Unlock a world of creative possibilities by turning your phone into a high-quality webcam! Whether you’re streaming your latest gaming session, hosting a live Q&A, or crafting a polished video blog, your smartphone can become a powerful tool in your content creation arsenal.
No matter if you’re team Android or iPhone, there are apps designed to elevate your video setup. But the key to flawless content lies in pairing the right app with your computer system—some shine on Mac, while others are optimized for Windows. Dive into this guide to discover how to seamlessly integrate your phone into your content creation workflow and watch your digital presence soar!
Why you should use your phone as a webcam
Using your phone as a webcam has quite a few benefits to it, including upgraded quality of content, the ease of use, and lower cost.
Quality
Quite simply, the camera on most smartphones these days has better quality than whatever $65 webcam you thought you should buy has. They see things clearer, they have more megapixels, and their built-in software for camera features is way ahead of the vast majority of webcams.
The only webcam that we believe can compete with the camera of a smartphone is the Elgato Facecam Pro, but that is a webcam that costs $299. We suggest getting started with your phone, and upgrading from there over time.
Ease of use
Typically, using your phone as a webcam is just easier to use than an actual webcam. It gives you the option to have a camera without any wired connections.
Years ago, Windows and Macs didn’t have the option to use your phone as a webcam without downloading any apps or wires but now, technology has evolved to enable that option.
Price
Quite simply, if you’ve already paid for an expensive smartphone, you might as well take advantage of it.
Buying an Apple iPhone or a Samsung Android is expensive enough, so why spend more money on a webcam??
How to use your phone as a webcam
There are many different ways to use your phone as a webcam. In today’s world, content creators are routinely on the go and have to use their phones to communicate with their audience or community, whether that be live streaming a daily vlog of sorts or just recording a quick video for them.
Best steps to use each app as a webcam (general instructions)
Given that most apps that use your phone as a webcam are similar in instructions on how to use them, we wanted to give a generic list of instructional steps for you, and then if there’s any app-specific instructions, those will be listed under the apps themselves.
- Go into your App Store/Google Play Store to download the app
- Install any necessary PC drivers/Make sure they’re up to date
- Connect your phone to your Mac/PC and make sure the camera is turned on and unobstructed
- Make sure any permissions needed from your app to use your device as a webcam are granted
- Bring a charger with you if needed; this process can take a lot of battery
EpocCam
EpocCam is an app that enables you to use your phone as a webcam in a simple matter. Due to them being acquired by Elgato several years ago, EpocCam is one of the best webcam app options because along with being compatible with both Mac and Windows, Elgato has a Camera Hub that you can connect to with loads of settings so you can customize your quality and style.
There are paid and free versions of the app. The big difference between the two is the ability to choose either a wired or wireless connection on the paid version, as well as the free version only offering 480p while the paid version offers 1080p.
| Feature | EpocCam PRO | EpocCam |
| Video Resolution | Up to 1920 x 1080 (1080p) | Up to 640 x 480 (480p) |
| Front Camera | Yes | Yes |
| WiFi Connection | Yes | Yes |
| USB Connection | Yes | Yes |
| Newtek NDI Connection | Yes | Yes |
| Choose Connection Mode(USB / WiFi / NDI) | Yes | No |
| Pinch to Zoom | Yes | No |
| Manual Focus | Yes | No |
| Flashlight | Yes | No |
| HDR Video | Yes | No |
| Dual-Camera (zoom) | Yes | No |
| Adjust Video Quality | Yes | No |
| Watermark on top of video | No | Yes |
There are some pros and cons of the EpocCam software, as you can see from the table above. Unfortunately, Android phones are not compatible with this. Android users, read on to find your top option. You also have to pay for the higher quality resolution, but it is a reasonable cost at $8 for a one-time fee for the PRO app.
As with most Elgato products, the software is the real star behind EpocCam. You can use the Camera Hub to fine-tune brightness, tweak contrast, toggle augmented reality lenses, and more. There’s also a live webcam preview that you can use to make yourself look exactly as you want (within reason).
