Android phones can be used for many things- calling, sending WhatsApp, playing your favorite games, watching movies or videos, and why not, you can use your Android phone as a webcam. You need a Windows computer or laptop, an Android mobile, and a good WiFi connection.
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The application we will use for this purpose is called DroidCam which will turn your Android into a webcam. Its free version is more than enough for one-time use, but if you want to get the HD resolution and eliminate ads from the app, you will need to get the Pro version, which costs 4.29 euros. That said, let’s see using our smartphone as a webcam.
HOW TO USE YOUR MOBILE AS A WEBCAM
SO YOU WANT TO USE YOUR ANDROID PHONE AS A WEBCAM
Today, making a video call is very common. We can do it from your computer or mobile phone with many programs and applications that offer us excellent call quality. However, what if you need to make a video call with your computer and it doesn’t have a built-in webcam?
Your phone can fulfill this function using some apps. One of the most famous is the DroidCam. This is what you will need to do to set up both devices. Here are the best apps to turn your Android phone into a webcam.
Requirements
- A smartphone or tablet with an Android operating system
- A computer with a Windows operating system
- A USB cable with which you can obviously join the PC and the mobile phone that we are going to use as a webcam
DROIDCAM THE APP THE BEST WEBCAM APP FOR ANDROID
When you download DroidCam to your phone and connect it to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, it can view your mobile camera and use it as if it were wireless. In addition to downloading the app to your mobile, you will also need to download it to your computer so that they can connect.
From this page, you can download the desktop version of DroidCam. Well. Once both have been downloaded and connected to the same Wi-Fi network, let’s proceed with their configuration.
SETTINGS IN THE DROIDCAM APP
On your mobile, as soon as you open the Droid Cam app, it tells you what needs to be set up on your computer. It will tell you which website is where you can download the version of the computer app. It will remind you that your mobile phone and PC must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network and tell you what data you should enter on your computer.
This data is the Droid Cam port and the Wi-Fi IP address. Don’t worry, you won’t have to search for anything; the application itself tells you what these numbers are. You have to enter them in the app on your computer.
SETTINGS IN THE DESKTOP VERSION
Once you know your Wi-Fi network IP number and port, you need to enter them on your computer. This example image of the program itself shows how.
After completing these two steps, you can already test the connection with the usual program you use for video calls. For example, if you are going to use Skype, you can select the camera you want to use from Tools – Options – Video Settings.
In this case, it will be the phone, so you have to click on the drop-down menu and select the Droid Cam option.
HOW TO USE YOUR ANDROID CAMERA AS A WEBCAM FOR YOUR PC WITH IVCAM WEBCAM
I liked DroicCam because it allows you to change various camera parameters, such as using the back or front. iRun allows if the mobile supports it, to record in 4K, but as I said, I prefer iVCam.
The reason is that it is the only one that, without having to do anything, is detected by Discord or Skype, as it appears as another hardware device in the Windows device manager. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing to configure, connect your PC and mobile… and start talking in our favorite communication app.
The configuration is also very simple. We do the first thing on the mobile and download the latest software on the PC (here the link in the Google Store, and here the developer’s website for PC). You need to download the latest version of it won’t work.
Once the app is downloaded on the mobile and the computer, as soon as it starts up on the phone, and as long as we are connected to the same network, the two devices will synchronize and we will see the mobile phone camera on the PC.
We have several image options that we need to tap in the app (such as video quality, orientation, audio quality…) and these changes are automatically applied to the computer.
In case your mobile does not come out as if it were a webcam in applications like Skype, Discord, or the one you use, all you have to do is go to Device Manager and search for the camera device to make sure it is connected. Still, from our test, everything was “synchronized” the first time.
