Google Meet running in Firefox inside Tiny Computer on a Galaxy Tab S8, with video from the tablet's camera.

Tiny Container Camera

Use your Android phone/tablet camera as a webcam on any website (Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom web, ...) in Firefox or Chrome running inside Tiny Computer / tiny_container or any other proot environment. No extra Android app, no root.

Get it for Firefox  ·  Install in Chrome / Chromium

Browser extension

Running Linux on Android with Tiny Computer, Termux or another proot container is great for coding, until you need to join a video call with your team: Android does not let apps inside the container use the camera.

Tiny Container Camera fixes that. It reads the device camera over ADB (wireless debugging) and turns it into a webcam that every website can use.

Features

• Virtual camera named "Android Camera (Tiny Container)" on every HTTPS site: Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Jitsi and others.
• No extra Android app: the camera is read over ADB with scrcpy's server, started and stopped automatically when a site needs the camera.
• Works in Firefox and in Chrome / Chromium, from the same code.
• Asks before a site can use the camera, like the browser does for a real webcam. Decisions are remembered per site and can be changed on the options page.
• The device camera turns off by itself shortly after the last page stops using it.
• Toolbar button to connect or pair ADB and switch between the front and back camera.
• Also works with any MJPEG stream, such as the IP Webcam app.
• Your microphone keeps working as usual.
• No root, no kernel modules, no v4l2loopback.
• No data collection. Video only travels from your device to the page that asked for it.

Quick start

1. Enable Wireless debugging on Android and connect ADB from the container.
2. Run sh camera-bridge/install.sh from this repository (once).
3. Install the add-on and click Save and grant access on the options page.
4. Choose Android Camera (Tiny Container) in your meeting settings.

Video calls in proot: on Android 11 and newer, WebRTC calls from Firefox or Chrome inside proot fail to connect because Android blocks netlink sockets. This repository includes a small fix, webrtc-fix, that makes calls work.

Toolbar button

Pin the extension to the toolbar to control the camera without leaving the meeting tab.

	Connect. Finds the device over wireless debugging (or connects to the HOST:PORT you type) and shows it under ADB device. Pair a new device pairs with a 6-digit code the first time. WebRTC fix tells whether video calls can connect.
	Start. The camera also starts by itself when an allowed site asks for it. Choose the front or back camera here.
	Stop. Turns the device camera off right away, and keeps it off even if a page still holds it, until you press Start again.

Tested on

Device	Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 5G (SM-X706B)
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (SM8450)
RAM	8 GB
OS	Android 16, One UI 8.0 (not rooted)
Container	Tiny Computer (com.fct.tc4), Debian in proot
Browsers	Firefox ESR 153.5, Google Chrome 156
Camera source	ADB + scrcpy 3.3.4 (1280x720, 30 fps); IP Webcam (com.pas.webcam)
Sites	Google Meet (call), webcamtoy.com

How it works

Inside proot, Android's /dev/video* devices are not accessible without root, and v4l2loopback cannot be installed because kernel modules cannot be loaded. So the camera cannot be passed through as a regular V4L2 device (this includes scrcpy --v4l2-sink).

ADB still can reach the camera: camera-bridge/tcc_camera.py runs scrcpy-server on the device with the camera as video source, decodes the H.264 stream with ffmpeg and serves MJPEG on http://127.0.0.1:8765/video. The extension reads that stream and exposes it to web pages as a virtual camera through getUserMedia(). It starts the bridge through the browser's native messaging when a page asks for the camera, and stops it 15 seconds after the last page lets go of it.

camera ─▶ scrcpy-server ─adb─▶ ffmpeg ─MJPEG─▶ background.js ─▶ isolated.js ─▶ main.js
          (on the device)       (tcc_camera.py)                                 canvas.captureStream()
                                                                                → getUserMedia() on the page

Video calls need one more fix. Android 11+ forbids apps from using netlink sockets, which Firefox and Chrome use to list local network addresses for WebRTC. With no addresses, the browser gathers no ICE candidates and every call fails ("Sorry, we encountered a problem joining this video call."). webrtc-fix/ is a small LD_PRELOAD library that answers those netlink requests, and getifaddrs(), using ioctls that Android still allows.

