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DroidCam turns your phone into a webcam for your computer. You can use it with chat programs like Zoom, Discord, MS Teams.

I’m describing the steps to install it on Ubuntu using the classic app. It has an alternative app that works like an OBS plugin.

Additionally the below steps will use dkms, which is a Linux mechanism to allow automatically recompile a driver when a new kernel is installed. So, there is no need to recompile and reinstall droidcam after a kernel update.

Prerequisites

You’ll need git installed. If not installed: sudo apt install git.

Install on Mobile

Get it from:

Install on Ubuntu

Download the latest version from the official repository:

wget https://github.com/dev47apps/droidcam-linux-client/releases/download/v2.1.3/droidcam_2.1.3.zip
unzip droidcam_2.1.3.zip -d droidcam-linux-client

Enter in the unzipped folder:

cd droidcam-linux-client

Install the client:

sudo ./install-client

Now instead of to follow the official video install step, we’ll install using dkms at 1280x720 resolution:

sudo ./install-dkms 1280 720

Optionally install sound support:

sudo ./install-sound

Testing

Open the droidcam mobile client - in the mobile, of course!

Now in the Ubuntu desktop, start the droidcam client (a desktop shortcut should be available).

Connect to the mobile app at the IP address displayed in the mobile.

In order to test, you can use the guvcview utility (which is a webcam viewer). If not installed: sudo apt install guvcview.