Use your Smartphone as a Webcam or Mic in PC

Its been quite a few months into a pandemic and it's still a bit of a hassle to find a good webcam that too for a price that won't make your jaw drop. Videoconferencing, the virtual environment apps, whether it's for work or a weekly remote board game night, has increased since most people have been stuck at home. If you lately haven't been able to find a good webcam, don't worry, below, we take you through ways you can use your smartphone as an alternative.

Before you try to convert a smartphone into a webcam for your computer, it might be obvious to say that you can use your smartphone to run your video meeting on its own. Applications like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are available on your Android and iPhone apps available. All you need to do is install the app from the respective app store, log in, and use your phone's selfie camera and microphone to be a part of the meeting.

  

Use your Phone as a Webcam

If you have a PC running Windows and you use an Android phone, one of the smoothest methods is to use an app called DroidCam.

1) Download the app from the Google Play Store on your device. (Your phone needs to be running Android 5.0 or higher. To check your android version, go to Settings > About Phone > Android version.)

2) Download the Windows client of the DroidCam on your PC. Follow the setup wizard's installation instructions on the screen.

3) You should see the DroidCamApp icon on your desktop. Double-click it to open. Now open the app on your Android phone as well. The point to be noted here is that your PC/Laptop and phone must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network (it also works if your desktop is connected via Ethernet).

 

 

4) On the phone screen, you will see some numbers after Wi-Fi IP and DroidCam Port. Enter these values into the fields on the PC client that say Device IP and DroidCam Port, respectively. Make sure both Video and Audio are checked off. Hit Start.

                                            

5) The android app on the phone will launch the camera and you'll be able to see the feed of the same on the PC client.

 

 

Now the question arises as to how do you get it to work with your videoconferencing software? The first step always is that you 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.

Troubleshooting Tips: If you're having any trouble while using the DroidCam wirelessly, you can try connecting your Android phone to your PC with a data cable. But first, you'll need to enable USB debugging in your phone so that the PC can control your phone's hardware.

1) To enable USB debugging in your phone, go to Settings > About Phone and tap on Build number seven times. Now go to Settings > System and you'll see a new option for Developer options (it may be hidden under Advanced). Tap it and scroll down to find an option stating USB debugging. Toggle it on.

2) Connect your Android phone to your PC through a cable. If your phone starts charging, pull down the notification drawer and tap on Charging this device via USB. In the new settings window that opens up, click on File Transfer.

3) Open the DroidCamApp PC client and tap on the middle USB icon. Use the dropdown menu to find your phone (if it's not there, tap on the refresh icon and make sure the phone app is open). Verify that the DroidCam Port number is the same as what's in the app, check off Video and Audio, and hit Start.

4) Change the microphone and camera input in your videoconferencing app to DroidCam, and you should be good to go.

             

 

Using your Phone as a Mic

To use the phone as a mic in your PC, you need to have a WO Mic application both on your desktop as well as on your phone.

1) Download and install the WO Mic application on your phone from the app store.

2) Download and run the setup program to install the client on the PC.

3) Install WO Mic device drivers on your PC.

4) Once the driver is installed successfully, the WO Mic device will be created automatically. Follow          these steps to check if the device exists in the PC and is working properly:

• Press Windows + X and click Device Manager in the pop-menu.
• In Device Manager, go to Sound, video, and game controllers.
• WO Mic device will be listed and work well as shown in the below diagram.

 

Different channels can be selected based on the system type.

• For iPhone Wi-Fi is used
• For Android, we get plenty of options like USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct

                                                                

 

5) USB transport is recommended for a connection whenever possible, as it is more robust than wireless     connections. It also has lower latency and a higher bit rate. To use a USB connection, follow these:

• Connect your phone and PC via a USB cable.
• Enable USB debugging on Android phones.
• On PC, install the right USB driver for your phone. You may consult your vendor for that.

6) If all goes well, your phone will be identified as one USB device with the name "ADB Interface":

• Press Windows + X and click Device Manager in the pop-menu.
• In Device Manager, go to Universal Serial Bus devices.
• In the list, you are expected to find something like ADB Interface.

7) Launch WO Mic on your phone. Before starting the server, you can go to Settings to configure what     you prefer.

                                                                

 

8)Select the transport you would require. Requirements for each transport:

• USB transport: ADB Interface should be seen above; otherwise it will report no device can be detected.
• Bluetooth: Pair your phone with the computer if you haven't done that. Turn on Bluetooth sharing on both your phone and PC.
• Wi-Fi: Turn on Wi-Fi on both phone and PC and connect them on the same hotspot.

9) Control port option

This control port number should be the same as in the client; otherwise, the connection will fail.

Media port can be configured only on the client-side. It will be synced to the server when making a connection.

 

10) Audio source option

There are 5 mic modes. Due to different Android phone hardware and OEM customization, not all modes may be supported on your phone. So please take the below mode description as a hint and explore each mode on your phone to select the appropriate one.

• Default. Phone embedded microphone.
• Mic mode 1. Try this if you want to use an external wired headset.
• Mic mode 2. Try this if there are echoes with other modes.
• Mic mode 3. Try this if you will speak in a long-distance or noisy environment.
• Rear mic. Try this if you want to better capture sound from the back.

11) Start server

Once all the things have been configured, go to the main UI and press the Start button to start the server. If it prompts not enough permission, grant microphone or audio record permission to this app.

Once the state changes to Started or Connectable, the server is ready to accept a connection request from the client.

12) Connect from client

On Windows, follow these steps to connect:

1. Launch WO Mic client.
2. Select Connection -> Connect...
3. In the connect dialog, select the same transport type as you did on phone.
4. In the Details pane, specify auxiliary connection parameters:

• Bluetooth. Select the phone Bluetooth name in the dropdown list.
• USB. None.
• Wi-Fi. Enter the IP address shown on the server.

      5. Click Connect.

                            

 

Once the client verifies to be connected, audio data captured by the phone will be streamed to the computer.

13) Verify streaming is going well

Before using the WO Mic device, you must verify that the audio is being streamed correctly from phone to PC. To check that, the play received audio data directly:

• Click the Options menu in WO Mic client.
• Enable Play in speaker.
• Unmute PC speaker.

If everything goes well, you can hear the sound captured by the phone.

 

Why did you want to use your Android phone as a webcam or mic for your PC?

I hope that now you know how easy it is to turn your Android smartphone into a webcam or a mic that can be used with your Windows computer. Also the quality of phone's camera is much better than that of PC or laptop. Are you still interested in buying a webcam or would you rather keep on using your smartphone each time you need to attend or make a video call on your computer?

Do you find DroidCam and WO Mic easy to work with? Or do you prefer any other similar app from the Google Play Store? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.