Johannesburg - With many of us still working from home, and job seekers often being asked to do interviews and tests over video call, a decent webcam can make all the difference.
If you’re like me, your laptop is far older than your mobile device. With the pace that mobile video hardware has been improving, the in-built webcam on my seven-year-old Lenovo looks laughable in comparison.
Taking video calls from your mobile partially solves the problem, but still limits you to using the lower quality front-facing camera if you still want to see the screen.
Luckily for those like me (and those with stand-alone desktops that don’t come with such things), you won’t need to go out and buy another gadget to upgrade your video calls. There are several ways to connect your phone to your laptop or desktop for video calling, and I’ll go through examples for both Windows and macOS.
Using your Android device as a webcam
You’ll have more than enough options for apps in the Google Play Store that offer to turn your phone into a webcam. I’ll be recommending and walking through the set-up of DroidCam, which has a free version with a history of reliability and ease of use.
For these applications, you will need to download the app on your mobile as well as a client on your laptop or desktop. You can download the app for DroidCam from the Play Store and the desktop client from the developer’s website – Dev47Apps. There is a client available for Windows and Linux systems, but unfortunately not for macOS.
Once you have the client installed and running, you will see options to connect your mobile wirelessly or with USB. Connecting over wi-fi is as easy as putting a code from the mobile app into the desktop client and then changing your input device on Zoom or Google Meet to the DroidCam option.
Using your iPhone as a webcam
Once again, you have a few options when it comes to Apple Store webcam apps. In fact, DroidCam is available an iOS devices as well. So if you’re trying to connect an Apple mobile to a Windows or Linux desktop, you can follow the steps in the section above.
But if you’re looking to use your mobile on a Mac or similar Apple computer, you’ll have to use a different solution. EpocCam is a solid choice with a free version in the Apple Store and which offers clients for both Windows and macOS systems.
EpocCam was bought in 2020 by audiovisual tech retailer Elgato, and you can find the desktop drivers on their website. Unlike DroidCam, you won’t need to open a separate app on your desktop, and can control everything using your mobile device.
However, unlike DroidCam, you won’t be able to tab out of the app to use your phone for something else while video calling. On top of that, the free version is quite restrictive in quality and features. When possible, DroidCam is by far the better way to go, but using a Mac laptop will unfortunately limit your options.
IOL Tech