You may soon be able to turn your Android phone into a webcam
There are several third-party apps out there that can turn your phone into a webcam. This might actually be more preferable than dedicated webcams due to how much better our phone cameras are, plus it also means not having to buy a separate accessory.
For those who want a more native feature, you could be in luck. According to a tweet by Mishaal Rahman, he has discovered some code in the AOSP repository that seems to make reference to a potential future feature of Android that will allow users to use their phones as a webcam.
Android is adding a new "DeviceAsWebcam" service that "turns an android device into a
webcam." Specifically, Android devices that support the standard UVC (USB video class) gadget mode will be able to send video data that hosts can read from /dev/video* nodes. pic.twitter.com/oOgIqr1KkE— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) February 2, 2023
We’re not sure how different this will be compared to third-party apps, but it might be something to look forward to. This is because some third-party apps require users to pay for the app, or some might be free but will limit users to a lower quality stream if they don’t pay for the premium version.
If Google were to build the feature into Android itself, it would be free and it should also be easier to access and use since it might not require additional downloads. We’re not sure if or when Google will implement this feature, but if you like the idea of using your phone as a webcam, then this could be something to look forward to in the future.