Your Android phone as a webcam for Meet, Zoom and Discord on Linux

With Linksy, your Android phone becomes a webcam named Linksy Camera that Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi and any browser can pick, on Linux. It's a regular Linux camera device, so apps don't need anything special. It relies on the v4l2loopback kernel driver, which Linksy installs and sets up for you.

Which apps can use it?

Any app that lists the computer's cameras, because Linksy Camera is a standard Video4Linux device:

How do I set it up?

1. Install Linksy on the computer, from a .deb or .rpm package, and the Android app on the phone. Pair them by scanning the QR code.
2. Open Finish Setup in Linksy. If the camera driver is missing, it installs v4l2loopback and makes the Linksy Camera device, asking for your password once.
3. On the phone's page, choose Start Webcam.
4. In the meeting app, choose Linksy Camera as the camera.

Why does it need v4l2loopback?

Browsers, Zoom and Discord only look for cameras that are video devices in /dev. v4l2loopback is the Linux kernel driver that lets an app create such a device; Linksy uses it to make one named Linksy Camera and writes the phone's video into it. Apps that read PipeWire cameras, like OBS, see the phone even without it.

Normally Linksy installs it for you. Three situations need a little more:

• Secure Boot. Where the driver is built for your kernel (Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch), it must be signed. Finish Setup shows a code and asks you to restart; at the blue screen that appears, enroll the key with that code. openSUSE ships the driver already signed.
• The Flatpak. A Flatpak can't add a kernel driver. Install Linksy's .deb or .rpm instead, or install v4l2loopback yourself and run linksy-camera-setup once.
• Fedora. The driver comes from RPM Fusion; Finish Setup turns it on for you if it isn't already.

Linksy Camera isn't in the list. What now?

• Start the webcam before joining. The device only says it's a camera while the phone's video is flowing, which is what browsers expect. If the meeting page was already open, pick the camera again or reload the page.
• Check Finish Setup. If the camera driver is listed as missing, it shows what to install, and Install does it.
• See whether the device exists: cat /sys/class/video4linux/*/name should list Linksy Camera.
• Allow the camera in the browser when the site asks, and close other apps that may be holding it.

Can the phone be the microphone too?

Yes. On the phone's page, choose Start Microphone, and pick Linksy Microphone in the meeting's audio settings. It reaches every app through PipeWire, with no driver. Camera and microphone together make the phone a complete setup for a call from across the room.