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What is Continuity Camera? How to use your iPhone as a webcam for Mac
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Are you fed up of your MacBook’s webcam just failing to live up to the video abilities of the iPhone sitting idly on your desk? Well, Apple has a solution in the form of Continuity Camera feature formacOS Ventura.
The newest Continuity feature – Apple’s umbrella term for interoperability features across its range of devices – was announced atWWDC 2022and will help Mac users make use of their best camera at their disposal, wirelessly over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The coolest part of the feature is the ability for it to work automatically. Apple says the Mac will recognise the presence of theiPhone, without the user having to manually select it from camera options. Continuity Camera will also utilise multiple iPhone cameras, showing your face and an aerial view of your desk thanks to the Ultra-Wide camera.
Apple is also planning to sell a Belkin holster for the iPhone to physically position it above the display of the Mac. We assume it’ll need some heft to avoid making devices like the MacBook Air top heavy.
Using the iPhone as a camera won’t just enable a better quality experience. It will also enable its unique features to come into play, including Center Stage and Portrait mode for a nice bokeh effect. That also applies to the new Studio Light feature, which will illuminate the user’s face and dim the background.
Users will also be able to select the Ultra-Wide camera on the iPhone to enable what it is calling Desk View “which simultaneously shows the user’s face and an overhead view of their desk — great for creating DIY videos, showing off sketches over FaceTime, and so much more.”
The devices must be signed into the same Apple ID, as with all Continuity features.
The feature will be available wheniOS 16and macOS Ventura become available later this year. These features that require two sets of devices to work together don’t always run smoothly though, and Apple has delayed features like Universal Control in the past.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA. …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
