EpocCam Webcamera for Computer Reviews

by Nickname 1380

I was so happy to have the opportunity to use an old phone as a WebCam rather than purchase a new one and the free version of EpocCam seemed to work so well, I decided to purchase EpocCam HD to use the microphone. It was working great with no problems for about a week and then it quit working with no logical reason. One day I used it in the morning for a meeting with no problem, and for another meeting in the afternoon all I got was the spinning circle of connecting.. I have tried rebooting everything, re-downloading drivers, reinstalling EpocCamWebcamera , using a different device. With the other device I finally got the camera to work again, but it is not working with Zoom anymore and I get a “failed to start the video camera” message even though it’s “connected.” I think I have now spent more time troubleshooting it then I actually spent using it when it worked. Rather disappointing. By the way, to those complaining about not being able to use the front facing camera without a review, it’s not really required. I had been using the front facing camera since day one despite not having submitted a review of EpocCamWebcamera until now.

by Henryjperc

This is the worst app I’ve ever spent money on and it cost $8!!! EpocCamWebcamera worked okay for about a week and then became useless. EpocCamWebcamera doesn’t start half the time, it’s incredibly laggy, and it often freezes in the middle of recordings/streams. I can’t even get it to work with a USB cable anymore which is supposed to be the most stable connection.

You can not use EpocCamWebcamera for any professional purposes! You’d drop out of meetings and ruin recordings constantly. There are barely any customization settings in EpocCamWebcamera and little technical support. I have so many other complaints but enough energy to list them all. Do a Google search for EpocCam and you’ll find a ton of other complaints.

I truly believe the company has found a way to fudge their review ratings because I see complaints similar to mine all over the Internet. EpocCamWebcamera literally doesn’t work, you can’t possibly give it more than a 1-star review. This is perhaps the worst purchase I’ve made this year.

by Zynthio

I started using this about a month ago as my camera for things like Twitch, Roll20, Zoom, etc. It worked fantastic in the beginning, so much better quality than a typical webcam. Then the usb function stopped working a week later, so I had to use WiFi. But even then it was still good quality and no lag. Then a few weeks later it started to overheat the phone, which makes the camera feed have horrible latency, but it only did this like every other time I used it. It would work fine one day and then overheat the next... Now the past few days it just straight up refuses to connect to my pc at all, so now EpocCamWebcamera is completely useless. This is kind of pathetic and makes absolutely no sense, and I’m not sure how it can just stop working like that when nothing has changed in my setup from when I started using it. I regret paying for EpocCamWebcamera

by JohnOfAnnapolis

UPDATED ORIGINALLY TWO STAR
I’m using an iPhone 6S plus and a MacBook Pro with EpocCam HD and Zoom.

This thing is glitchy. Connecting to the Zoom/Mac is iffy (I’m in Zoom setup), and when I switch away from EpocCam, the connection is totally lost. I have to kill EpocCamWebcamera on the phone, restart EpocCamWebcamera , switch Zoom away from EpocCam. Then when I switch back to EpocCam I am reconnected.

When I start a Zoom meeting, the connection is lost (I get the circling segments on both phone and Mac). I have to leave the meeting, kill EpocCamWebcamera on the phone, and re-enter the meeting to get video.

UPDATED April 22 - THREE STAR
Seems that most of the problems I listed above are caused by 2 things - spotty wifi at my house and EpocCamWebcamera ’s poor USB support. When I cured most of the wifi problems, most of the problems were reduced or eliminated. Even though EpocCamWebcamera connection setting is “automatic” and that the iPhone has been 100% connected by USB, the latency and freezing and dropped video problems continue. It takes “forever” (5 to 10 seconds) for the camera to reconnect and I get a “connected by wifi” notification. So, USB support is nonexistent or glitchy, but it is mostly usable for Zoom when high quality video is less important.

SECOND UPDATE. BACK TO 2 STARS
With wifi turned off and only the USB connection and connection set to USB only, it never connects.

by TheSnaytheist

Got EpocCamWebcamera almost a year ago now and used to work perfectly. Ever since the recent driver update (3.3) the program has been awful.

