No More Grainy Video Calls! Turn Your Phone Camera Into A Webcam For Zoom, Teams, And Google Meet Calls - Heres How

Let’s be honest, our budget laptop webcams aren’t that great. They’re usually grainy, awkwardly angled, and not the best for video calls. Whenever we join a meeting, most of the time, we end up settling for video meetings without good video quality. But here’s the thing – your phone has a much better camera, and you can actually use it as a webcam!  Also Read: OpenAI Rolls Out o3-pro Model For Complex Problems: Who Can Use It?

The best part? You don’t necessarily need to buy anything new. So, if you’ve got an important meeting coming up and want to look sharper, here are a couple of easy ways to turn your phone into a webcam. Also Read: Google Meet's new AI feature will now take notes for you

How To Use Your Phone As A Webcam

Option 1: Just Use Your Phone Directly

This one’s the simplest. Download Zoom, Teams, or Meet on your phone, sign in, and join the call as you normally would. Use the selfie camera, pop your phone on a stand or tripod, and you’re done. It’s quick, works every time, and is perfect if you don’t need to share your laptop screen during the meeting. Also Read: Google Chat to let you chat with Slack, Microsoft Teams users, but there's a catch

Option 2: Connect Your Phone as a Webcam

If you’d rather use your laptop for work while still upgrading your video quality, this is the smarter choice. Apps like Camo let you link your phone camera to your computer. Here’s what you do:

• Install the app on both your phone and laptop.
• Connect with a cable or over Wi-Fi.
• Give it camera and mic access.
• Open Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, and select your phone as the video source.
• And just like that, your laptop webcam is replaced by your phone’s sharper lens.

Bonus Tip

For iPhone and Mac users, if you’re on iOS 16 (or later) with a Mac running Ventura, you already have “Continuity Camera.” Place your iPhone near your Mac, and it automatically shows up as a webcam. You even get extras like Portrait mode and lighting tweaks.

While a Pixel phone owner, with Pixel 6 and above models, you can plug your phone into your laptop via USB, pick “Webcam” from the menu, and you’re good to go.