I replaced my webcam with Android webcam mode; the video quality improved instantly

Every time I've logged in to a video call over the past few months, I've been appalled by how mediocre my desktop's webcam looks.

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Even though I paid good money for the hardware during the pandemic, it doesn't accurately capture my skin tone under less-than-ideal lighting. Worse, the image is full of grain, and the compression that video calls use doesn't help.

But after plugging my phone into my laptop to charge it in a pinch recently, I discovered an alternative I had overlooked: a native USB webcam mode built into Android. The feature was introduced alongside Android 14, but it's easy to overlook since it only shows up when you connect your phone to a computer.

Intrigued, I took Android's webcam mode for a test drive and found that it outclasses my desktop's webcam — to the point where it's now my go-to choice for all video calls.

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Android's webcam mode outperforms my dedicated camera

It's completely free too

As you can see from the samples above, my Android phone's camera easily outperforms the webcam currently connected to my desktop.

Under artificial lighting, the dedicated webcam struggles to keep my face looking natural. Bright objects in the background also overwhelm the webcam due to the tiny sensor's limited dynamic range.

Setting up Android's webcam mode is straightforward. After you connect your phone to a computer with a cable, tap the USB connected notification and select Webcam.

You can switch between the front and back cameras, and the phone also forwards audio from its mic to the computer.

My favorite part of Android's webcam mode is that it's completely plug-and-play. I don't need to worry about installing drivers or any third-party software on my computer.

Because this webcam mode is baked into Android, the phone identifies itself as a standard USB Video Class (UVC) device.

I've had success with Android's webcam mode on Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. This is the benefit of adopting a USB protocol-level feature rather than a proprietary workaround.

In my experience, most budget webcams pale in comparison to an average smartphone camera. The sensors used in budget phones have improved over the past few years too, so you don't need a flagship Android phone like my three-year-old Google Pixel 8 Pro to achieve similar results.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Android lets me switch to my phone's ultrawide or telephoto lens. The latter may not be very useful, but the ultrawide lens can help for group calls or presenting in a large space.

The webcam market, meanwhile, has largely stagnated over the past decade. For instance, the Logitech C270 was released in 2010 and remains one of the top-selling webcams on Amazon. More premium models like the Logitech C920X have similarly old hardware under the hood too.

You'd need to shell out at least $100 for a webcam that offers comparable image quality to your smartphone's camera. At that point, why pay for a separate device when you already have a perfectly capable alternative?

Android's webcam mode needs a cable, but I found a solution

A third-party app came to my rescue

My number one wishlist item for Android's built-in webcam mode is wireless mode. This would let me mount my phone in a convenient location and use it as a wireless webcam, with no cables.

Apple offers this feature as part of its Continuity suite, but it only works between an iPhone and a macOS computer logged in to the same Apple account. Under the hood, the feature uses your local Wi-Fi network to transmit the image feed.

Apple wasn't the first to come up with this feature — while researching this article, I stumbled upon DroidCam, an Android app that emulates a webcam wirelessly over Wi-Fi. The only catch is that it needs a client app and companion driver installed on your Windows or Linux computer. But I don't mind the additional couple of steps since it's a one-time process.

DroidCam also offers more settings to adjust than Android's webcam mode — I prefer increasing the exposure for my room and mirroring the image, but you can also fine-tune other settings like the contrast and white balance.

DroidCam works flawlessly over my local network, even with my computer connected to my router via Wi-Fi. The app also offers 1080p and 4K quality options if you pay for a Pro license, although the default 480p resolution delivered plenty of detail for my modest needs.

I cannot overstate the convenience benefit of a wireless connection — it makes Android's wired-only approach feel antiquated.

Android's webcam mode is perfect for an old phone

The only reason I'd use a dedicated webcam for my computer is for Windows Hello facial recognition. The feature uses infrared sensors to authenticate me even in the dark. Very few webcams on the market support facial recognition, so you likely won't miss it.

If I were building a new desktop for myself or a family member, I would use Android's built-in webcam feature instead of spending $50 or potentially double that for a dedicated piece of hardware. Considering that I have two old Android phones lying idle in a drawer, I don't even need to sacrifice my daily driver for the task.