These Samsung Galaxy Devices Finally Have Native Webcam Support

If you work from a laptop, your built-in webcam may be perfect for video calls. But for those of us who own external monitors or laptops with lower-quality cameras, it’s helpful (or necessary) to look for dedicated, high-quality webcams. Before spending hundreds of dollars on an Amazon product, just use your smartphone. Your iPhone or Android most likely has native webcam support that allows easy access to the phone’s camera for business or personal calls. I guarantee your phone has a better camera than your laptop, even if it doesn’t enough also convenient to use.

However, I was surprised to learn today that Samsung Galaxy phones do not support this feature. You were able to turn Galaxy devices into webcams using third-party apps, but this was never built into the operating system itself. It’s not a big deal, but it adds an extra hurdle that doesn’t need to be there, and probably reduces the chances that Galaxy users will even know they can use their smartphone as a webcam.

Fortunately, this is no longer the case. As reported by Android Authority, Samsung is now rolling out webcam support to Galaxy S26 devices. This includes the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra. Samsung doesn’t put its own twist on this feature either: it works just like on Pixel, so if you’ve used Android’s built-in webcam feature, you know how it works.

This isn’t the only Galaxy S26-exclusive feature dropping this week. Samsung also rolled out AirDrop support for the S26 line, joining the Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series. Now, these Android phones can send files wirelessly to iPhones via Quick Share, which would have seemed impossible six months ago.

How to use your Galaxy S26 as a webcam

This is a pretty simple feature, assuming you have compatible equipment. First, on your S26, open the USB settings, then under “Use USB for”, choose “Webcam”. Next, plug your S26 into your computer. You should see an alert informing you that you have connected your phone via USB. Tap it, then choose “Webcam” when the option appears. Your phone should now be in webcam mode: tap the webcam alert that appears to see the viewfinder and set your angle accordingly.

Now you should see your S26 as a camera option in any video calling client you use. Simply select it on your device’s webcam (or choose it as your camera if you don’t have one in the first place), and you should notice an improvement in camera quality.