This tutorial brings you a succinct guide on how to use an Android phone as a webcam for PC.
If you’re running an old PC, which has no webcam, you can now improvise using your phone. With your Android smartphone or tablet, you can easily connect your phone’s camera to your PC – to serve as a makeshift webcam.
Doing this, however, requires a handful of workarounds, all of which will be outlined in this tutorial. Read on!
How to Use an Android Phone as Webcam for PC
Webcam is an essential component of an average PC today. However, some old laptops lack this feature, and where it’s available, it offers relatively low output (poor camera quality).
If your PC belongs to either of the aforementioned categories, you can transform your Android phone into a webcam, as described in the guidelines below:
- Connect your PC and Android smartphone on the same Wi-FI network. You can connect your phone to a Wi-Fi router connected to your PC.
- Go to Play Store and install IP Webcam on your phone.
- After installation, launch the app and review the configuration settings, notably the port setting, sound/video quality settings and login credentials among others.
- Locate and tap on the Start Server
- Once you start streaming, tap on the How do I connect option, and select I’m using Wi-Fi router. This action will prompt up your IP address and port.
- Log on to your PC and navigate to the new IP address.
- In the next window, select either of the following options, with respect to your PC’s OS:
- For Windows; select the “Connect to PC for use with Skype and other videochats on Windows” option. By selecting this option, the necessary drivers would be automatically installed.
- For Linux; select the “Connect to PC for use withSkype, and other video chats on Ubuntu GNU/Linux6” option. By selecting this option, a script will be prompted.
- After getting the script, open it and replace the Wi-Fi_IP= entry (IP address) with that of the IP Webcam. Once this is done, run the script to install other relevant files.
- Now, launch your videochat platform (like Skype) and connect the webcam using the newly installed drivers/files.
Start enjoying your videochats, using your Android phone as webcam.
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Daniel Segun is a technology writer with over 5 years of experience. He loves to teach and inspire others. When he is not writing, he’s probably busy developing websites. You can reach him here.