Smartphone as a webcam? The Android 14 developer preview isn’t far at this point and we are expecting a lot of leaks detailing the operating system’s new features
Last year, Apple unveiled Continuity Camera, a feature that enables you to transform the iPhone’s back-facing camera into an advanced Mac webcam. To update your webcam experience for Zoom conversations, FaceTime, and impromptu hands-on videos, you must have iOS 16 on your iPhone and macOS Ventura on your computer. To convert your phone into a webcam on Android, you’ll need to wait till Android 14 is released.
The first developer preview of Android 14 is currently not far away. That means a ton of information about the things Google is working on for the significant software update this year will likely leak out. Support for using the Android phone as a webcam is one of them.
Although the feature is yet to be added, you can add it if you fiddle with your phone and install the correct apps. However, as noted by the Android Central, a rooted phone is a must for this option. Regular Android users who don’t care much about such procedures will find that to be an additional inconvenience.
According to Mishaal Rahman, Android 14 might introduce a service called “DeviceAsWebCam.” He already found the service in the most recent AOSP repository. As the name implies, the service turns the Android phone’s rear camera into a webcam.
However, it looks like you’ll need to connect the Android 14 device to the computer via USB. That’s a different take than Apple’s Continuity Camera. You can use an iPhone as a webcam wirelessly without requiring a cable. The service works via USB as well. The wired connection should also recharge the iPhone’s battery. The Mac will also warn users if the iPhone battery level gets low.
While connecting Apple devices for such experiences is simple, Google does not have the same convenience. We’d guess that all kinds of computers should be compatible with using Android 14 as a webcam. from Windows to Mac to Chrome OS. Regarding Google’s Continuity Camera imitation, it can be useful to use the primary camera on a smartphone as a webcam.
Video chats became more popular as a result of the epidemic, whether they were employed for business, education, or personal communication. Smartphone cameras perform significantly better than laptop and desktop cameras. It makes a lot of sense to employ them to improve the video conferencing capabilities of conventional PCs.
Once Android 14 makes this feature available, the only problem you would have is how to mount smartphones to computers.
