How to connect your mobile camera to your PC

Unplanned meeting schedules and video calls when you are doing work from home needs a good quality camera. Most laptops come with in-built webcam but desktop computers still don’t have webcam in them. For this, you can connect your mobile/ tablets directly to the PC for video applications. By this, you can enjoy a better and high quality video experience with the mobile’s camera. To ensure your connection and working of the PC, download driver updater software on your PC. It provides you a seamless connection between PC and mobile. After connection, unlock more features like switching camera back to front or vice-versa, zooming options and applying effects and filters can be unlocked with your mobile/ tablet. Now let us see the ways you can use your mobile camera as a webcam.

Connections with PC

First, ensure that you are using a mobile device which has Android 9.0+ beta version and application version equal to or greater than 1.24012*.
Download Cross device experience host update on your PC from Microsoft store.
Go to ‘Settings’, then ‘bluetooth and devices’
Tap on ‘mobile device’, and choose ‘manage devices’. Wait until your PC accesses your android mobile.
Your phone will appear under ‘My devices’, click on Use as connected camera and experience the feature.

Smart connect video

Pair your phone with a PC.
On PC, go to Smart Connect, select Home tab and select your device which you want to use as a webcam.
Select Webcam, then Start webcam, give permissions to the device.
Allow your video application to use the Smart connect camera.
Mobile device as webcam for different apps.

Google meet- Open google meet in your pc, go to Setting, select Video, then choose Smart Connect Video.
Teams- Open Teams app on your PC, click on More, then Device setting. Choose Video Settings, set camera to Smart Connect Video.
Skype- Open Skype app and turn on the video. Click on Video Setting, and set the camera to Smart Connect Video.
Via USB

For Android:

To connect your android mobile to PC, you must have windows 10 or 11, Android 14 or above, a high quality USB transfer cable.

Plug cable to PC and connect with your mobile.
A USB prompt appears after you connect both.
Choose Webcam on your android mobile from the USB menu that appears through notifications.
Same view pop-up on your PC, select Webcam prompt from the notifications.
Now you can use your android mobile’s camera as a webcam.

For iphone:

This function runs only on MacOS 13 or later and mobile models after 11.

Make sure you have the same account logged in mac and iphone.
Turn on wireless networks on both devices and link both the devices by USB cable.
Go to the Settings app and click on the Continuity Camera.
Open any camera-based app on Mac.
Go to the app’s settings and choose the iPhone camera option.
Convert iphone camera into webcam for mac.
Manufacturer-specific android app

If you are using Samsung mobile:

It offers ‘camera-sharing’ feature, specifically works on Samsung Laptops.
Connect both laptop and mobile with the same network and share a camera.
Allow permissions required.

If you are using Motorola mobiles:

Install Lenovo Smart Connect App on your mobile.
Turn Smart Connect on in your laptop.
Connect your device to your mobile phone and use mobile as a webcam.
Third-party apps

There are many third-party apps available which help in connecting your mobile camera to your PC to use it as a webcam. You need to download the same third-party app to both the devices. After installing, follow these instructions: