Android Smartphone Camera as a WebCam – If your phone runs Android, you can use a free app called DroidCam to turn it into a webcam. … Once both are installed, make sure your computer and phone are on the same Wi-Fi network.
Ways to Use Your Phone as a Webcam
Android Smartphone Camera as a WebCam – You can use a videoconferencing app on your phone if you need to sit in a meeting and chime in now and then, but you’ll need a better system if you’re presenting and have to share your screen. If you’re on a PC running Windows and use an Android phone or iPhone, one of the easiest (and wireless) methods is to use an app called DroidCam. It also works with Linux.
How to use your Android Smartphone Camera as a WebCam
DroidCam is free, but it hides a few features like better video quality, contrast and sharpness tools, and more in its DroidCamX app on Android, eliminating ads on the app. You can unlock similar features by using the Upgrade feature in the iPhone app’s settings.
Android Smartphone Camera as a WebCam – Steps to Set Up DroidCam:
- Download the app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store on your phone. The android phone needs to be running Android 5.0 or higher. To check, go to Settings > About Phone > Android version. iPhones need to be on iOS 9 or later, and you can check by going to Settings > General > About > Software Version.
- Download the Windows client on your computer. Then, follow the setup wizard’s installation instructions.
- On your Desktop, You should see the DroidCamApp icon. Double-click it to open it. Next, open the app on your Android phone and permit it to access your camera and microphone. Ensure or Make sure your desktop and phone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network or not. It also works if your desktop is connected via Ethernet.
- On your Mobile phone app, you will see some numbers after Wi-Fi IP and DroidCam Port. Enter these values into the fields on the PC software that says Device IP and DroidCam Port. You have to Make sure both Video and Audio are checked off. Click on Start. Then the phone app will launch the camera, and you’ll see the feed on the PC client.
To get it to work with your videoconferencing software, you’ll always need to launch the DroidCam PC client and app first (steps 4 and 5 above). Next, go or visit your videoconferencing app’s settings and change the camera and microphone input to DroidCam and DroidCam Virtual Audio. It should immediately start using your phone’s hardware.
DroidCam doesn’t work with apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store on Windows. So, for example, with Skype, make sure you download the desktop client instead of installing the app from the store.
USE YOUR IPHONE / IPAD AS A WEBCAM WITH EPOCCAM
Like Android, several iOS apps claim to turn your mobile device into a webcam. Recently, Dev47Apps released DroidCam on iOS. The app is simple to set up, it works flawlessly, and it utilizes the same DroidCam Windows client that the Android version of the app uses (though unfortunately, it’s still not available on macOS). The instructions above in the Android section mirror what you have to do to get it up and running on your iOS device.
- Download and install EpocCam from the App Store. The paid version lives here.
- A set of desktop drivers for EpocCam is available for Windows 10 and macOS (unlike DroidCam). Next, go to Elgato’s site to download the necessary drivers for your machine.
- After installing the desktop drivers, you don’t need to concern yourself with opening up an app on your computer.
- Make sure that your iOS device and computer are on the same Wi-Fi or LAN. Then, open the mobile app, and launch your videoconferencing app on your computer.
How to Use your Android Phone as a WebCam using USB.
You can use your android as a webcam even without wifi by connecting it to your PC via USB. But doing this requires extra work because android can communicate with PC via USB only in debugging mode by using adb.
Also, for USB mode, we need another app called DroidCam. Although the earlier IP Webcam app is more popular, it is more or less limited to WiFi connections, especially for windows. So let’s see how to configure your android as a webcam via USB –
- Setup your phone in debugging mode (Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging).
- Connect the phone to your computer via USB (don’t select storage mode if the phone asks while connecting USB).
- Download DroidCam from the android market, install it, and open it on your phone. It will show a “Starting server” message.
- Download and install the client application on your computer from Dev47Apps.
- Start the DroidCam client and choose the “USB” option or button.
DroidCam will now open the camera on your phone, and you can use it as a webcam on your PC. Just configure the video settings of your video call application to use the “DroidCam” driver. For Linux, you can use the IP Webcam app as well. Then, connect your phone via USB in debugging mode to your computer and start the driver script. It will detect and use adb to initiate a connection using USB automatically.
