Most laptops these days come with a built-in webcam. However, if you’re still rocking a desktop (with no camera), have a broken cam, or simply need something higher quality than the cheap model built into your computer, you can turn to your iPhone. The HD camera in your smartphone can, in a pinch, make a great webcam. Whether you’re attending remote meetings or simply trying to launch your career as a Twitch streamer, you can use your iPhone as a makeshift webcam.

Specialty Apps

“There’s an app for that!” 

Yes, Apple’s marketing tagline for their App Store does apply here. In fact, there are multiple apps for this particular need. Some come without fees. Others are paid. Some offer limited functionality for no fees, with advanced features locked behind a paywall. Regardless, there’s probably an option that will work for you.

We should point out that all of these apps require you to also download a small application for your PC too. The smartphone app will connect to the PC software (which is essentially running a small server for your phone to communicate with). So make sure you download both parts in order to make these apps work properly.

iVCam

The good news is that iVCam will do the job, without fees. You simply download the app to your iPhone (and the accompanying software for your PC). After that, the set-up is quite simple. Your PC will use whatever your iPhone camera sees as its webcam feed.

The no-fee version of iVCam does include a small watermark. If you want to remove it (and unlock some other advanced features, like higher resolutions and the ability to record video), you’ll have to part with some cash. You can buy an annual subscription or pay a one-time fee to unlock all the premium features, forever. 

EpocCam

EpocCam is very similar to iVCam. You download the app and install the driver on your PC. After that, you can use a USB connection to make your iPhone work as your webcam. And much like the previously discussed app, EpocCam locks some of its niftier features behind a paywall.

Instead of using in-app purchases, there are two entirely separate apps. The complimentary one works just fine, but paying for the premium version will allow you to remove the watermark, access full 1080p video, use a Wifi connection, replace your background digitally, use your flashlight, and a few other odds and ends. It’s also a bit cheaper than iVCam, for anyone on a budget.

iCam

iCam is yet another app that allows you to use your iPhone as a PC webcam. Unfortunately, there’s no complimentary version to try out first. 

It doesn’t have quite as many features as the other two apps we’ve mentioned. It also relies on UPnP for a wireless connection to your PC. That gives some people issues, depending on their wireless router. 

Tips and Tricks

No matter which app you end up deciding to use, there are some more ways to improve the entire experience. If you want the best quality video footage for your meeting, livestream, or whatever else you’re needing a webcam for, try to follow some (or all) of these tips.

Use a Stand or Tripod

No one wants to watch your shaky video footage like it’s some kind of modern, online Blair Witch documentary. So do everyone a favor and get yourself some sort of stand or tripod. You can get a bunch of different styles fairly cheap on Amazon. 

If you don’t have a tripod, you should still rig something up. Just MacGyver yourself up a sturdy stand using books, binder clips, or whatever else you have laying around. Just please, we beg you, don’t attend your Monday Morning Meeting by just holding your phone in front of your face. It’s incredibly distracting.

Opt For a Wired Connection

While the apps we discussed above mostly have wireless options, it’s best to skip them. A wired USB connection will always provide a more consistent and high-quality video feed. So unless whatever you’re streaming requires you to be up and moving around, go ahead and plug your iPhone directly to your PC.

As an added bonus, using a wired connection will eliminate any potential issues with your phone’s battery dying mid-stream. Sending live HD video to your PC over Wifi will really tank your iPhone’s battery in a hurry. Might as well just plug it in, if possible.

Use Good Lighting

If you’re going to have your face on-screen, you might as well make sure you look half-decent. While the work-from-home revolution may tempt you to attend meetings unshaven, unwashed, or just generally looking disheveled, you’ll be amazed at how much of a difference some proper lighting can make.

Turn on the lights in your room. If you can, position yourself somewhere that’s full of natural light from a window or skylight. If you plan to be on a webcam often, you can buy a cheap ring light online. (As a bonus, most ring lights can also double as your stand/tripod). If all else fails, you can even use your iPhone’s back camera and turn your LED flash on to light up your video. 

Use Headphones

Your laptop probably has a built-in microphone. Your iPhone, of course, also has one. You may even have a USB mic that you use for voice recording or meetings. However, for the best sound quality (including the audio you transmit to whoever is watching you), consider using a set of headphones with a built-in microphone.

Apple’s AirPods (or AirPod Pros) are both great choices, since they already work so well with your iPhone. But any headset with a mic will do the trick, really. This especially helps if you happen to be positioned a bit far from your laptop mic. Having the mic in your headphones be only a few inches from your mouth (and specifically designed to pick up what you’re saying) will help you sound loud and clear.

