It is increasingly common to find a front camera on our laptop, something that has also become common in different desktop or desktop computers, such as iMac (or some all-in-one PCs ) .
There is no doubt that this offers us a whole world of possibilities, especially for those who must work with the camera, something very common today, where teleworking has come to stay after what was last year’s confinement for our day to day. day (still just as important today).
For example, it provides us with a very useful visual tool when we have a habit of holding many virtual meetings and telematic conferences every day, especially in those moments when it is more comfortable to work with the computer and we do not want to use the smart mobile phone.
Likewise, it is an excellent accessory when we tend to record videos , which we then share with other users, for example, on our YouTube channel or through Vimeo.
However, what can we do in those situations in which our computer does not have a camera, and we do not want to buy one to connect it? Curiously, our mobile phone can be of great help, since with the appropriate application we could transform it into a real IP webcam .
And the concept would basically consist of transmitting the image from the camera of our mobile phone through a network, which could be accessed from the computer with the help of an application, which will emulate the video transmission as if our PC or Mac (in the case of Mac Mini) had their own webcam.
Droidcam Wireless: The Best Solution for Windows
Droidcam is a simple application, developed by Dev47Apps and available for both Windows and Linux, which is one of the most effective when it comes to turning our mobile phone into a true wireless webcam.
We must note that the application is free, although there is also a Pro version (paid), for a price of 4.29 euros, which would offer some added advantages, such as having a better image quality (HD 720p) and access to more functionalities (such as flash or zoom, among others).
We choose the option that interests us the most from Google Play and install the application . Once installed, we go to our computer and do the same by downloading and installing the compatible software , which we will find on the developer’s website.
Before starting the installation, it is recommended to close all the programs that use the webcam to avoid possible conflicts, as for example it could be the case of Skype. In turn, it is important to allow the software to install all the necessary drivers when prompted by the system.
Once installed, we must make sure that the computer and our phone are connected to the same network .
We open the app on our phone and grant it the necessary permissions, such as accessing the camera and recording audio content. From that moment on, the app will show different IP addresses. The ones that interest us this time are ‘WiFi IP’ and ‘DroidCam Port’.
On the computer, we open the program and copy the WiFI IP address into the device’s IP field. Then, we verify that the section corresponding to DroidCam Port is the same both in the phone app and on the computer. We select if we want the application to have access to both video and audio, and we start by pressing Start .
If all goes smoothly, the camera image will appear to be displayed on the computer, so the phone will be recognized as an input device for capturing both images and sound.
EpocCam: useful alternative for Mac
In case you have a Mac Mini , it is very likely that you do not have a camera, something that does come by default in other options, such as iMac or most Macbooks (including Macbook Air) . But if you have a compatible mobile phone you can also use it as if it were a camera.
The option is EpocCam , which works similar to how DroidCam does, but compatible with macOS X 10.12 and higher.
First, we must download from the developer’s website, and install both the application and the necessary drivers. Then, we open it and grant it the necessary permissions to access the camera.
Clever! We just have to launch an application that uses the camera on the Mac, such as Skype or FaceTime, and start using it.
