Android 14 brings smartphone Webcam functionality

Google will introduce a new feature that allows users to turn their smartphones into webcams with Android 14. This feature will enable users to plug their Android phones into a PC and switch the USB mode to UVC (USB Video Class), which will make their phones recognizable as standard USB webcams by other devices.

However, this feature is not enabled by default and requires some configuration by the device maker. The device maker needs to enable a Linux kernel config, configure the UVC device, update the USB HAL, and preload a new system app called “Webcam Service”.

Webcam Service is included in the Android 14 QPR1 beta for some Pixel devices. This app depends on a shared library called libjni_deviceAsWebcam.so. Both the app and the library will be part of the upcoming source code release of Android 14. The webcam device will appear on the connected host as an “Android Webcam”. It uses the Camera2 API and supports streaming at either 720p (1280×720) or 1080p (1920x1080p) resolutions.

Android 14 is expected to be released with the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. It will also bring several new features and improvements to the Android platform.

VIA