Use Your Phone As a Webcam, No Special Apps Required
These days of teleconferencing, there are tons of posts popping up all the time, filled with different methods that you can use to turn your old Android smartphone or iPhone into a webcam. I’m far from messing up on a good hack, but I don’t think most people need to mess around with a dedicated phone webcam app. That’s why.
If you want to use your smartphone as a webcam, it’s because your laptop or desktop doesn’t have one, or the one it has is broken. (If this is the former, this is weird: where did you get this ancient backlit device?)
Thanks to the quarantine running on webcams, it is difficult, but not impossible, to get a decent webcam for various virtual chats. That is, and you’re probably wondering why you should pay extra for a camera if you have an old phone with a built-in camera that works just fine. I understand. But.
Why not buy a cheap webcam?
It’s actually much easier to get a mediocre webcam that connects to your computer via USB and requires little or no additional setup on your part. It’s true that a lot of ballerina models are out of print right now , but you can still find a few webcams for $ 30-50 that will do exactly what you need: namely, display a moving image of your face in your next video chat. They won’t make you look amazing , but is that so important when everyone is likely to stare inch by inch of your head during a 30-person video call?
I usually don’t advocate an expensive solution when a free solution exists – like using your Android as a webcam for your device – but in that case, buying a cheap webcam is just AF. Heck, you can probably even have an older webcam on eBay for a less new price. Throw in $ 20 or $ 30 on this temporary problem brought on by your newfound work from home and you’re ready to end the quarantine.
Forget about applications that broadcast your phone’s signal like a “webcam”.
If you go the other way and try to use your Android as a webcam, for example, I don’t think it’s worth messing around with apps like DroidCam , which are limited to 480p video for the free version. (Unless you buy a $ 5 app that gives you 720p recording access)
Instead, why not just install an app for whatever video chat service you’re trying to access right on your phone? Who needs the fancy “stream your phone like a webcam to your computer” app when you can just … install Zoom on your phone? You can then set your phone on a table and point its rear camera in your direction (or buy a mount that will greatly simplify this process and can then be used to enhance your photos in non-video chat scenarios and even with other devices) …
The drawbacks to this technique are that you may want to keep your audio on while you are chatting (or use a video chat service that can automatically mute you when you are not making an audible noise). Otherwise, you may have to use your phone’s crappy front camera so you can turn on and off the sound on the screen. If you’re just one tiny head in a tiny box in a giant group called their sea, that’s not the biggest problem.
Don’t worry, you can still share the screen
“But wait,” you ask. “What if I need to show my laptop or desktop screen while video chatting? Then I’ll have to go through the tedious process of setting up my Android as a webcam, right? “
Nope.
Here’s a smart move: connect to a meeting with whatever video chat app you use on your phone. This is your microphone and camera. Rejoin the meeting on your mute desktop or laptop and this is your screen sharing device. Light.
Is it more or less difficult than setting up an app like DroidCam? I would say it is a little easier and will give you better quality results, although it does require a little coordination on your part. To be honest, I’ve found that most people care more about the quality of a person’s microphone in video chat than how their face looks. I can forgive ugly images; I cannot forgive someone who sounds like they are speaking through a bag of cotton balls.
Let’s summarize
Instead of messing around with apps that turn your old phone into a webcam (which you probably have to pay for and then mess around with), I recommend:
Buying a super cheap webcam
The simplest, but not the cheapest solution. You don’t need anything fancy if people just want to see your pretty face in a Zoom room full of 75 people. (Heck, you might not even need to turn on video, period.) Take the money and time you saved and rethink your audio setup. This is what you will want to spend your efforts on because no one cares how you look if they cannot understand you.
Use video chat service app + tripod
Start a video conference, turn your phone over, place it on a table (or a tripod on a table) and let it rip. You don’t need a fancy webcam, even if you want an easier way to mute and unmute the sound during calls.
Use an app for video chat services + connect to the meeting on your computer or laptop
If you ask me, this is the best of both worlds. Sure, you duplicate yourself in video chat, but now you can share your screen on your desktop or laptop (and see what your phone’s camera sees for any settings you need to make). You don’t have to fiddle with a pretty app – just log in twice.
Of course, all of these tips fail if you are trying to, say, overlay your webcam image on top of a Twitch stream or something. Then use all the apps you need or wait for a quality webcam to be available. However, I think this is a rare exception; for most people, an app on your phone should be enough to show your face in meetings. You can use its rear camera to look your best (and watch everyone else on an additional laptop or desktop computer that is also in the call), or just use its front camera and deal with it. How simple it is.