How To Use Your iPhone As a Webcam On a PC/Mac.
If you have an iPhone, you don’t need to buy a webcam to make video calls from Windows and Mac computers. There are ways to turn your iOS device into a webcam that lets you see content from your iPhone’s camera on your computer screen.
These apps, which let you use your iPhone as a webcam, are free but limited in functionality. You can always upgrade to the paid pro version and get access to all the features they have to offer.
Use your iPhone as a webcam on Mac
If you’re a Mac user, you have an app called EpocCam that lets you use your iPhone as a webcam for your device. The free version of the app supports video resolutions up to 640 x 480 pixels and works over both wired and wireless (WiFi) connections.
In addition, in the free version you will have a watermark and several advertisements. If you’re happy with that, you can set up the app as follows and start using your iPhone as a webcam for video calls.
- Launch the iOS App Store on your iPhone, search for EpocCam, and install it.
- On your Mac, open a browser and go to the Kinoni website.
- Scroll down and click the button that says Download macOS Drivers. These drivers are required to use your iPhone as a webcam on a Mac.
- Extract the downloaded archive by double-clicking the archive file. Then double-click the extracted package file to start the installation.
- Complete the setup wizard and click Install to install the webcam drivers on your Mac.
- Enter the password for your account and click Install Software to install the package on your Mac.
- Connect iPhone to the same Wi-Fi network as your Mac, or use a USB cable to connect iPhone to Mac.
- Launch the EpocCam app on your iPhone.
- Click Launchpad on Mac, find FaceTime and open it.
- You will see the live stream from your iPhone’s camera on the screen.
Use the iPhone as a Windows Webcam
The ability to use iPhone as a webcam isn’t limited to Mac. If you are a Windows user, you have an application called iVCam to stream content from your iPhone camera to your Windows computer.
Just like a Mac, you need to install the tool on your PC and the app on the iPhone to start using your phone as a webcam on your computer.
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- Open a browser on your computer, go to the iVCam website and download the iVCam software to your computer.
- Install the iVCam software and restart your computer when it is fully installed.
- Open the iOS App Store on your iPhone, search for iVCam and install it.
- Launch the iVCam application on your iPhone and Windows computer.
- Confirm the request by pressing OK on the iPhone. This will allow the app to use your iPhone’s camera.
- You will immediately see the live stream from your iPhone’s camera on your computer.
- iVCam has features such as the ability to take screenshots and record frames from the iPhone camera. To access these functions, you can use the icons in the application toolbar on your PC.
- In the iPhone app, you have functions such as turning the flashlight on and off, changing the angle of the camera, and switching cameras. You can click the X icon if you want to stop streaming video to your computer.
What to do if iPhone is not working as a webcam
If you can’t see iPhone videos on your computer, there might be an issue with iPhone limitations. You can check and change these restrictions on your iPhone as follows.
Allow apps to use your iPhone’s camera
You need to enable the option on your iPhone, if you haven’t already, to allow installed apps to use your camera.
- Launch the Settings app, scroll down and click on Privacy.
- Select “Camera” on the next screen to change camera settings.
- Set the webcam application switcher to ON. This will allow these apps to use your iPhone’s camera.
Allow apps to use your iPhone’s microphone
If you can’t hear your iPhone’s audio on your computer, make sure you’ve allowed your webcam apps to use the microphone.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone and click on Privacy.
- Tap the Microphone option to view the applications that can use your microphone.
- Turn on the switch for webcam applications so they can use the iPhone microphone.
How to set your iPhone as the default webcam in different apps
If you want to use iPhone as the primary webcam on your computer, you need to set your phone as the default webcam in video calling apps.
Shown below is how to set iPhone as the default webcam in various video calling apps on Mac. The steps for this procedure should be the same for Windows.
Set iPhone as the default webcam in Skype
- Start Skype on your computer.
- Click the Skype menu at the top and select Settings.
- Select “Audio & Video” in the left sidebar.
- In the right sidebar, click the drop-down menu for the camera and select the webcam application from the list.
- Scroll down and click the Microphone drop-down list to select the webcam application as the microphone for your computer.
- Click “Make a Free Test Call” at the bottom to make sure the camera and microphone are working.
Using iPhone as default webcam for zooming
- Start Zoom on your computer.
- Click “Zoom” at the top and select “Settings”.
- Click the Video tab in the left sidebar.
- Select your webcam application from the Camera drop-down menu.
- Click Audio in the left sidebar.
- Click the Microphone drop-down menu and select your webcam application from the list.
Using iPhone as your default FaceTime camera
- Open the FaceTime app on your Mac.
- Click the Video menu at the top and select your webcam application under Camera.
Did you know that you can use your iPhone as a webcam to record yourself on your computer? This will save you time that you would otherwise spend recording video with your camera and transferring the video to your computer.
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