How Android 14 will turn your phone into a webcam
During the presentation of iOS 16, Apple had surprised its world with the functionality ” Continuity Camera “. It was simply a matter of using his iPhone as a webcam on his Mac. Nothing very ingenious, but why not? Lately, system specialist Mishaal Rahman found a command in the system’s code that hints at a similar feature and could make an appearance in the upcoming Upside Down Cake, codenamed Android 14.
DeviceAsWebcam would therefore allow all devices that accept the UVC (USB Video Class) standard to send a video stream to another device such as a PC. If you don’t have a smartphone that’s more than 3 years old, there’s a good chance you can take advantage of it. This is already the case since it is quite possible to do the same thing with an additional application like camouflage Or DroidCam.
The future functionality would simply be integrated into the system with Android 14…
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
What for ?
Using your smartphone as a webcam is very nice, but what’s the point? You should know that the webcams integrated into our laptops are often of poor quality. This is far from the case with our modern smartphones which all focus on photography. Recent Android devices all offer HD at 60 fps, when not 4K. For a job interview or to show the youngest to grandma who lives far away, it is therefore better to use a smartphone – even of average quality – than an integrated webcam which must have cost the price of a BIC pen. There are also people who have desktop PCs – without a webcam – and who will not need to buy additional hardware for one video per year.
