How to use an Android phone as a webcam in Zoom on a Mac

Zoom on a Mac will use an Android phone as its webcam once the phone shows up on the Mac as a camera. Zoom does not connect to the phone itself. First make the phone a Mac camera, with Android's USB webcam mode, a webcam app, or The Relay. Then open Zoom, click your profile picture, click Settings, open the Video & effects tab, and choose the phone from the camera drop-down menu. During a meeting, the same choice sits behind the up arrow next to the Video icon.

Publisher note: The Relay publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Details about other products come from each maker's own pages, checked on 1 October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm before you buy.

What has to be true before Zoom can see the phone?

Zoom lists the cameras that macOS offers it. An Android phone lying next to a MacBook is not one of them until something presents it as a camera. There are three ways, set out in full in how to use an Android phone as a webcam for a Mac:

Camo's site names Zoom among the apps it works with. The Relay names Zoom as well: the phone's camera and microphone appear on the Mac as a camera and a microphone that Zoom can select.

Do this part before you open Zoom. If Zoom is already running, quit it and open it again after the phone is connected, so it looks for cameras afresh.

How do I choose the phone as the camera before a meeting?

These steps are from Zoom's support article Testing your video, for the desktop app.

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click your profile picture, then click Settings.
3. Click the Video & effects tab. Zoom shows a preview from the camera that is currently selected.
4. Under Camera, open the drop-down menu and select the phone. Its name depends on the route you used, so look for the new entry that was not there before.

Zoom's settings overview describes that tab as the place "where you can preview your video, change your camera, and customize your virtual backgrounds". If the preview shows your face from the phone's angle, you are set.

How do I switch to the phone during a meeting?

Zoom's steps for a meeting in progress:

1. In the meeting controls toolbar, next to the Video icon, click the up arrow.
2. Click Video settings.
3. Zoom's instruction: "If you don't see your camera's video, under Camera, click the drop-down menu and select another camera." Pick the phone.

That is useful when the phone drops out mid-call and you need to fall back to the MacBook's own camera quickly. Rehearse it once so you know where the arrow is.

How do I use the phone as the microphone in Zoom?

Only some routes offer this. With The Relay, the phone's microphone appears on the Mac as a microphone, separate from the camera. Camo's support page says you can select Camo as an audio source to use the phone's microphone. For Android's USB webcam mode, Google's page describes the camera only, so plan on another microphone.

In Zoom, the microphone is chosen in a different tab from the camera. Zoom's settings overview says: "The Audio tab is where you can set, test, and adjust your microphone and speaker." Open Settings, then Audio, and select the phone's microphone there if your route provides one.

Choosing the phone as the camera does not switch the microphone. They are two settings, and it is easy to change one and assume the other followed. Whether the phone's microphone beats your MacBook's or your earbuds depends on the room and where the phone sits. Record a short test or ask a colleague which sounds better.

Why is the phone not in Zoom's camera list?

Which route makes sense for Zoom?

• Free, with a cable: the USB webcam mode, if your phone has it. Nothing to install.
• Picture controls: Camo. It lists macOS 12.3 or later and Android 7.0 or later.
• Camera and microphone without a cable, plus the rest of the phone on the Mac: The Relay. It also puts the phone's notifications, incoming texts, and incoming calls on the Mac, so you can decline a call without reaching for a phone that is on a tripod. It costs $19.99, paid once, and needs Android 8.0 or later and macOS 13 Ventura or later.

The Relay is the wrong choice if you want a wired connection, since it has no USB mode, or if the free route already does the job. We have not measured picture quality or delay for any option. A Zoom meeting with only yourself in it is the simplest test: start one, select the phone, and watch the preview for ten minutes.

For framing, light, and where to put the phone, see an Android phone as a webcam for video calls.

Questions people ask

Does Zoom have a setting for using a phone as a webcam?

Not a phone-specific one in the steps Zoom publishes for choosing a camera. Zoom shows a drop-down menu of cameras under Video & effects. The phone appears there once another tool has made it a camera on the Mac.

Do I need the Zoom app on the phone?

No. Zoom runs on the Mac and you appear in the meeting once. The phone only supplies the picture, and the sound if your route carries it, through whichever tool made it a camera on the Mac.

Where is the camera setting in Zoom on a Mac?

Click your profile picture, then Settings, then Video & effects. In a meeting, click the up arrow next to the Video icon and choose Video settings.

Will Zoom remember the phone as my camera?

Zoom's pages do not say how it treats a camera that comes and goes. Check the Video & effects tab before each important meeting, since a wireless camera is only listed while the phone is connected.