In order to make your Android device work as a webcam, you will need an app called IP webcam. As the name suggests, the app lets you access the camera of your device using the IP protocol from your computer. You don’t need any accessories to get the task done. All you need to have is a computer with a web browser, an Android device, and both of these should be connected to the same WiFi network.

Using an Android Device as a Webcam

  1. Download the IP Webcam app from the Google Play store.

  2. Launch the app on your device.

  3. Unlike most apps you have come across, this one uses a different kind of user interface. The first screen is actually the Settings page where you can configure all of your webcam settings. The configuration options available here are countless; just click on them to know more about them.

  4. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and you should see an option saying “Start server.” Tap on it and it will start your webcam server that you can access right from your web browser on your computer.

  5. As soon as you start the server, it will immediately begin streaming the content of your camera. Along with that, you should see an IP address on your screen; just note it down as you are going to be using it in the next steps of this procedure.

  6. Now open a web browser on your computer. Type in the IP address you noted down in the step above and hit Enter.

  7. The screen that follows is where you will be able to see your camera. On this page, choose “Browser” from the Video renderer section and “HTML5 Wav” from the Audio player section.

  8. You should now be able to see your camera’s footage right in your browser. You’re all done. The IP webcam app offers a number of other features as well, which include the ability to record videos, zoom-in, video quality, focus, and a lot more.

Conclusion

Using your Android device as a webcam helps you save some money that you’d otherwise spend on buying an expensive webcam that does what your normal Android device does, but the latter one has some extra features that are not usually offered by the former one.