LemurCam – IP Cameras as Webcams in macOS

Name: LemurCam – IP Cameras as Webcams in macOS
Availability: InStock
Author: steelbrain

by steelbrain·Mar 1, 2026·1 point·0 comments

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AI Analysis

●●●BangerSolve My ProblemDark Horse

IP cameras as virtual webcams via ONVIF/RTSP; solves real USB mess for cheap.

Strengths

•Eliminates messy USB cabling and expensive dedicated webcams by reusing commodity IP cameras ($20)
•ONVIF auto-discovery is genuinely thoughtful — users don't wrestle with manual IP entry
•Demand-driven streaming reduces bandwidth waste and battery drain on cameras

Weaknesses

•macOS-only; no Windows or Linux support limits addressable market
•Requires macOS 14.0+ (Sonoma), excludes older hardware despite IP cameras being evergreen

Post Description

Hi HN!

I've been pretty unhappy with the long USB cables and the plumbing required to wire up a camera for a conference room, or at a home office. There also doesn't seem to be a wide selection available for Wireless Webcams for macOS. Also webcams are much more expensive than their IP Camera counterparts, which are essentially commodity products at this point.

So I built LemurCam (website: lemur.cam) over the weekend. It works great! Minimal latency and you can use any off the shelf camera with it. I'm rocking it with a TP-Link Tapo that I got for like 20 euros. I've had to build some open source tech to make this possible, which is also linked in the repository README file. Overall, this is working well for me and has eliminated the need for USB wiring.

I hope it works for you too! It's free so please give it a go and let me know how your experience goes!

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