OBS Studio plugin
Spancam for OBS
Add your phone as a camera source in OBS Studio — over USB or Wi-Fi, with no desktop helper app in between. Install the plugin, restart OBS, and pick Spancam Camera from the sources list. Three minutes, start to finish.
- 1
Download the installer
One installer works on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens with no security warnings.
Download formacOS (.pkg) - 2
Run the .pkg
Double-click the downloaded.pkgand follow the installer titled Spancam for OBS — two clicks, no choices to make. It puts the plugin in your OBS plugins folder (~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/). Nothing else on your Mac is touched. - 3
Restart OBS Studio
Quit OBS completely (⌘Q) and open it again — OBS only scans for new plugins while it starts. - 4
Add the Spancam Camera source
In OBS, go to Sources → + → Spancam Camera. That is the whole install — the source connects to your phone automatically (see “Connect your phone” below).
Requirements & removal
~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio/plugins/spancam-for-obs.plugin.- 1
Download it
For Windows 10/11, 64-bit.
Download forWindows (.exe)Prefer no warnings and no admin prompt? Download the .zip instead and copy the folder in by hand (step 2b). Same plugin, one extra minute.
- 2
Run the installer
Double-click the
.exe. Windows shows a blue “Windows protected your PC” screen — the installer is new and unsigned, so SmartScreen has not seen it before. Click More info → Run anyway, approve the admin prompt, and finish the wizard. It installs for all users intoC:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins. - 3
2b. Or install the .zip by hand
Nothing to run, so nothing to warn about. Open the
.zip, and copy thespancam-for-obsfolder intoC:\ProgramData\obs-studio\plugins— create thatpluginsfolder if it is not there yet. Paste%ProgramData%\obs-studio\pluginsinto the File Explorer address bar to get straight to it. - 4
Restart OBS Studio
Close OBS completely — check the system tray, it likes to keep running there — and start it again. OBS only scans for new plugins while it starts. - 5
Add the Spancam Camera source
In OBS, go to Sources → + → Spancam Camera. That is the whole install — the source connects to your phone automatically (see “Connect your phone” below).
Requirements & removal
.zip in by hand, delete the spancam-for-obs folder you pasted.- 1
Download the package
For x86-64 Debian and Ubuntu. Built against Ubuntu 24.04's FFmpeg 6 (
Download forLinux (.deb)libavcodec60).On a non-Debian distro? Download the tarball and use step 2b.
- 2
Install it
Install from the file itself so
aptpulls the FFmpeg and OBS dependencies with it:sudo apt install ./spancam-for-obs-0.1.5-x86_64-linux-gnu.deb - 3
2b. Or unpack the tarball
The archive mirrors the system layout, so it extracts straight over
/usr. You are responsible for OBS and FFmpeg being installed already:sudo tar -xvf spancam-for-obs-0.1.5-x86_64-ubuntu-gnu.tar.xz -C /usr/ - 4
Restart OBS Studio
Quit OBS and start it again — OBS only scans for new plugins while it starts. - 5
Add the Spancam Camera source
In OBS, go to Sources → + → Spancam Camera. That is the whole install — the source connects to your phone automatically (see “Connect your phone” below).
Requirements & removal
sudo apt remove spancam-for-obs. Flatpak and Snap builds of OBS cannot see it — they are sandboxed and only load plugins from inside their own runtime.After the install
Connect your phone.
- 1
Get the phone app
Install Spancam on your Android phone (Google Play) or iPhone (App Store) and turn on the OBS / direct-stream mode.
- 2
Connect automatically
Plug the phone in over USB, or just be on the same Wi-Fi — the plugin finds the phone by itself. Nothing to type.
- 3
Or connect manually
On locked-down networks, switch Connection to Wi-Fi in the source and enter the Phone IP and Access key shown in the app.
USB on Android needs USB debugging enabled and adb (Android Platform Tools) on the computer — the plugin runs adb forward itself over loopback. On iPhone, USB works out of the box on macOS.