How to connect your phone to a computer via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

Connecting devices via a USB cable rarely causes difficulties for anyone, so we will not dwell on it. Consider ways to connect wirelessly.

Ways to physically connect your phone to your PC

To establish a physical connection between a phone and a computer, 3 interfaces are used:

• USB. Connecting via a USB cable is the easiest and most obvious option. To access user files stored on a smartphone, as a rule, no settings are needed: it usually appears in Windows Explorer immediately after connecting. Simple push-button phones sometimes require the installation of special software and drivers.
• Bluetooth. For this type of communication, it is imperative that both devices have Bluetooth adapters. Phones and laptops have them by default, but for desktop PCs they have to be purchased separately. When connected via Bluetooth, the PC user has access to folders and some functions of the mobile gadget.
• Wi-Fi. Normal network connection over the air. A computer and a smartphone can interact as equal members of the same local network, as a server and a client, as well as an access point and a client device.

3 ways to connect mobile phone to computer

Computers and mobile gadgets that belong to one person, family or team are a single information environment. Ideally, it provides not only the availability of the entire data array from each device included in its composition, but also provides the ability to control some devices using others.

How to connect a phone to a computer to access information, control or certain functions of another device, for example, use it as a webcam, microphone, flash drive, monitor?

Bluetooth

To establish a connection, make sure the Bluetooth adapters are turned on on your computer and phone. On Windows 10, this option is enabled in the “Settings”. “Devices” application, on Android smartphones. in the Quick Access Toolbar.

Click the “Add Bluetooth or Other Device” button below.

In the next window, select the connection type. Bluetooth.

Click your phone in the list of detected devices. Verify the digital code that appears below in this window and on the phone screen. If the code matches, click “Connect”.

To access the functions of the mobile gadget, scroll down the “Bluetooth and other devices” window to the “Related options” section and click “Devices and Printers”.

Find the phone among the connected devices and click on it with the right mouse button. The context menu shows the options for using it that Windows provides.

In my example, they are practically absent, and in order for the computer to interact with the phone, for example, as with a flash drive or as with a WEB-camera, you will have to install a third-party application, such as MyPhoneExplorer.

The most common way for a PC and a mobile phone to communicate via Wi-Fi is to use one of the devices as an Internet access point for the other. A smartphone connected to the World Wide Web through a 3G / 4G network of a mobile operator is more often used as an access point.

Setting up such a connection is very simple:

• We go into the settings for managing wireless networks and turn on the modem mode.

• In the modem mode options, select “Wi-Fi access point”. In the next section, we define the settings for the access point. In most cases, it is enough to set a password for connection here, the rest is optimal by default.

After that, you can connect your computer to the access point.

The reverse way of connecting the smartphone and the PC is also possible. when the access point is started on the computer. The function is supported by all editions of the system, starting with Windows 7 (except for the starting and home basic edition).

Creating a virtual access point in Windows is also not difficult. Windows 10 has a Mobile Hotspot feature, which is launched through Settings. Network & Internet. It is enough to move the slider to the “on” position and the access point is launched. Of course, in order for the phone to access the Internet through it, the computer must be connected to it itself.

In addition, the permissions must be set in the Internet connection properties on the PC, as shown in the screenshot below. Select a wireless connection from the “Home network connection” list.

There is a similar function on Mac OS X. There it is configured through “Sharing”. “Internet Sharing”. For computers using Wi-Fi. The name and password of the access point are set in the “Wi-Fi Settings”.

Most modern smartphones and computers (equipped with wireless adapters) support data transfer technologies over Wi-Fi. In particular, WI-FI Direct and Miracast. Both standards use direct connection of devices to each other, that is, not through a router.

The technology of wireless multimedia transmission Wi-Fi Direct is implemented on the vast majority of smartphones of popular brands and models. Xiaomi
Redmi 4 pro, Xiaomi Redmi 4X, Samsung Galaxy, ZTE Blade, ASUS, Lenovo, etc. The function is enabled in the section of additional parameters of Wi-Fi networks.Fi:

After activating Wi-Fi Direct, the phone starts searching for devices that support this function and are nearby. When a suitable device is found, to start the transfer, just select it from the list.