The extension code in extension/ is shared by both browsers; manifests/ holds a common manifest plus the Firefox and Chrome differences, merged by build.sh.

Setup

1. ADB

sudo apt install adb scrcpy ffmpeg

On Android, open Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging and turn it on. The first time, tap Pair device with pairing code and pair, either from the extension's toolbar button (Pair a new device) or with:

adb pair HOST:PAIRING_PORT CODE

Then connect with the toolbar button (Connect) or with adb connect HOST:PORT, using the port shown on the Wireless debugging screen. With the address left empty, Connect tries the last address that worked, then looks for the port by itself; that search can take up to 2 minutes inside proot, so typing the address is faster after wireless debugging was turned off and on.

2. Camera bridge

sh camera-bridge/install.sh

This copies the bridge to ~/.local/lib/tiny-container-camera/camera-bridge/ and registers it with Firefox (~/.mozilla/native-messaging-hosts/), Chrome (~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/) and Chromium (~/.config/chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/). Restart the browser afterwards. To undo: sh camera-bridge/install.sh --uninstall.

Chrome only lets the extension IDs listed there use the bridge. The unpacked Chrome build always has the ID kcpfcipcfophknlglpnlgkepmimheeik (fixed by the public key in manifests/chrome.json), which is listed by default. For any other ID, run sh camera-bridge/install.sh --chrome-id ID.

The bridge can also run on its own, for example to use it with other programs:

python3 camera-bridge/tcc_camera.py --facing back --size 1280 --fps 30

3. Extension

Firefox (128+): install from addons.mozilla.org. It updates automatically. The same signed .xpi is also attached to each release (about:addons → gear icon → Install Add-on From File…). The options page opens after installing: click Save and grant access to let the extension read the stream from 127.0.0.1.

Chrome / Chromium (111+):

sh build.sh chrome

Open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and select the dist/chrome folder. Pin the extension from the puzzle-piece menu to keep its button on the toolbar.

4. WebRTC fix

Needed for video calls (Teams, Meet, ...); not needed for camera-only sites. Requires gcc (sudo apt install gcc).

sh webrtc-fix/install.sh

This builds the library into ~/.local/lib/tiny-container-camera/ and makes the installed browsers start with it:

• Firefox ESR: app menu, links opened from other apps, and the firefox-esr command.
• Chrome / Chromium: user copies of their app menu entries, with the library added to any LD_PRELOAD already there (Tiny Computer's Chrome entry preloads unamefix.so, which is kept).

Close every browser window and start it again from the app menu. To undo: sh webrtc-fix/install.sh --uninstall.

To try it once without installing:

gcc -O2 -shared -fPIC -o /tmp/libnetlink_shim.so webrtc-fix/netlink_shim.c -ldl -lpthread
LD_PRELOAD=/tmp/libnetlink_shim.so firefox-esr

5. Join a meeting

Pick the Android Camera (Tiny Container) camera in the meeting settings. The first time a site asks for the camera, the extension opens a small window: choose Allow. The first frame takes a few seconds while the camera starts on the device.

Privacy

Because the virtual camera bypasses the browser's own camera prompt, the extension asks for itself: a site gets no video, and the device camera is not turned on, until you allow that site. The check runs in the extension's background script against the address the browser reports for the page, so a page cannot grant itself access. Allowed and blocked sites are listed on the options page.

The camera bridge stops 15 seconds after the last page releases the camera, and in any case after 30 seconds without viewers (even if the browser was closed).

Using IP Webcam instead of ADB

If you prefer an Android app, install IP Webcam (com.pas.webcam), tap Start server, then set the stream URL on the extension's options page to http://127.0.0.1:8080/video. Steps 1 and 2 above are not needed in that case.

Make sure nothing else in the container listens on port 8080 (a local web server, for example), or change the IP Webcam port.

Troubleshooting

The site says the camera is blocked

You chose Block for that site earlier. Open the extension options (toolbar button → Options), remove the site under Sites, and reload the page.

The camera shows "No access to 127.0.0.1"

Open the extension options (toolbar button → Options) and click Save and grant access, then reload the page.

