Mobile wireless communication heavily relies on the radio frequency to convey message and data. However, its limited spectrum can hardly meet the demands for the future high data rate applications. Optical wireless communication, in particular visible light communication, opens up vast optical spectrum for communication, and meanwhile can retrofit the light sources as the communication transmitters in the existing working or living environments. In conjunction with the ubiquitous cameras in hand-held consumer electronics such as smartphones and pads, optical camera communication (OCC) further takes advantages of image sensors as the communication receivers and realizes low-cost communication systems. This article first provides an overview of OCC systems. It then addresses some practical constraints, ranging from sensor low frame rate and instability, rolling shutter readout, to visual qualities of displayed images and videos, and link blockage between the transmitter and receiver. Accordingly, it introduces existing and new solutions to deal with those constraints by data modulation, newly developed camera structures, post-processing of sensed signals and non-line of sight OCC as a new form. In particular, indirect paths by either the indoor surface reflection or the outdoor atmospheric scattering are explored for link connectivity under blockage. Finally, some future research directions are suggested. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Optical wireless communication’.