To connect to Wi-Fi Direct, network discovery and file and printer sharing must be enabled on your computer. The network profile must be private.

In addition, the media streaming function must be active on the PC (the easiest way to open this window is through the system search):

And enabled permission to access shared media files for the selected mobile device:

To display a photo or video on the phone screen or use it as a speaker for playing music, just open the context menu of the file on the PC, click the “Transfer to device” item and specify which.

Miracast technology, unlike Wi-Fi Direct, allows you to display not only multimedia, but any content on the display of another device. To connect your phone screen to your computer and vice versa, make the following settings:

• On an Android smartphone: open the Settings app, go to the Display section and select Wireless Monitor. To see your phone screen on a computer, select a compatible PC to be the signal receiver from the list. If you want to display a picture from the computer screen on your phone, enable the “Used by others” function.

• On a computer: open the Action Center in the system tray and click the “Connect” tile. Next, select the “Connect” mobile device from the list. If both devices support Miracast technology, the phone will connect to a computer monitor, more precisely, it will act as a monitor itself.

Programs for synchronizing phone and computer

The possibilities of Wi-Fi Direct and Miracast technologies are far from limitless and only open access to a small fraction of the functions of the connected device. You cannot fully control your phone using a computer. But no one does this, since there are special applications for such tasks.

The bulk of programs for synchronizing data and managing a mobile gadget using a PC are produced by phone manufacturers. Therefore, such programs only support one specific brand, for example:

• Samsung PC Studio
• Samsung Kies
• NoKia Suite
• HiSuite by Huawey
• Mi PC Suite (Xiaomi)
• HTC Sync Manager
• Xperia Companion (Sony)
• NoKia MobiMB Mobile Media Browser
• Sony Ericsson PC Suite
• Siemens Mobile Phone Manager
• BlackBerry Desktop Software
• Apple iTunes
• Apple iDevice Manager

But there are also universal tools that are compatible with many models of Android devices. Among them:

• The aforementioned MyPhoneExplorer (in the screenshot below)
• Android Screencast
• SnapPea
• MOBILedit! Lite (paid)
• AirDroid etc.

In addition, for such tasks, you can use any supported remote access tools, such as Teamviewer.

The Android Screencast program deserves special attention. It is unique in that it does not require the installation of a client module on a mobile device, so it can be used even if the screen does not work on the phone. The only condition is the enabled USB debugging function.

Access to data on smartphones with a broken or non-working screen is also provided by the proprietary utilities of the manufacturers listed above. The main thing is to have time to install the utility before the incident happened and to carry out at least one synchronization. If the sensor does not work on the phone, most likely, some functions will be unavailable.

Can these programs save data if the phone won’t turn on? As a rule, no. Your phone may not work for many reasons, and failure to load the operating system is just one of them. To extract information from faulty devices, programmers and special service software are used, which are not freely available. In addition, special training is required to work with such tools. In a word, if your phone does not turn on, you can try to reflash it, but to save data it is easier and safer to contact the mobile service.

We configure the phone as a WEB-camera over Wi-Fi

After installing the program on all devices, you can move on to the main question. Let’s make it so that it turns out to connect the phone as a WEB-camera for a computer via Wi-Fi.

Launch DroidCam on your smartphone, and then on your computer (if it was already open, close the utility and restart it).

Now on the PC in the “Connect” window, you need to select the type of connection: we will have a wireless connection via Wi-Fi, so click on the first icon. In the field “Device IP” you need to enter the IP address that is shown on the phone in the field “WI-FI IP”. Then enter the port: “DroidCam Port” (the item is also called on the smartphone). Mark with a bird that you need to transmit or also sound. Then click “Start”.

After that, an image will appear in the utility window on the computer, which is captured by the phone’s camera. You can explore the available buttons here. Please note that more advanced settings: zoom, focus, brightness, rotation, are available only in the Pro version of the program.