The camera shows "Camera bridge not installed"

Run sh camera-bridge/install.sh and restart the browser. In Chrome the message also shows the extension ID: if it is not kcpfcipcfophknlglpnlgkepmimheeik (for example a Chrome Web Store install), register it with sh camera-bridge/install.sh --chrome-id ID.

The camera shows "no ADB device connected"

Connect ADB from the toolbar button or with adb connect HOST:PORT. The Wireless debugging port changes every time it is turned off and on.

Camera bridge log

The bridge writes its log to ~/.cache/tiny-container-camera/bridge.log. Run it by hand with --verbose to see the frame rate every 5 seconds:

python3 camera-bridge/tcc_camera.py --verbose

Samsung: IP Webcam stops in the background

One UI freezes background apps ("Freecess"), so the IP Webcam server stops as soon as you switch back to Tiny Computer. Exclude it from battery optimization (Settings → Battery → Background usage limits → Never sleeping apps), or via ADB:

adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.pas.webcam
adb shell cmd appops set com.pas.webcam RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND allow

"Sorry, we encountered a problem joining this video call"

The browser was started without the WebRTC fix, so the call cannot connect even though the camera works. Open the extension's toolbar button: WebRTC fix shows Not loaded in that case.

The usual cause is the XFCE app menu or panel caching the old browser entry from before webrtc-fix/install.sh was run, so it still starts the browser directly. (install.sh now restarts the panel itself.) Fix it once with:

xfce4-panel -r

then quit the browser completely (Ctrl+Q) and start it again from the app menu. To check a running browser:

tr '\0' '\n' < /proc/$(pgrep -o -f /usr/lib/firefox-esr/firefox-esr)/environ | grep LD_PRELOAD
tr '\0' '\n' < /proc/$(pgrep -o -f /opt/google/chrome/chrome)/environ | grep LD_PRELOAD

It should print a path ending in libnetlink_shim.so.

Checking the WebRTC fix

LD_PRELOAD=~/.local/lib/tiny-container-camera/libnetlink_shim.so ip -4 addr

should list your interfaces (without the library it fails with Cannot bind netlink socket: Permission denied). Set NETLINK_SHIM_DEBUG=1 to log the netlink requests the library answers.

Development

extension/     shared code (background, content scripts, popup, options, prompt)
manifests/     base.json + firefox.json / chrome.json differences
camera-bridge/ ADB camera bridge and native messaging host
webrtc-fix/    LD_PRELOAD library for WebRTC in proot
amo/           addons.mozilla.org listing text and asset upload script
tools/         build script, mock camera, log server, test page

sh build.sh writes, for each browser, an unpacked copy to dist/firefox/ and dist/chrome/, and a store package dist/tiny-container-camera-<browser>-<version>.zip (the Chrome one without the key). sh build.sh firefox or sh build.sh chrome builds just one.

Load the unpacked copy to try changes: Firefox about:debugging → This Firefox → Load Temporary Add-on… → dist/firefox/manifest.json (removed when Firefox closes); Chrome chrome://extensions → Load unpacked → dist/chrome. Rebuild after every change.

To publish on addons.mozilla.org, sign dist/firefox with web-ext sign (--source-dir dist/firefox --channel listed --amo-metadata amo/metadata.json). The listing text is kept in amo/metadata.json; amo/upload_assets.py uploads the icon and screenshots.

sh build.sh --debug builds unpacked copies that send every getUserMedia/enumerateDevices call made by pages to python3 tools/log_server.py (written to tcc.log).

Testing without a phone

python3 tools/mock_mjpeg.py --port 8765 image1.jpg image2.jpg

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8765/tcc-test.html and click Start camera.

Limitations

• Firefox 128+ or Chrome / Chromium 111+ (uses world: "MAIN" content scripts).
• The ADB camera source needs Android 12+.
• Frames are decoded inside proot, so lower resolutions run smoother.
• The WebRTC fix reports IPv4 addresses only.
• Sites still ask for microphone permission as usual. No camera permission prompt appears because the camera is virtual.

License

MIT, see LICENSE.