How to Connect a Phone Camera to a Laptop

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A modern person has long been accustomed to the fact that a smartphone is a multifunctional device with which you can solve the widest range of tasks. But the user may not even be aware of some features of his mobile gadget. For example, in a situation when you need a webcam for communication, you can replace it with the camera of your Android phone.

Turning your phone into a webcam is useful in case you need:

  • Make an urgent call on Skype, but there is no standard camera at hand, or it is broken;
  • Install an additional webcam for Internet broadcasting;
  • Create remote monitoring using your phone.

How to Connect a Phone Camera to a Laptop

You can even use a phone with a broken screen as a webcam. The main thing is that the front or main camera module is in working condition. For different ways to connect your phone, you will need:

  • USB cable
  • Wi-Fi hotspot;
  • Programs for pairing a phone and a computer or laptop.

Method 1. How to use the phone as a webcam via USB

This software will work in conjunction: the Android application will configure the phone as a webcam, and the PC program will receive and process the signal from the mobile device.

Consider the step-by-step setup of the phone:

  1. Install the DroidCam Wireless Webcam app on your smartphone;
  2. Open the browser page http://www.dev47apps.com/, download the distribution kit and install it on your computer or laptop;
  3. Turn on developer mode on your phone. You can read about how to do this in our article “10 most useful hidden functions of Android”;
  4. Launch the USB Debugging feature. To do this, select the “For Developers” menu item in the phone’s settings and click the button in the corresponding item.
  1. Launch the DroidCam Wireless Webcam app;
  2. Connect the smartphone to the computer via a USB cable;
  3. Launch the DroidCam client on the computer;
  4. Click on the connect button via USB;
  5. Check the checkboxes of Audio and;
  6. Click on the Start button.

An image from the phone’s camera will appear on the client’s screen. In the settings of the DroidCam Wireless Webcam application, you can select the front camera as the main one for connection, as well as assign a phone microphone to capture sound.

Method 2. How to use the phone as a webcam via Wi-Fi

The program DroidCam Wireless Webcam allows you to configure your phone as a webcam via Wi-Fi connection. To do this, follow steps 1 and 2 of the above instructions. Then go through the following steps:

  1. Launch Wi-Fi on your phone;
  2. Open the DroidCam Wireless Webcam app;
  3. Open the DroidCam program on your PC;
  4. Click on the Wi-Fi connection button;
  5. In the Device IP line, enter the number that appears on the main screen of the Android application in the WiFi IP item;
  6. Check the checkboxes of Audio and;
  7. Click Srart.

After that, the application will capture the signal from the phone’s camera and transfer it through the client to the computer. The free version of the application only connects the phone and the PC, and also contains ads. The paid DroidCam application does not show banner ads and allows you to customize the: set the contrast and brightness, change the resolution, and so on.

Please note that on the Internet you can find a lot of recommendations on applications that allow you to use your phone as a webcam. The second most popular program is the USB Webcam Android application. It should work similarly to the DroidCam utility, that is, you need to download the application to your smartphone and PC program from the official site. The problem is that, although the application is still available on Google Play, the client’s offsite has ceased to exist, and downloading the distribution package from a third-party source is fraught with the introduction of a dangerous virus onto your computer.

Method 3. We turn the smartphone into an IP camera for remote surveillance

To set up your phone as a webcam:

  1. Install the application on a smartphone;
  2. Install the adapter on the computer;
  3. Set up a camera for capture in the application;
  4. Set resolution and quality;
  5. Change advanced settings: orientation, focus and flash mode, white balance, color effect and so on;
  6. Select in the application the item “Start broadcasting”.

Further, the user has three available ways to watch the broadcast from the smartphone’s camera:

  • Through the browser;
  • Via VLC player;
  • Via Skype.

To view the in a browser, type the IP address and port of the device in the search bar. You can find out this information by clicking the “How do I connect” button in the application. Indicate that you are connecting directly and choose the connection method: via a mobile network or Wi-Fi. In the pop-up window, the application will inform you of the desired number, for example, 192.168.0.39:8080. Next, on the broadcast page, select the viewing and listening mode.

  • Install the distribution kit;
  • Open the player;
  • In the top menu, select “Media”;
  • Click “Open URL”;
  • Type a line with the address specified in the application and add the wordfeed, for example, like this: http://192.168.0.39:8080/videofeed;
  • Click Play.

To connect broadcast in Skype:

  • Open the adapter program;
  • Type in the address similar to that used for the VLC player;
  • Specify a resolution of 320×440 (if the signal does not connect, increase the resolution to the next step, for example 640×480);
  • Click “Apply”;
  • In Skype, open the Settings;
  • In the Select a Webcam select box, select MJPEG Camera.

IP Webcam application differs from DroidCam Wireless Webcam by advanced functionality and simpler connection, which does not require installation of additional drivers for your phone.

Studying the ways in which the phone can be made a webcam, we used the gadget model from Fly.

Since 2003, the British company Fly has been a stable manufacturer of high-quality smartphones in which engineers try to take into account all the requirements of modern users. The main focus of the company is on the creation of budget smartphones that are not inferior in quality to mid-range models. Even in the gadget for 7-8 thousand rubles, the user will find a powerful 4-core processor, a capacious battery, an excellent camera, a high-quality IPS screen, and all this is framed by a stylish design.

For a while, we turned the Fly CIrrus 9 smartphone into a webcam. Since the testing took quite a while, we needed a gadget with a capacious battery, a large screen, a high-speed Internet module, and a fast processor. And the Cirrus 9 smartphone came up for every item. On the large 5.5-inch IPS screen, it was very convenient to manage application settings and learn how to manage programs. A powerful 1.25 GHz 4-core processor ensured stable operation of the system while downloading and launching several applets simultaneously. The 4G LTE module allowed you to instantly download the most voluminous application, and the capacious 2800 mAh battery all this time kept the smartphone in a state of full combat readiness.

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