Android may get built-in feature to use phone as webcam

Google may add a feature to Android devices that will allow them to be used as USB webcams. Currently, this is already possible with third-party apps, but Android code indicates that this feature will be built into the operating system by default.

The code contains references to a service called ‘DeviceAsWebcam’ that allows ‘an Android device to act as a webcam’, as discovered telecom journalist Mishaal Rahman. This feature uses the uvc webcam standard, which means there’s a good chance many android devices will support this option by default. So it wouldn’t just be about Google’s own smartphones.

Motorola already includes similar functionality, writes Rahman. When the USB mode of the Motorola Edge 20 is set to ‘webcam’ in the USB settings and users then connect the device to a computer, the phone is automatically registered on the computer as a UVC camera, without the need for a separate app for this. is required. Since Android 14 will be released this year, Rahman expects this feature to be built in by default.

Last year, Apple released the Continuity Cam feature for iPhones and Mac devices, which made it possible to use Apple’s smartphone as a webcam for Macbooks. This functionality works both wired and wireless.

The Android code that names the webcam functionality (source: Mishaal Rahma)