In this guide, we will teach you how to turn your mobile phone into a webcam for PC using the rear camera of the phone.
Today, all laptops have their own webcam for video conferencing, which does not happen with desktops, since in that case, we must have a USB webcam if we intend to make video calls.
Fortunately, we can always use our Android smartphone as a webcam using its cameras, something particularly useful if we want to make a video call and we don’t have one on hand or, simply, it broke, stopped working or not. we want to buy one.
To make this possible, we will use a third-party application that you will need to install on your mobile phone and PC. As always, to use this app, you will need to give it access to various sensitive aspects of your phone, such as the webcam or microphone.
How to use the camera of your Android phone as a USB webcam on your Windows PC
Before proceeding with the guide, we must clarify that the method is compatible only with the Windows operating system in one of the available versions (Windows 7, 8 and 10) and Linux.
To achieve this, we can use this free and paid application that offers us the tools necessary for our Android phone to become our Windows 10 webcam.
DroidCam transforms the Android device into a wireless or USB webcam through which it will be possible to video call on a PC in programs such as Skype, Zoom, Discord and many others, in addition to this it is compatible with OBS, XSplit which gives us the opportunity to perform the streaming on Twitch or YouTube live.
Its free version is more than enough for punctual use, but if you want to get HD resolution and remove ads from the app, you will need to get the Pro version, the price of which is 4.29 euros.
The first thing you need to do is download the DroidCam Wireless Webcam application for mobile devices.
In order to work, the application will ask you for access to the camera, microphone and information of your WiFi connection, elements that it will use to connect to your computer through the home network and operate the phone as a webcam with the camera and the microphone.
After installing DroidCam on your Android device, press the button below, read the instructions necessary to connect the smartphone camera to the PC and touch the I have it button (below).
At this point, you will need to download the program for Windows and, on the page that opens, click on the DroidCam Client Vx.xx Download button to download the DroidCam client on your PC.
Once the download is complete, launch the DroidCam.Client.xxFullOffline.exe executable and press the Yes button. Then click on the buttons below, I agree, install, continue with the installation of the drivers necessary for the correct operation of the client (by clicking on the install button) and finish the configuration by clicking on Finish.
Now, double click on the DroidCam program icon present on the desktop (to start the latter), click on the WiFi icon located in the upper left corner of the window that has just opened, enter the IP address you see on your smartphone (e.g. 192.168.x.xxx) in the IP text field of the device, check the video and audio elements and finally click the Start button.
Important– both your computer and mobile phone must be connected to the same WiFi network
If you decide to connect your smartphone to your computer via a USB cable (you can do this by pressing the USB connection icon), you don’t need to enter the IP address of the phone.
If everything went in the right direction, the smartphone will connect to the PC and you can use the camera as a webcam. To do this, start Skype or another program you use to make video calls and this should recognize DroidCam as the main webcam without any problems.
Although the Windows program cannot be closed, the Android application can be left running in the background. It is important to note that it works with both cameras (you can change it from the settings).
If you want to improve image stability and do not need to hold your cell phone with your hand, you can get a tripod or cell phone holder.
