How to use phone camera as webcam for PC via USB?

We are in the middle of a pandemic for almost over a year now. Due to this, we are forced to stay indoors to protect ourselves and others and help flatten the curve. In this situation where we cannot socialize physically, all the universities, colleges, schools, offices, etc. are closed, and most of us are working from home. In these difficult times, video conferencing emerged as the best and the only solution to communicate with the world. So in this article, we will discuss how to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB.

How to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB?

Before we start, you might be thinking about why I need my phone to be used as a webcam when I can perfectly use a separate webcam or my laptop, which has a built-in camera? Even if you can, you should consider using your phone as a webcam for a change. Here is why-

What are the benefits of using your phone as a Webcam?

1. Since the most important component of a video conference is a camera, so we must have one in the first place. Unfortunately for those who do not own a laptop but have a desktop in their homes, they need a separate webcam to do video conferencing. Most of them do not have one, and purchasing a separate webcam can be a hassle, mainly because a good quality webcam can cost a lot nowadays. With so many people now settled in work from home culture, popular webcams from Logitech and other brands have already gone out of stock. Third-party resellers have seized upon the scarcity by marking up webcams at ludicrous prices. A basic webcam from Logitech that was available for a mere $25 earlier is getting sold at over $100 now on amazon.  So there is that.
2. On the other hand, people who own laptops can also consider using their phones as a substitute because most of the built-in cameras of laptops are mediocre and barely support HD video calls.  Besides, you can use the microphone of your phone for better audio quality.
3. You can also use your phone’s back camera for some really high-quality video calls, and you can also use your phone’s built-in flash for some extra lighting to enhance the video quality even more.
4. You can re-use your old phone if one of them is lying around gathering dust.

Once the pandemic is over, we would be moving to our regular means of communication anyways, and considering the above-mentioned reasons, instead of going through all these hassles, using your phone as a webcam makes perfect sense here.

There are various ways to connect and use your phone as a webcam, like using your WiFi and IP address, etc. But connecting your phone using a USB is superior in every way mainly because the connection is more stable with no lag, shutters, or latency issues.

Things required to set up your phone as a webcam –

1. A smartphone(of course).
2. A USB data cable.
3. “Iriun Webcam for PC and Mac” app for your PC and your phone.
4. A smartphone stand  (you can make one using DIY methods).
   

Apart from that,  if you are using an Android phone before we get to the actual steps, there is another little tweak we have to do to our smartphone, which is essential for the whole process to work, and that is enabling USB debugging from the developer options setting of your smartphone. For iPhones, it’s not necessary. Let’s do that quickly-

Enable USB debugging from Developers Options

1. Go to Phone Settings> About Phone/About Device
2. Scroll down to find the “Build number” and tap 7 times on it. On doing that, some phones can ask for PIN, Password, Pattern, or Fingerprint authentication. Provide accordingly, and this will unlock the Developer Options settings.
3. Now go back and find Developer Options from the settings panel and open it.
4. From here, find the USB debugging option and turn it on.
   

NOTE: The above steps works for most of the android phones but some smartphone manufacturers have different skins on top of android OS for those the steps could be slightly different than this. If you are facing difficulties turning on USB debugging using these steps, simply type how to enable USB debugging on ” name and model of your phone” on google and get the suitable steps for your need.

Now that we are ready let’s start the actual process of how to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB-

How to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB?

• Step 1: Download and install Iriun Webcam for PC and Mac for your smartphone from below.

For AndroidFor iPhones

• Step 2: Download and install Iriun Webcam for PC and Mac on your computer.
  
• Step 3: Open the app on your phone as well as on your PC.
• Step 4: Connect your phone to your PC using the USB data cable. Now it should start using your phone’s camera to broadcast the video to your PC.

That’s it. that’s the answer to your question “how to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB?” Now you can use your phone camera whenever you are at a Zoom Video conference. If, in any case, your Zoom app doesn’t recognize your phone and only uses your built-in camera, you can manually select your phone’s camera from zoom video settings. (Refer to the screenshot below)

This sums up our today’s article on how to use phone camera as webcam for pc via USB. If you find any difficulties executing the steps or have any other queries, please drop a comment below this post. Meanwhile, you can read our other articles on similar topics related to windows or Mac. One such excellent article is- How to make windows 10 faster?