Apple Continuity Camera
Apple’s Continuity Camera feature is a relatively new option that allows you to turn your iPhone into a webcam, as well as scan documents and take pictures on your Mac. It’s a free product, but as the name suggests, it is only available to Apple users connecting their iPhone to a Mac.
The quality is very solid, offering 720p and 1080p resolution options. It also features built-in video effects and at the end of the day, it’s a clean, powerful tool that runs smoothly thanks to the built-in Apple software that it uses.
That built-in Apple software makes things easy enough that this is probably the best option for users that aren’t as computer-savvy. As with most Apple products, things are typically laid out right in front of you in an easy-to-understand manner.
A cool option here is that you can choose to either connect wirelessly, or with a USB cable. Most people will choose to use a mount with the Continuity Camera as well, we recommend this Belkin mount.
To use the Continuity Camera, simply mount your iPhone behind your PC or laptop, make sure it’s locked in place with the rear camera facing you and unobstructed, then make sure your iPhone camera app is open and the mic is selected for the Continuity Camera. From there, when your iPhone is properly mounted, its camera and mic are available to apps that can use them.
PRISM
PRISM is a favorite of our founder, as it has a variety of tools to allow you to live-stream and edit broadcasts, videos and pictures using various effects. It’s a free app that offers 720p and 1080p quality options.
One of the cool things about PRISM is the adjustable camera settings, which feature the following settings:
- Manual or auto focus
- ISO
- White balance
- Frame rate
- Shutter speed
These settings are useful for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: stabilizing live broadcasts, improving the resolution of your video, and getting better image quality and more natural looking broadcasts.
It is compatible with PC, iOS and Apple Silicon. Androids can also use PRISM, however there are some compatibility issues using both lenses across device manufacturers, thus the iOS version works smoother than the Android one does. Samsung devices will work as PRISM has an arrangement with them, but Xiaomi devices do not allow you to access both the front and back cameras.
PRISM is the best combination of value, quality tech support, and ease of use, as its the only app that offers everything for free. It works very well with Prism Live Studio, which is an app similar to OBS, and can be used with both a wired or unwired connection.
Webcam app options we don’t recommend as of 2024
Just as there are plenty of webcam apps for your phone that are very solid and will enable you to create content in a simple yet manageable way, there are some apps that are just out of date, for lack of a better term.
Camo
Camo, like all the others on this webpage, allows users to use their phone as a webcam. It can also be used with other connected cameras like DSLR’s, mirrorless cams, and action cams in order to improve the quality of video from any camera that’s connected to the computer.
It’s an easy-to-use app that doesn’t require any extra hardware or drivers and is compatible with both iPhones and Androids.
However, our main gripe with Camo is the $49.99 that you have to pay for their premium version, which supports their best features like filters, optimized background modes, and switching between lenses. To get 1080p quality, you also have to upgrade to Camo Pro.
When looking at the other options that are available, Camo’s free version, while solid, doesn’t hold up to the other free phone as a webcam app that we saw.
Droidcam/DroidcamX
Some of the options that we went over in this article were not compatible with Androids, and that’s where Droidcam comes in. An Android-only webcam app, Droidcam is easy to use and offers an additional option for a user that does not have an iPhone or a Mac.
Droidcam and its pro version, DroidcamX, give you quality up to 1080p (720p on the free Droidcam version). DroidcamX only costs $4.99 and you can zoom in and improve picture quality as well as the brightness and contrast.
We feel that, however, for the features that DroidcamX gives you for its price, that EpocCam Pro is a better premium option, or going with PRISM Lens for free. Droidcam also does not have a great tech support system, from our experiences using it.
Final Thoughts
The content creation game has changed tremendously over the past few years. People used to use webcam apps on their phones simply as a way to talk on Zoom or Skype, and using your phone to live stream things required extra equipment.
Nowadays, webcam apps are more sophisticated as ever and some even contain software to full live-stream yourself or your surroundings right from your phone! This has caused webcam apps to change directions and head more in the way of video effects and high quality resolutions.
Using your phone as a webcam is an integral part of the content creation process. With the enormous shift in recent years towards creator-led media, finding apps to use your phone as a webcam that do everything you want is crucial, and we hope one of these options leads you to the success that you are looking for.
