Smartphones & Tablets | September 27, 2023
The competition between Google and Apple remains as fierce as ever. Both companies embrace relatively different philosophies, but neither hesitates to borrow from the other. Apple has copied Google on numerous occasions, and vice versa. Sometimes, they even arrive at the same solution independently.
Something similar seems to have happened with the new feature in Android 14, which will be very familiar to iPhone users: the ability to use your phone as a webcam. This concept makes a lot of sense when you consider the high quality of cameras integrated into modern smartphones and the subpar quality of most current webcams.
In fact, before the pandemic, webcams were on the verge of becoming obsolete, and some laptop brands even dared to eliminate them. However, the popularity of apps like Zoom and Google Meet surged, and nowadays, video calls and video conferences have become commonplace.
So, it’s no surprise that for many people, one of the best features of iOS 16 was Continuity Camera, a feature that allows you to turn your iPhone into a webcam for use on Mac computers. By using an adapter, you can attach your phone to the top of the computer screen and take advantage of the higher resolution and image quality of the phone’s camera.
With Android 14, other smartphones will be able to do the same. There were already apps that introduced similar functionality, but now all Android phones will be able to do it out of the box without the need for any additional components. As Mishaal Rahman notes, the feature appears as a new option in the USB settings menu, where you can choose the USB mode the device will use when you connect a USB cable. Once activated, your phone will be recognized as a webcam when connected via USB cable to a Windows, macOS, or Linux computer, and it can even connect to another Android device, such as a tablet.
However, the experience probably won’t be as straightforward and seamless as on the iPhone. To begin with, this option is not enabled by default, so manual configuration may be required. Additionally, there are certain requirements that manufacturers will need to meet, including specific settings and possibly an app to enable your phone as a webcam. The good news is that Google has already developed all of this, so Google Pixel phones will likely be able to be used as webcams without many issues. Other brands may need to develop their own solutions or adopt Google’s. We’ll learn more when Android 14 is officially released, possibly alongside the launch of the Pixel 8.