I’ll start up my computer and everything is running fine. App boots up well with Streamlabs and starts to work. Within 10-15 minutes of it being on, it freezes on the desktop. Tried restarting Streamlabs, nope. Tried restarting the computer, nope. Tried restarting my phone, nope. The only way to fix it (in my experience) is to shut off the stream/quit Streamlabs, delete the recent EpocCam patch, restart the computer, download the EpocCam patch again, restart the computer AGAIN, then it’s able to work…. until the next day…. Then you have to restart that whole process again.

I’ve gone and ordered a professional camera. Once that arrives I’ll never have to use EpocCamWebcamera again!

by Mbc66

I’ve been using EpocCam for two months now as a webcam for Zoom meetings. Yay, Quarantine. It works but appears to be the source of browser and system crashes, even when not running camera. It’s Konini driver will always run in the background, and looking at my event logs has generated daily errors, mostly when I’m not using it. I work for a very large tech company and my IT department flagged this as a network bandwidth hog and potential security risk. I uninstalled drivers and no more crashes.

Do be WARNED: this may not be a safe thing to run on your computer.

Once set up it does work, although a bit cumbersome to start and position my phone for each meeting. As it uses display and network streaming it can drain battery quickly. I find it too easy to forget I’m using it and have my phone battery go dead.

by LaShandar

Easy to setup and use, but WiFi rarely works, so I have to connect with a usb cord. Since I only have 3-foot long cords, I have to buy a longer cord, so the total price just went up. The video quality with my iPhone 7+ is better than the camera in my laptop and the webcam I bought an returned after I discovered EpocCamWebcamera. No regrets but still wish it did what it says it can do. When it does work with WiFi, I haven’t noticed a lag with speech/audio, but there is sometimes a delay if I move my hand into view.

The interface is severely lacking. There are hardly any options. I’m not sure if my video is 1080p because it just has fair, good, and best quality as options, not specific numbers. The desktop app on my PC is also barebones.

by Crystalbunni

I purchased EpocCamWebcamera in Jan 2021 the pro version. I came across it when I searched Google for apps that let me use my iPhone (SE 2nd G) as a video camera for my WebEx and Zoom Meetings. I am using a Mac Mini M1 chip.

Initially, it would not connect by Wi-Fi or USB. When I tried to use it with WebEx, it could not be found as a video system. I tried using it with Mediasite via the desktop app and it worked, and after that, I was able to use it with WebEx directly via the USB. The clarity was excellent, the switch from landscape to portfolio mid-video was seamless. I was able to use it with Zoom. Only via USB, but I did not mind this. The controls are simple and I like the options to reflect the image.

Since February 22, it stopped working again with WebEx. Doing the same thing it did when I first downloaded EpocCamWebcamera : WebEx can't find it as a video system. As I write this, I realize I should try it with Zoom and Mediasite again. But, even if that trips the application to work again, it seems there's something faulty going on. I did stop it from the Activity Monitor, restarted my phone, and looked at update and release notes, etc.

I haven't reached out to technical support yet, but I find it disappointing to read so many recent reviews that speak to no help from customer support.

by Zeusman56

It does work, but it is more plug-and-pray than plug-and-play. The picture quality is good, and I do regularly use it with Zoom, Teams and other video apps. It was adding some flutter to my audio, so I broke down and bought a separate mic, which eliminated that problem. The most annoying thing is that the connection can be flaky, especially when connected via USB. It will just disconnect with no notice or reason during a video call. I can quickly reconnect, but it is mot conducive to hassle free meetings. WiFi connection is more reliable but still disconnects occasionally. I use it with an iPhone XR and a Windows 10 desktop, so plain vanilla setup EpocCamWebcamera gets the job done if you are willing to fool with it, but I would not rate it as a consumer grade solution. Good idea, but they should do more testing to make it robust.

by Freedom4u

Using my iPhone to connect to Citrix Jabber or Microsoft Teams provides a much better picture than using the Microsoft webcam that I got from work. Setting up didn’t work as smooth as I expected it. The connection didn’t work first but then all of a sudden it worked. I found the review pop-up already at the beginning VERY annoying! So I gave it first a one-star rating because at that time the connection didn’t work. The colored backgrounds are not satisfying at all. The cam can only be used horizontally. I wish it worked vertically too, maybe showing a square picture with black bars on the sides. This would be helpful. But in general it is a good app once it is running and connected.