Use The Native Apps Instead

While the apps we discussed above will certainly get the job done, you should also consider just using the official app for whatever platform you need a webcam for. For meetings, there are official apps for web-conferencing software like Zoom, Slack, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. Just download those, sign in, and use them for your meeting (while following our other tips about using a stand and having good lighting). 

You can also use your iPhone to stream on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook. The only downside is that you can’t get too advanced, like streaming a video game, sharing your screen, or using custom overlay graphics. For basic video meetings, though, go ahead and use first-party apps instead of creating a workaround for your PC.

Learn More Today

In a world where remote work and online interaction are more common than ever, having a high-quality webcam can make a big difference. With your iPhone and a few easy tweaks, you can upgrade your video quality for meetings, livestreams, or even casual calls without purchasing a new webcam. From choosing the right app to improving lighting and sound, these small adjustments can create a more professional and engaging experience. So whether you’re on a budget or just looking to enhance your setup, turning your iPhone into a versatile, high-quality webcam is a simple solution that can elevate your digital presence.

Apple first released the AirPods in 2016. People loved the way these wireless earbuds worked seamlessly with their iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads. Then, Apple one-upped itself with the AirPod Pros. With better waterproofing, active noise cancellation, and a ton of additional features, the Pros became the earbud of choice for many. Whether you use your AirPod Pros in an office, at the gym, or while running the local trails, there are a ton of cool features that you might not know about.

Test Your Tip Sizes

Every pair of AirPod Pros comes with three sets of silicone tips. You can choose the best fit, depending on the size and shape of your ears. This is an especially great addition for those who just couldn’t quite get the original AirPods to fit in their ear correctly.

Apple takes things one step further, though. When you select your AirPod Pros from the Bluetooth menu, you can tap “Ear Tip Fit Test.” It will walk you through a short audio test and determine whether your AirPods are fitting snugly in your ears or not. If they aren’t, you can try a different size.

Connect Directly to Apple TV

Plenty of smart devices for streaming TV only give you the option of sending the audio directly to your TV speakers. While some devices (and even TVs) are starting to include Bluetooth out features, using an Apple TV and a pair of AirPod Pros is a super simple solution. 

Just open up the Bluetooth settings on your Apple TV menu and connect your AirPod Pros. Now you can binge Ted Lasso all night without waking up your partner, children, or neighbors.

Use Live Listen

Most people never use the Live Listen feature, but it can come in quite handy. It allows you to use your iPhone as a microphone, transmitting the audio directly to your AirPods. The only catch is that you have to keep your two devices within range of each other for it to work. Still, it can be great if you’re hard of hearing or just can’t sit close enough to the audio source you’re trying to listen to.

Go to your Control Center and tap the little ear icon. If it’s not there, you may have to enable the Hearing widget from settings. Tap the “Live Listen” to turn it on. Then just set your iPhone down close to the thing you want to hear, and the sound will be sent directly to your AirPods.

Read Your Text Messages (Or Announce Calls)

Apple now prompts you to set up this feature the first time you connect your AirPod Pros to your iPhone, so you may already know about it. If you don’t, it can be an extremely handy way to know when someone is trying to reach you but you can’t look at your phone right away. Many people use this feature while working out at the gym or running outdoors.

You can toggle this feature on and off in the “Siri and Search” section of your iPhone settings. When enabled, Siri will automatically dictate incoming text messages or announce who is calling you. Then you can choose to answer the call (click the AirPod stem once) or reply to the message (Siri will keep listening for a few seconds after). 

Switch Between Modes

The biggest difference between regular AirPods and the Pro version is the active noise cancellation. AirPod Pros use a series of microphones to detect any surrounding noise. Then it sends sound inverse and neutralizing sound waves into your ears to cancel it out. The result is pretty incredible.

There’s also a mode called “Transparency.” It’s basically the opposite of noise canceling, where the AirPods purposely allow outside noise to come in. That means you’ll be able to hear the things around you while you’re listening to music – your children calling your name, your departure flight being announced, or that car behind you while biking.

By default, you can switch between these modes without even using your phone. Just press and hold the button on your AirPod stem until you hear the beep. If you don’t want to use either of these modes (there is a middle-ground), you’ll need to select it with your phone.

Change Your AirPod’s Name

By default, your AirPods will be called something like “John’s AirPod Pros” the first time you connect them. Maybe that’s cool with you. However, if you want something a bit more unique, you can actually change the name of your AirPods.

