The short version
On a Mac with macOS 13 Ventura or later, an iPhone XR or newer on iOS 16 or later can be your microphone through Continuity Camera, which is built in: choose the iPhone in System Settings, Sound, Input, or as the device in an OBS audio source. On Windows, or with an Android phone, the DroidCam app (free at standard definition) and its OBS plugin bring the phone’s sound into OBS when you tick Enable Audio on the DroidCam source.
Treat it as a stopgap. DroidCam itself recommends a regular microphone and keeping the phone for video only, and with Continuity Camera, answering a call on the iPhone pauses the sound.
iPhone and Mac: Continuity Camera
Sign both into the same Apple Account, turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on both, then mount the iPhone near the Mac, locked and steady. It works wirelessly or over USB; plug it in to keep it charged. Apple’s own guide is written for the camera, and the microphone comes with it: while the iPhone is mounted, its mic is available to any app with a microphone setting.
- In OBS, add an Audio Input Capture source and choose your iPhone as the device. Or pick it for the whole Mac in System Settings, Sound, Input.
- Apple says you don’t need to choose the iPhone mic when the Mac has a built-in or external microphone, so check which one OBS is really using: speak and watch that source’s meter.
- If a call comes in and you answer it on the iPhone, sound pauses until you end the call and lock and mount the iPhone again. Turn on Do Not Disturb before you go live.
Any phone in OBS: DroidCam
DroidCam’s OBS plugin works with iPhone and Android phones, over Wi-Fi or USB, in OBS on Windows, Mac or Linux. Install the phone app and the DroidCam OBS plugin, restart OBS, then add a DroidCam source.
- For Wi-Fi, keep the phone and computer on the same router and type the Wi-Fi IP the phone app shows into the source. For USB, an Android phone needs USB Debugging turned on in its Developer Options; on Windows, an iPhone needs Apple Mobile Device Support installed.
- Click Deactivate on the source, tick Enable Audio, then Activate it again: the audio option can only change while the source is off.
- Keep the phone on its charger. DroidCam warns that sending sound uses more of the phone’s processor.
When the sound breaks up or drifts
DroidCam sends sound with very little delay, so Wi-Fi interference becomes gaps. Its fix is a USB cable instead of Wi-Fi, or a small buffer in OBS:
- In the Audio Mixer, open Advanced Audio Properties and give the DroidCam source a Sync Offset of at least 100 ms.
- Right-click the DroidCam source, open Filters and add a Video Delay with the same value, so picture and sound stay together.
- In the source’s properties, make sure unbuffered output is unticked.
Then check the timing against your mouth with fix audio and video sync.
Check it before you go live
Open the microphone test on the computer and talk at your normal streaming distance: the meter should move with your voice and stay out of the red. If your streams become regular, a USB microphone close to your mouth is the next step: the microphone guide starts with what to choose.
Questions
Can I use an iPhone as a microphone on Windows? Not with Continuity Camera, which works only with a Mac. DroidCam brings an iPhone’s sound into OBS on Windows.
Can the phone be my camera and microphone at once? Yes, on both routes. If the sound drifts from the picture, the sync steps above apply.
Does the phone microphone work in Discord or Zoom too? On a Mac, yes: Continuity Camera offers the iPhone mic to every app with a microphone setting. DroidCam’s OBS plugin feeds OBS only; its separate computer client, which OBS’s guide lists for Windows and Linux, offers sound and picture to other apps.
Streaming from the phone itself, with a better microphone? That is the other way round: use an external microphone when you stream from a phone.