by Azrielinh

I agree with another reviewer that if you aren’t tech suave, you may become frustrated. I often have the reset the program within Task Manager. I also find it frustrating that it will unlink sometimes. It disconnects when EpocCamWebcamera ask you to rate it, it disconnects when the phone turns off, it disconnects after a long period of just sitting there. All of these are understandable but, as soon as I wake the phone back up, I wish it would automatically reconnect. It’s kind of hit and miss and sometimes I need to reset EpocCamWebcamera on my computer through task manager before it picks up again.

I know all that sounds awful but it’s not as bad as it sounds. It works. I just wish it connected faster.

by Kjohn1973

If you are not tech savvy, do not try EpocCamWebcamera. I gave EpocCamWebcamera 5 stars only because it works great with PC. IT DOES NOT WORK WITH MACS!!! I tried the free version on my work PC with the USB cable and it worked great. Used it with Zoom and Microsoft’s teams. So I bought the paid version to get the better quality. Once again, worked great on the PC. Got home and downloaded the OS driver to my MacBook, pull up zoom for a meeting, and nothing. Went to the website and found out that it currently doesn’t work with Mojave and they are currently working on a solution. It would be nice if they would put that in the description of EpocCamWebcamera . I’ve wasted $8 on this. I have parallels on my computer so I’m going to put zoom into Windows and download the windows drivers and see if it works. I’ll update after.

Update:
I downloaded everything to Windows on parallels and used it for a zoom meeting today. It worked fine for the most part. For some reason EpocCamWebcamera timed out on the phone a couple of times which was not good. But it did work. I have another zoom meeting tomorrow so I’m going to make some more adjustments to see if I can clean up the process a bit. Just to repeat myself, if you are not tech savvy, I don’t recommend EpocCamWebcamera. There are too many moving parts to the process.

by Cuppiccino

I tried the free version and found that it synced right up to OBS on my MacBook. So I went ahead and purchased the paid version. It asked me to do a review to get access to the front camera which I thought was a little weird but whatev! Here I am. Giving a 5 star rating for 3 minutes worth of experience. lol! If it stays consistent with what I’ve experienced so far, it will be well worth the money bc I was literally wondering if I’m going to need to buy a new video camera to live stream church services from home during this coronavirus shutdown. But now I have a way to use my iPhone instead making that purchase, and the video quality will probably outperform a camcorder.

by Sixxthice

I started with the free version of EpocCamWebcamera. The free version works just as well as the paid version. I have not noticed any difference between the camera quality or the Wi-Fi quality between the two apps. However, my biggest complaint with the free version is that every so often a full screen ad will pop up on my phone that I have to click an X button to remove. This is frustrating to have to do on stream as my viewers see my finger clearly click the screen, even though the ad does not disrupt the video. With the paid version, there are no ads so it is not an issue. Additionally for anyone looking to use the front facing camera, you need to write a review for EpocCamWebcamera first. However, you can get around this by clicking write a review in EpocCamWebcamera and then simply hitting cancel on the review and it will still allow you to use the front facing camera. If you’re not worried about the ads inside EpocCamWebcamera , I would recommend the free version but if you are using this for any sort of streaming service I would get the paid one.

by Nicole Pritchett

I have an iPhone 11. Used the free app and it worked great, but I believe it was with Kononi, something like that. I purchased EpocCamWebcamera to use with my Windows 10 PC and cannot get the phone to connect. I did everything they suggested to troubleshoot, still nothing. I’m at a lost. My PC is compatible and so is my phone so not sure why the phone won’t connect. I downloaded itunes, downloaded the 35 something for compatibility, they have the same wireless connection, I reinstalled, rebooted, nothing.🤦🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ It gets a 3 star because I know it works, just not for me. Any other ideas would be helpful, especially since I’ve already paid for the product.

by CouponPages.Com

I’m so glad I discovered EpocCamWebcamera! All you need to do is install a simple driver on your computer and it adds a camera source that you can use with just about any program. So instead of streaming with the low quality webcam built into your computer, you get the full quality of your iPhone or iPad camera. I tried the free version first, then upgraded to turn off ads and turn on higher resolution.

