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Live streaming

Live streaming turns your iPhone into a temporary camera source for go2rtc.

When you press Start on the Live tab, Swiftcam captures the selected phone camera and publishes it to go2rtc with WebRTC WHIP. The stream then becomes available in go2rtc under the configured stream name, so it can be viewed from go2rtc, reused by other clients, or referenced like any other go2rtc stream while Swiftcam is broadcasting.

Required go2rtc configuration

Create an empty stream in go2rtc for the phone broadcast. The stream key must match the Stream Name shown in Swiftcam.

Minimal example:

api:
  listen: ":1984"

webrtc:
  listen: ":8555"

streams:
  swiftcam-mobile:

In Swiftcam:

  • Open the Live tab.
  • Open Stream.
  • Select the destination server.
  • Set Stream Name to swiftcam-mobile, or use another stream name that exists in go2rtc.

Swiftcam sends the WHIP publish request to:

http://GO2RTC_HOST:1984/api/webrtc?dst=swiftcam-mobile

If your go2rtc API URL is proxied, Swiftcam preserves that base path. For example, https://example.com/proxy/go2rtc/api becomes:

https://example.com/proxy/go2rtc/api/webrtc?dst=swiftcam-mobile

Stream name rules

Swiftcam normalizes the stream name before publishing:

  • Letters are lowercased.
  • Spaces and unsupported characters become -.
  • Only letters, numbers, -, and _ are kept.
  • Empty values use swiftcam-mobile.

For example, Swiftcam Phone becomes swiftcam-phone.

Network requirements

The iPhone must be able to reach the configured go2rtc API URL.

For local network use:

  • The go2rtc API is usually TCP 1984.
  • The WebRTC listener is usually TCP/UDP 8555.
  • If go2rtc runs in Docker, expose the WebRTC port as both TCP and UDP.
  • If go2rtc runs inside Frigate, host networking is usually the simplest setup.

Swiftcam settings

The Stream sheet lets you configure:

  • Destination server if multiple are configured
  • Stream name
  • Resolution
  • Maximum video bitrate
  • Color or black/white mode.
  • Max Audio bitrate from 96 to 320 Kbps.

Viewing the phone stream

While Swiftcam is streaming, open the stream in go2rtc using the same stream name:

http://GO2RTC_HOST:1984/stream.html?src=swiftcam-mobile

You can also use swiftcam-mobile as a go2rtc source name anywhere another go2rtc stream key is accepted.