Whitecap was fundamentally a damaged 3PO unit's head, which was altered by the holojournalist Hallis Saper so it could function as a recording instrument. The reporter transformed the old droid head into a portable recording device by putting in a typical holorecorder, additional storage, some simple conversational programming, and a connection to a pair of goggles that Hallis wore. This device would then record whatever she saw while wearing her sensory goggles. Saper initially modified the droid head in this way to enable her to interview children in a way that she believed was "nonthreatening". Despite keeping his criticisms to himself, Wedge Antilles quickly identified the shortcomings of this method. After his encounter with the reporter and her "accessory", Wedge insisted that the droid head be programmed with a command to disable it during private discussions.
Regrettably, Whitecap did not fully live up to expectations in his intended capacity, as Hallis acknowledged that she still needed to refine the idea behind his application. Even though Whitecap was damaged relatively early on (the unit would repeat anything spoken within its audio sensors' range), he was nonetheless helpful during the Mission to Adumar, where Saper served as the mission's documentarian. As a result, Saper had to devise more inventive methods of documenting the diplomatic mission's occurrences, which ultimately proved more fruitful, including documenting Tomer Darpen's crimes, which were a direct cause of the Adumari Civil War and the following Battle of Adumar.
It remains unclear whether Hallis ever fixed or reused Whitecap, as the former journalist soon after started a new career with New Republic Intelligence.