In order for the image from the phone’s camera to be broadcast in the desired program on the PC, it is enough to select the name of the DroidCam program in its settings, where the camera is indicated. Let’s look at this using Skype as an example.

We launch the messenger and immediately next to the avatar, click on three buttons. Then go to “Settings”.

On the left, select the “Sound and Video” section. To select a camera, you need to expand the drop-down list in the same field. Select or “DroidCam Source 2” from the list. or “DroidCam Source 3”.

Installing the program on a computer

Now let’s move on to installing the DroidCam program on your computer. You can download it from the official website. Follow the link: https://www.dev47apps.com to get to it.

Then, at the bottom, select the operating system you are using on your computer. In the example, this is Windows.

In the next step, click on the “DroidCam Client” button. to start downloading. You can also read the main notes here. From the main thing: during installation, you should close the programs in which you then want to use the phone as a WEB-camera.

Run the downloaded file and install DroidCam. As a result, a shortcut to the program will appear on the desktop. Double-click on it with the left mouse button.

The utility will start. In the foreground there will be a window for selecting a connection. “Connect”. In the background there will be a window of the client itself. “DroidCam Client”.

Installing the program on the phone

To install DroidCam on your smartphone, go to the Play Market and search for it through the search. Then click on the “Install” button. When the process is completed, you can launch the application either by clicking on the “Open” button (in this window), or go to the desktop and click on the shortcut.

The main window will contain all the information of interest to us. These are the data in the fields: “WI-FI IP”. DroidCam Port and Browser IP Cam Access. Also note the camera icon at the top right.

By clicking on it, you can choose which smartphone camera to use: back or front.

What is needed

To make a WEB-camera out of your phone, you need a smartphone with the Android operating system. All that is needed from him is a working chamber. If she also shoots in high resolution, then this is great. a good quality image will be transmitted. If the smartphone is not completely new and the camera resolution is not high, then the picture quality will be worse.

You also need a special program DroidCam, with which the phone and PC will be connected. For a computer, you can download it from the official website. over, it is available for Windows and Linux. You can download the utility to your phone in the Play Market.

If you are going to connect your smartphone to a PC via USB, make sure you have a suitable cable. One end must be connected to the phone, the other to the USB connector on the system unit or laptop.

To set up a wireless Wi-Fi connection, you need to connect both devices to the same router. For example, phone and laptop must be connected to the same wi-fi; or a smartphone is connected to the router via wi-fi, and the computer is connected to it via a cable.

How to make a WEB camera from your phone via Wi-Fi or USB

At the moment, more and more people are switching to remote work. Under such conditions, it becomes necessary to conduct online conferences, meetings, trainings, lessons and much more. But how can a user who is sitting at a computer or laptop show his face to the interlocutor if he simply does not have a WEB-camera? Or is she broken.

It may not be there, but there will definitely be a smartphone. And in this manual I will show you that it is quite possible to use the phone as a WEB-camera, and there is nothing complicated about the connection itself. Thanks to this, you can conduct various meetings or lessons while sitting at a PC (for example, your desktop and your face will be shown), or you can chat with friends on social networks.

How to turn your phone into a WEB-camera via USB

If you want to connect your phone as a WEB-camera by connecting your smartphone and computer via USB, then the first thing you need to do is enable USB debugging on your smartphone. To do this, go to “Settings”.

And go to the “Phone Details”.

How to use Phone as a webcam via USB Method

Next, you need to find the item “Build number” and click on it with your finger 7 times. It may be in this list, or it may be in the “Software Information” section. as shown in the example.

Now we return to the settings page and the “Developer options” item should appear at the very bottom. Go to it.

Find “USB Debugging” among the available items and activate it by moving the slider to the right.

How to use Phone as Webcam

In the PC application, you need to configure the connection parameters. First select icon 2. USB communication. Then enter the port that is listed in the DroidCam on the smartphone. Mark that you will transfer video and click “Start”.

Now your phone works as a WEB-camera on a computer or laptop, and you can safely teach a lesson or attend a meeting.

I think you understand everything, and now you can turn your phone camera into a WEB-camera for a computer or laptop.