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How to Use Your Android Phone As A Wireless Webcam in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 24, 2015

Use Android as wireless webcam

Don’t have a camera on your Ubuntu machine? Well, you can use your Android phone as a webcam or IP Cam through WIFI or USB.

In below steps I’ll show you how to do it through the DroidCam software.

1. Install DroidCam client in Ubuntu machine.

Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to install the app from PPA:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:paolorotolo/droidcam

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install droidcam

Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13/17 are supported.

If you don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package directly from the launchpad page.

2. Install DroidCam app in your Android device from Google Play.

3. Launch DroidCam app in your Android device:

4. Launch DroidCam client in Ubuntu machine. Select connection mode, type in ip (if need), and click Connect.

5. Once connected, open a webcam specific app, like Cheese, in Ubuntu and select “DroidCam (v4l2loopback)” as its webcam device.

Finally you’ll see what your Android camera sees in the Cheese window. That’s it.

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    I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via ubuntuhandbook1@gmail.com Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1 |

    4 responses to How to Use Your Android Phone As A Wireless Webcam in Ubuntu

    1. Marc January 26, 2015 at 1:36 am

      Won’t work from the downloaded .deb, nor from the ppa.

      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c: At top level:
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2311:3: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
      .vidioc_s_std = &vidioc_s_std,
      ^
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2311:3: warning: (near initialization for ‘v4l2_loopback_ioctl_ops.vidioc_s_std’) [enabled by default]
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2331:3: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
      .vidioc_s_audio = &vidioc_s_audio,
      ^
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2331:3: warning: (near initialization for ‘v4l2_loopback_ioctl_ops.vidioc_s_audio’) [enabled by default]
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2333:3: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
      .vidioc_s_audout = &vidioc_s_audout,
      ^
      /opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.c:2333:3: warning: (near initialization for ‘v4l2_loopback_ioctl_ops.vidioc_s_audout’) [enabled by default]
      cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
      make[2]: *** [/opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback/v4l2loopback-dc.o] Error 1
      make[1]: *** [_module_/opt/droidcam/v4l2loopback] Error 2
      make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.18.1-031801-generic’
      make: *** [all] Error 2
      — INSTALL: v4l2loopback-dc.ko not built.. Failure
      dpkg: error processing package droidcam (–configure):
      subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
      Errors were encountered while processing:
      droidcam
      E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

    2. ljrossi January 17, 2016 at 7:47 pm

      Hi

      When running a the ubuntu droidcam , y get a pop window tha says something like “settings error ” “no existe el archivo o el directorio” ( missing file or directory )……and i cant setup ip or nothing else.