First, open up your AirPods and make sure they are connected to your phone. Then go to Settings > Bluetooth. Tap the little ‘i’ icon next to your AirPods. That will bring you to another settings menu with more options. If you tap on the current name of your AirPods, you can change them to whatever you want.

We suggest you change them to your email address or phone number. Name them something like “If Found: name@domain.com.” That might make it more likely they are returned to you if they end up lost.

Share Your Audio

Are you vibing to a new song and just need to share it with your bestie? Except maybe you’re a bit squeamish about sharing earbuds with another human? If you’re both using AirPods (Pros, Max, or even regular ones), you can share audio with just a few clicks.

While listening to something, pull up your Control Center and tap on the AirPlay icon. Then hit the Share Audio button. If your friend’s AirPods are already in their ears, you should see them listee there. Send your new favorite track directly to their ears! As a bonus, you can control the volume for each person separately.

Change The Controls

The AirPod Pros come with default controls. A single press of the stem button starts and stops music (or answers and ends calls). A double-press skips to the next track. A triple-press skips back to the previous track. On the regular AirPods, you can customize these actions to do different things. Unfortunately, you can’t change them on the AirPod Pros.

You can, however, change what the long presses do. Instead of toggling between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes, you can set the long presses to turn both modes off or even use it to activate Siri. 

Improve Sound Quality (with accessibility features)

This one is pretty hidden unless you know where to look. While the AirPod Pros already sound great right out of the box, you may want to tweak them a bit more to your liking. If you navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Headphone Accommodations, you can find some additional options.

You’ll hear sample audio and then you can choose from a few different options to make it sound slightly different. Maybe you want to boost softer frequencies or optimize your settings for podcasts instead of music. While these settings were originally designed to assist those with hearing impairments, regular audiophiles enjoy tinkering with them too.

Use Spatial Audio

The Spatial Audio feature made its debut in iOS 14. It brings head tracking and a more immersive surround sound mode into play when watching supported videos. Imagine you’re watching a scary movie with your AirPod Pros in. Suddenly, you hear a growl that literally sounds like it’s behind you. If you turn your head around, the next one will sound like it’s in front of you.

You may have been prompted to set up Spatial Audio when you first connected your AirPod Pros to your iPhone. If not, you can access it in the AirPod settings menu when you tap on your headphones in the Bluetooth menu.

Talk Directly To Siri

If you have “Hey Siri” enabled on your iPhone, you already know that you can trigger Apple’s virtual assistant without even touching your phone. This functionality also crosses over to your AirPods, meaning you can summon Siri anytime you’re wearing them.

Many people use this when they’re exercising. For example, you can say, “Hey Siri, shuffle my running music mix” or “Hey Siri, text [insert name] and let them know that I’ll be home in an hour.”

You can also ask Siri about the weather, the score of a game, or even how much battery life is left on your AirPods. And you can do it without taking your phone out of your pocket.

Connect To a PC (or other non-Apple products)

There’s no denying this simple truth: AirPods of any kind simply work better with Apple devices. From seamless connections to more diverse options, Apple’s hardware was designed to work together in a simple and elegant way.

However, at the end of the day, AirPods are just Bluetooth devices. That means you can connect them to any non-Apple device that also supports Bluetooth. So your Android phone or Windows PC both work with AirPods. Just press and hold the button on the back of your AirPods case until the light on the front is flashing. Then open the Bluetooth menu on your desired device and look for new pairings. Click on the AirPods and you’re all set.

Wireless Charging

The first generation AirPods sadly did not come with wireless charging. Apple quickly rectified that with the second-generation models. When the AirPod Pros were released, wireless charging was built directly into every pair. It’s much more convenient than having to track down an extra lightning charger.

Simply put your AirPod Pros in their case and plop the case down on the iPhone-compatible wireless charging pad. The light on the AirPod case will briefly illuminate to let you know they’re charging. Best of all, it takes very little time to recharge your AirPods – even when doing it wirelessly.

Find My AirPods

Apple’s ‘Find My’ device tracking feature has long been a useful one. The only problem, when it comes to AirPods at least, is that devices need to be actively connected to the internet to be tracked. Since AirPods are only Bluetooth enabled, they could only really show the last place they were used. That’s not great if they’ve been lost, stolen, or otherwise misplaced. A new feature in iOS15 gives you the ability to track your AirPods using the Find My feature. As long as your AirPods are near another Find My device (say, your iPad or MacBook), they will also update their location. Only a slight improvement, but a welcome one nonetheless.