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If your Android smartphone is equipped with a high-end camera, you don’t need to waste your money buying a new webcam. This tutorial will help you turn your phone camera into a webcam via WiFi with the help of the Droidcam application. The instructions here are applicable on Ubuntu 12.04 or older and Ubuntu-based systems (Linux Mint 13 or older).
Using Play Store (Android Market), search and install Droidcam, or you can get it from this link. Here is also the QR code for the application:
After installing Droidcam, start it to get these details:
- IP Address
- Port Number
These details will be used below. Keep the application running on your phone, then go and install Droidcam on Ubuntu 12.04/LinuxMint 13 with the following commands:
(32-bit)
cd /tmp && wget -O droidcam-x86.tar.gz http://goo.gl/3mFFl
tar -xzvf droidcam-x86.tar.gz && sudo ./install
(64-bit)
cd /tmp && wget -O droidcam-x64.tar.gz http://goo.gl/cDZBh
tar -xzvf droidcam-x64.tar.gz && sudo ./install
To check if Droidcam is well installed, run this command:
lsmod| grep droidcam
Outputs returned:
droidcam_v4l 13871 1
videodev 86588 2 droidcam_v4l
You can now start Droidcam with this command:
droidcam &
In the window that appears, make sure WiFi/LAN is selected, enter the IP address and port number you have gotten in the main screen of Droidcam under Android:
Then click Connect to start broadcasting your smartphone camera. You can test your camera under Ubuntu/Linux Mint by installing Cheeze as follows:
sudo apt-get install cheese
You can now start using your smartphone camera locally or online (Skype, chat rooms, etc.) to chat with your friends and family in video.
Enjoy!