There are dozens of free and paid apps that can help you transform your workhorse smartphone into a webcam. DroidCam had the most clear instructions within the app, but only works with Windows or Linux machines. The same was true for IP Webcam. All were fairly easy to set up, once you find the instructional pages on their websites.

Whatever you download, read the privacy policy, install it and follow the instructions to connect it to your computer you might have to download a driver, or run it through a browser or other viewer. You’ll be asked to give the app permission to access your camera and microphone. Running the app frequently may drain your phone battery, so you may want to hook up your phone to an external power bank or position your setup near a wall outlet if you find yourself in need of a charge.

Read more: Ultimate webcam tips: How to look and sound great online. Your phone’s main camera will produce a higher quality image than the selfie camera, and with more options for zooming and focusing as well.

The iPhone 13 , Samsung Galaxy S21 and many other premium smartphones have sharper resolution at p than some of the latest MacBook models , which have a p webcam built in. The goal is to transmit your voice with a closeness and warmth that commands attention on the other end. The light bathing your face from a device screen is usually a shade of blue that makes you look like a cadaver or zombie.

One way to combat it is to find the display controls that set it to a warmer shade or “color temperature. Screen light will always mix with ambient room light, so try different display settings as you look at yourself in a test web conference. And ample light in a room is a good thing for many reasons.

If you sit with your back to a bright white wall or uncovered windows, your webcam will try to balance out that bright background with your face — and your face will usually lose, ending up in silhouette. Cameras have gotten better at avoiding this, but the best way to keep yourself out of the shadows is to put a light behind your device, shining on your face. You can get dedicated LED video lights for this, or just play around with a desk lamp.

What’s behind you when you’re on camera can range from distracting to embarrassing to revealing. None of those are good. Don’t put unknowing co-workers in the shot, show white boards or monitors with sensitive information, or aim your camera where a naked family member might be traipsing to the shower.

You’ll also want to try and maintain some distance between you and the background, for a pleasant sense of depth. Is a picture postcard of a landmark in your area really the best background for a business web conference? Some webcam applications such as XSplit VCam and Microsoft Teams let you blur out your background using image and edge detection.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn’t help. Hi my camera displays this whenever i use zoom, google meet, and other apps that requests camera access from the laptop and I don’t know what to do. Please help me I am late in my class. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. Search the community and support articles Windows Windows 10 Search Community member. Have tried to download camera, but computer says camera cannot be located, what is wrong?

This thread is locked. Whether you do this or follow our methods below, invest in a small tripod to prop your phone up so you don’t have to balance it against a pile of books. The Joby GripTight is a popular and affordable tripod with legs that can contort to stay stable on almost any surface, though a height-adjustable tripod like this might be a better pick. Lume Cube’s Mobile Creator Lighting Kit is also solid, and comes with a light panel to brighten up your face. You can use a videoconferencing app on your phone if you just need to sit in a meeting and chime in now and then, but you’ll need a better system if you’re presenting and have to share your screen.

That’s where it could help to convert your smartphone into a webcam if you don’t have one for your desktop, or if the one in your laptop isn’t working or sits at a strange angle. General tip: Make sure your preferred videoconferencing app is closed when you’re installing a webcam client on your desktop PC or laptop.

You may need to relaunch the app or restart your computer to get it all working. If you’re on a PC running Windows and you use an Android phone or iPhone, one of the easiest and wireless methods is to use an app called DroidCam. It also works with Linux. DroidCam is free, but it hides a few features like better video quality, contrast and sharpness tools, and more in its DroidCamX app on Android, which also gets rid of ads on the app.

You can unlock similar features by using the Upgrade feature in the iPhone app’s settings. To get it to work with your videoconferencing software, you’ll always need to launch the DroidCam PC client and app first steps 4 and 5 above.

Then, go to your videoconferencing app’s settings and change the camera and microphone input to DroidCam and DroidCam Virtual Audio. It should immediately start using your phone’s hardware. For example, with Skype, make sure you download the desktop client instead of installing the app from the store. Reincubate’s Camo app is my favorite free option if you have an iPhone or iPad and want to connect it to a Mac or Windows machine or both! It works with both Intel and M1 Macs, too.

That’s it. Just as with DroidCam, open your respective video calling application and choose Reincubate Camo as your webcam. You can also choose it as a microphone in your Mac settings. Things to note: You might run into some quirks with the Windows beta.

How to use mobile camera as webcam for zoom meeting – none:.How to Turn Your Smartphone Into a Webcam

 
If you just want to quikcly enable the feature for a meeting you’ve already joined, you can right-click on a user’s feed and select “Hide non-. You can change the setting to allow Meet to use your camera and microphone, click on the camera icon in the address bar and select the Always allow option. If. And if you plan to take up streaming, a decent webcam is every bit as essential as a microphone. How else will you do those bizarre close-up.