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Turn an old phone into a Wi-Fi IP camera

That drawer phone you stopped using still has a great camera and Wi-Fi. WebCam turns it into a private IP camera for a room, a doorway or a workshop — watched live from any browser on your network, with no subscription and no cloud account.

Why a local IP camera

Most consumer cameras route video through a vendor cloud. WebCam doesn't: the stream stays on your own Wi-Fi and is viewed live from another device on the same network. That means no monthly fee, no account, and your video isn't uploaded to a developer-operated server.

Set it up

1. Mount or prop the old phone where you want the view, and keep it on a charger.
2. Connect it to the same Wi-Fi as the device you'll watch from.
3. Open WebCam, choose the camera, and tap Start.
4. On your laptop or another phone, open the shown address in a browser — or scan the QR code — to watch live.

Keep it running

For an always-on camera, leave the phone plugged in and follow the in-app battery guidance so the system doesn't pause the stream. The free tier has per-session and daily limits that suit spot checks; WebCam Pro removes those limits for continuous, uninterrupted streaming.

Lock it down

Set a password so only people who have it can open the stream and the browser controls. Because the feed never leaves your network, the main thing to protect is access on the LAN itself.

Want a portable angle instead? See the phone-as-webcam guide, or learn the RTSP setup for recording.