Do I need a capture card to stream mobile games?

No. A capture card is one way to do it, with an HDMI adapter for the phone. ByteMirror takes the picture and sound over the phone's USB cable or your Wi-Fi instead.

Does it work with BGMI, Free Fire or Genshin Impact?

ByteMirror isn't tied to a game. It shows what's on the phone's screen and plays the phone's sound, so a game you can play on the phone shows up in OBS the same way. Apps that block screen recording, such as some video apps, show a black picture.

Does the game's sound come through?

Yes. On iPhone it comes over the cable with the picture. On Android it needs Android 10 or later with the ByteMirror app, or Android 11 or later in Pro mode. In OBS the sound is part of the source, so you set its level in the audio mixer.

Can I record instead of streaming?

Yes. OBS records the ByteMirror source like any other, so you can stream, record, or both at once.

Is the free plan enough to stream?

It works, at 720p and 30 fps. There's no watermark for the first 7 days on a PC; after that the first 30 minutes of each day are clean and a small watermark appears after that. Pro removes the watermark and goes up to 1080p at 60 fps.

Mobile game streaming

Stream mobile games without a capture card.

ByteMirror takes the game from your iPhone or Android phone into OBS Studio over the phone's own USB cable or your Wi-Fi, with its sound. There's no HDMI adapter and no capture card to buy.

Download for Windows See pricing

OBS Studio · Scene: Ranked match

LIVE

Sources

ByteMirror Phone · Camera●

ByteMirror Phone · Screen●

Audio

Game sound

Mic

Setup

Three steps.

1Install ByteMirror on your Windows PC, with the OBS Studio option ticked.
2Connect the phone: an iPhone by its USB cable, an Android phone through the ByteMirror app over Wi-Fi.
3In OBS Studio, add a ByteMirror Phone source, pick the phone, start the game and go live.

No capture card

The phone's own cable is enough.

The usual setup runs the phone into an HDMI adapter, the adapter into a capture card and the card into the PC. ByteMirror gets the picture and the sound over the USB cable you already have, or over Wi-Fi, and gives them to OBS as one source.

With a capture card

An HDMI adapter for the phone
A capture card
An HDMI cable
A USB cable from the card to the PC

With ByteMirror

The phone's USB cable, or Wi-Fi
ByteMirror on the PC

iPhone

iPhone games over the cable.

Plug the iPhone into the PC and the game shows up with its sound. The phone charges while you play, and you don't need iTunes.

1Install ByteMirror with the OBS Studio option ticked.
2Plug in the iPhone, unlock it and accept the USB driver setup the first time.
3Tap Trust on the iPhone and enter your passcode.
4In OBS Studio, add a ByteMirror Phone source and pick the iPhone.

Turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus before you go live, so messages don't pop up on stream.

Android

Android games over Wi-Fi or USB.

Use the ByteMirror app over Wi-Fi, which needs no developer settings, or Pro mode over a cable with USB debugging. Both bring the game's sound into OBS with the picture.

1Install the ByteMirror app on the phone.
2On the PC, click Add phone in ByteMirror and scan the code with the app.
3In the app, choose the game screen and allow screen sharing.
4In OBS Studio, add a ByteMirror Phone source and pick the phone.

Game sound needs Android 10 or later with the app. Pro mode, over a cable, needs Android 11 or later for sound; its setup is on the Android to PC page.

Facecam

A second phone for your face.

Use another phone's camera as the facecam: an iPhone through a page in Safari, or an Android phone through the ByteMirror app. Each phone is its own source in OBS, so you can place and crop them separately. Two phones at once needs Pro or Lifetime; the free plan shows one at a time.

Plans

What you get free, and with Pro.

The free plan has every way to connect and the OBS source. Pro and Lifetime raise the quality and remove the watermark.

What you get free and with Pro
Feature	Free	Pro and Lifetime
Every way to connect, and the OBS source	Yes	Yes
Resolution	720p	Up to 1080p
Frame rate	30 fps	Up to 60 fps
H.265	No	Yes
Watermark	None for 7 days, then after 30 minutes a day	None
Phones at once	1	Up to 5

See prices

Requirements

What you need.

Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit
OBS Studio 31 or later
An iPhone on a recent version of iOS (tested on iOS 26); the camera page needs iOS 16.4 or later
Android 10 or later for screen and sound (13 or later recommended); Android 8 or later for the camera
For iPhone: its USB-C or Lightning cable. For Android: Wi-Fi, or a USB cable with USB debugging.

Questions