This enhanced version also lets you swap front and back cameras and tinker with the settings such as resolution, bit rate, etc..

Another great feature is you can connect your iOS device via USB, which means it won’t matter if you have a weak WIfi signal.

by Improvactor

My laptop web cam was pretty bad, and a friend recommended using my old iPhone 5s. Best suggestion ever!

The phone was sitting unused in my sock drawer. Not only was I able to avoid the online shortage of web cams right now, but I was able to up-cycle something I already owned. I started with the free app and was blown away about how much better my old phone was. Try out the free app. If you like your old phone better, paying for the full version got me the full resolution that my phone could stream. For me it was totally worth it. I feel like my streaming has finally gone pro. Green screen, pro microphone, and now a real quality camera. What a great purchase.

by Darryd

Usually after I’ve purchased an app that’s priced over $0.99, I’m sorely disappointed. But not EpocCamWebcamera. I have an iPhone 11 and a Mac, running Catalina OS. The setup was simple but there are something you should know.

The instructions make it sound like all you have to do is download EpocCamWebcamera and a driver for your Mac or PC, but what they failed to mention is that you need to download the viewer for your Mac or PC as well. I googled and found their website, which is where I found the viewer. After downloading the needed app, viewer and driver, I connected to WiFi and it worked much better than I expected.

No setup. Just turn on the cam app, startup Zoom or whatever webcam client you use; select EpocCam as your camera, and voila you’re in business. I’m able to use my iPhone wirelessly as my webcam, which I can place ianywhere that gives me the most flattering angle. I love it. I think you will too.

by Illwill258

Kinoni has apparently have had it with my ducking and dodging the questions and have voluntold me to rate and review (I’m kidding, though, right?) — and fair enough, I’ve been using this thing way too much for way too long to not have some opinion on this product. Granted, the only time I’m asked is when my dedicated webcams fall short and Old Faithful EpocCam picks up the slack and then leaves the others comparatively static. I didn’t know if EpocCamWebcamera was the bee’s knees of “turn my phone into a webcam”apps, not just because I never could figure out how to use EpocCam as a proper internet webcam device, but also the lack of parameters or expecting much better resolution. But it’s the only app that has remained in any use from any cam/phone apps I had tested; only EpocCam is left. It’s grounded. And reliable. And when it’s acting abnormally, it’s a small pool of suspects with a small pool of solutions.

**UPDATE** I found out that HD no longer compatible with EpocCam Viewer!

by Cooata

Its easy to set up and works over wifi or usb. The market for webcams is pretty booty right now and this makes my smartphone an even more versatile tool than it already is. My phone's camera was able to work with nvidia broadcast on a 30 series card so I got to use the cool features of it over my video calls.
I do wish there was more quality options for things like 60FPS or at least 1440p video capture since some video call apps can use that or even 4k just because then recording videos using a phone and Nvidia broadcast features becomes possible. Being able to do some editing like simply enabling low light mode and HDR on my phone would go a long way in improving EpocCamWebcamera and making products like the Brio and Kiyo Pro superfluous.

I gotta admit I never liked elgato because they reminded me of apple for streamers but after getting a wave 3 mic and I saw how open the system was to use with software not from elgato really change my view of them and after trying this out and seeing its interoperability with broadcast, I am blown away.

I am excited and looking forward to future solutions from elgato that can be used for more than just streamers and youtubers.

by Dhawk15

It took some doing, but I somehow managed to get the wired connection to work. I’m leaving a review so I can start using the front camera (not a fan of this tactic), but I do hope the developers get some handy feedback regardless. I was in need of a webcam that I could put anywhere (like over the shoulder on a tripod. Given of the shortage of webcams for purchase online at the time of this writing, I figured there’s got to be a simple way to use my phone for this... and EpocCamWebcamera does just that! Hoping I don’t run into more hiccups as I continue to use it — like I said at the start — it took some doing to get EpocCamWebcamera and my MacBook Pro to start communicating. Thank you to the developers for making this tool available, and I hope you continue to keep it updated.