. It work less than 25% of the time over my cell phone data and 0% of the time over WiFi. I have an iPhone Pro Max and I live in a reasonably populated area with no other WiFi problems so it is definitely PolycomRealPresence . Most of the time I can’t connect to other end. When I can, the audio cuts in and out. It has to be restarted each time I open it or it doesn’t work. About half the time, I have to restart my phone if I have any hope of it working. I can’t say enough about how much I hate PolycomRealPresence. I wish I could give it negative stars.

by Happyface-v2

This is a junk app. It never connects using LTE on T-Mobile.

by Shanv2

The mobile app seems to be des gene by the engineering team and is terribly inefficient to use...when you can get audio and video to actually work.

On iOS 10, it doesn't work with Bluetooth audio. Please update PolycomRealPresence- it hasn't been touched in 6 months which is inexcusable given the pace of OS updates and the functional issues.

by Kkasf12345

Cannot give less than 1*

by Richbronze

Trash it is so hard to use

by Rrkawase

When you activate the keyboard to type the phone you can’t hide it back so you can’t see the ok buttons.

In the history of calls, I have one meeting room address that I attended a meeting. If I want to re join that one listed in the history , now it says that the address/phone in invalid

The stupid address book worths nothing. I add contacts and meeting room addresses there, but there’s no visible option how to call a contact that is in your address book. I can’t call, can’t even copy values.

Terrible app

by Costargc

On IOS 11.2.5 PolycomRealPresence is missing the self cam view. This is completely awful as you have no ideia what the cam orientation is nor if you are centralized.

That alone makes this unusable over the phone.

by Me!Myself

I have an iPhone 11 Pro with iOS 13.3. I cannot access the directory in my app. When I click on the icon, PolycomRealPresence crashes - every single time. I’ve resorted to writing down the numbers on a post-it note or trying to guess from the call history screen. Help!

by MoFo2

doesn’t work with iOS11

by Master Lord202Boss

App has worked every time I've used it. Video is very pixelated, but that is to be expected. Audio transmission seems glitchy, and/or drops out completely after short during. But it makes a good AV tool. Not for novice users.
- Lawrence M***

by 1959Moose

Downloaded for use on my iPod Touch - iTunes would not sync PolycomRealPresence to my Touch. Hope this changes in the future. I would find PolycomRealPresence useful as I am on the road alot and could use VC to keep in touch with staff and management.

by Virtualruffy

The previous reviewer completely misunderstands what is spelled out in the information above and blindly asks why -after seeing it perform fine within network. As stated, the problem is your phone carrier may prevent it from running over their network.

PolycomRealPresence is ideal for schools using Polycom equipment and ipads. You can call a camera or a meeting room with it and it works fine across your network. To go outside your network on the internet you need a lot of other equipment and setups which may or may not be in place within your location. Consult your Networking & Systems groups. To go across a cellular network you need to know if the carrier will even allow it and if so, the setups required to do enable it.
Setting up the Polycom infrastructure is no joke.

by RRG2019

The latest 3.11.1 release is very stable and the previous problems have been fixed!

by Tdickey

This is an excellent little application, seems to work well for joining SIP/H.323 meetings and can even register as a SIP softphone! That being said, it’s going to be best used on properly configured WiFi, cellular might not work depending on your carrier and connection strength.

by Steven Chow_L.A.

I could set GK or SIP server in settings by standalone mode(free mode), useful for my calling and video conference!
Like the new feature smart pairing--- I could control my HDX by my IPad.

by Smooth Oper8

Excellent videoconferencing App. I can easily dial to group systems H.323 and bridges wifi or 3G. Also it's great way to communicate with my family when I'm away from home.