How To: Turn Your Smartphone into a Wireless Webcam with These 5 Apps

Most newer computers come with a webcam, but if you're using an older system, you may not have one. If you only need to use a webcam occasionally, it may not be worth putting the money into, so why not just use your smartphone? There are a few apps out there that can help you turn your phone into a super-convenient wireless webcam and save some cash.

SmartCam WebCam

You can use your Android device as a PC webcam by downloading the SmartCam app and desktop client. The app works in Windows and Linux, and you can connect it via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. You can find instructions on how to configure it here.

WebCamera

If you have an iPhone or iPad, there's an app called WebCamera that works for both Mac and PC. It works in Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo, AIM and several other chat services, and can capture video in three different resolutions. It costs $2.99, but that's way less than you'd pay for another piece of hardware to do the same thing.

Wireless Camera

Also for iOS, the Wireless Camera app ($1.99) works on any computer on the same network as your device. It uses iOS's web server features to set up a website on your network that you access by inputting your IP address. You can find more information on setting it up here.

DroidCam

You can connect your Android device via Wi-Fi or USB with DroidCam. It works in Windows and Linux, and the Pro version also supports Bluetooth and browser access. You'll also need to download the computer client to run it. You can see the quality in the video below.

Movino

You can use your phone as a Bluetooth webcam in Mac OS X (or broadcast live video onto your website) with Movino. It's a free, open source suite of applications that was originally developed as a university project, so if you know how, you can also tweak it to better fit your needs.

There are tons of apps out there for turning your phone into a webcam, so if I missed any really good ones, let me know. What's your favorite?