How do I open the “front camera” on the Android platform?

Question

More generally, if a device has more than one embedded camera, is there a way to initialize one of them in particular?

I didn\'t find it in Android reference documen

Answer 1

For API 21 (5.0) and later you can use the CameraManager API's

try {
    String desiredCameraId = null;
    for(String cameraId : mCameraIDsList) {
        CameraCharacteristics chars =  mCameraManager.getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId);
        List<CameraCharacteristics.Key<?>> keys = chars.getKeys();
        try {
            if(CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING_FRONT == chars.get(CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING)) {
               // This is the one we want.
               desiredCameraId = cameraId;
               break;
            }
        } catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {
            // This key not implemented, which is a bit of a pain. Either guess - assume the first one
            // is rear, second one is front, or give up.
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

private Camera openFrontFacingCameraGingerbread() {
    int cameraCount = 0;
    Camera cam = null;
    Camera.CameraInfo cameraInfo = new Camera.CameraInfo();
    cameraCount = Camera.getNumberOfCameras();
    for (int camIdx = 0; camIdx < cameraCount; camIdx++) {
        Camera.getCameraInfo(camIdx, cameraInfo);
        if (cameraInfo.facing == Camera.CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT) {
            try {
                cam = Camera.open(camIdx);
            } catch (RuntimeException e) {
                Log.e(TAG, "Camera failed to open: " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
            }
        }
    }

    return cam;
}

Add the following permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.front" android:required="false" />

Note: This feature is available in Gingerbread(2.3) and Up Android Version.

Answer 3

To open the back camera:-

val cameraIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, REQUEST_CODE_CAMERA)

To open the front camera:-

val cameraIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
when {
     Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP_MR1 && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.O -> {
         cameraIntent.putExtra("android.intent.extras.CAMERA_FACING", CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING_FRONT)  // Tested on API 24 Android version 7.0(Samsung S6)
     }
     Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O -> {
         cameraIntent.putExtra("android.intent.extras.CAMERA_FACING", CameraCharacteristics.LENS_FACING_FRONT) // Tested on API 27 Android version 8.0(Nexus 6P)
         cameraIntent.putExtra("android.intent.extra.USE_FRONT_CAMERA", true)
     }
     else -> cameraIntent.putExtra("android.intent.extras.CAMERA_FACING", 1)  // Tested API 21 Android version 5.0.1(Samsung S4)
}
startActivityForResult(cameraIntent, REQUEST_CODE_CAMERA)

I could not make it work for API 28 and above. Also, opening the front camera directly is not possible in some devices(depends on the manufacturer).