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Kwaku Duah
Kwaku Duah

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USE SPARE ANDROID PHONE AS WEBCAM FOR YOUR PC.

#android #linux #scrcpy #webcam

🔧 Turn Your Spare Android Phone into a Webcam for Linux!

Ever had that awkward moment when you're all set for a video interview on your PC—only to find out your webcam quality is atrocious?

Breathe easy. You can turn that spare Android phone lying around into a high-quality webcam for your Linux PC!

Chances are, that old phone has a camera that's leagues better than your laptop's built-in one. Since webcams are pricey, this budget-friendly guide has you covered.

âś… What You Need:

  • An Android Phone
  • USB Cable
  • A Linux PC

This is a beginner-friendly tutorial. Just follow along step-by-step, and you’ll be ready to roll.

đź“š Table of Contents:

  1. Prepare the Android Phone
  2. Install Dependencies on the PC
  3. Configure the Phone with the PC
  4. Launch the Phone’s Camera as Webcam
  5. Conclusion

🛠️ Prepare the Android Phone

Android runs on the Linux kernel. A few tweaks and we’re good to go.

  1. Go to Settings > About Phone
  2. Tap Build Number 7 times to activate Developer Mode
  3. Go back, open Developer Options
  4. Toggle on USB Debugging
  5. Connect your phone via USB to your Linux PC

📦 Install Dependencies on the PC

  1. Open a terminal and run: 
sudo apt install android-tools-adb -y
adb devices
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Your Android phone will ask to allow USB debugging. Accept it.

🔹 ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge.

  1. Install scrcpy (Screen Copy tool): 
sudo apt install scrcpy
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Then launch:

scrcpy
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This mirrors your phone screen to the PC.

⚙️ Configure the Camera with PC

  1. Install ffmpeg: 
sudo apt install ffmpeg -y
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  1. Clone and install v4l2loopback to create a virtual camera: 
git clone https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback
cd v4l2loopback
make && sudo make install
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback
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📲 Setting Up the Android Camera

  1. Install IP Webcam from the Play Store.

    Note: The free version has ads. Consider going premium for a smoother experience.

  2. Open the app and scroll down to tap Start Server

  3. You'll see an IPv4 address at the bottom (e.g., http://192.168.x.x:8080)

🔄 Port Forwarding via ADB

  1. List devices: 
adb devices -l
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Output:

List of devices attached
affhh41a device usb: product:phone brand device transport_id:2
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  1. Export the device ID: 
export ANDROID_SERIAL=affhh41a
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  1. Forward the port: 
adb forward tcp:8080 tcp:8080
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Now visit:

  • http://localhost:8080 – full IP Webcam interface
  • http://localhost:8080/video – direct video stream (use Firefox only)

IP Webcam Interface

🎥 Create a Virtual Webcam

  1. Run this to create the virtual webcam: 
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback
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  1. List available devices: 
v4l2-ctl --list-devices
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Your new virtual webcam is likely /dev/video2.

🚀 Redirect the Video Stream

Use ffmpeg to pipe the stream to your virtual webcam:

sudo ffmpeg -i http://localhost:8080/video -vf format=yuv420p -f v4l2 /dev/video2
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Now, applications like Google Meet, Zoom, OBS, or OpenCV can use your phone as a webcam 🎉

🎬 Webcam in Google Meet (via Firefox):

Google Meet using virtual webcam

đź”´ OBS Studio Preview:

OBS Studio Virtual Camera

âś… Conclusion

While there isn’t a GUI to handle all this, the command-line workflow with tools like scrcpy, adb, and ffmpeg makes it totally doable—even for beginners.

Questions? Suggestions? Drop them in the comments—your feedback is golden!

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