can I use my iPhone 11 as a camera in iMovie?

can I use my iPhone 11 as a camera in iMovie? I want to use the front camera as it's superior to the one on my MacBook Air but it doesn't let me select it in iMovie on my laptop when I have it connected. I know I have iMovie on my phone but I want to be able to see the what's being recorded. I'm recording myself so I can't see the display on my iPhone using the front camera.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 30, 2020 7:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 30, 2020 8:58 AM

You can use iPhone as an external camera. However, you cannot record directly into iMovie. You need to use QuickTimePlayer. To do that, plug in your iPhone to your Mac and open QuickTimePlayer. Use QuickTime’s Record New Movie feature to activate and recognize the iPhone as an external camera. Here’s a link that explains how to use the feature:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201066


– Rich

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 30, 2020 8:58 AM in response to be_ing_smith90

You can use iPhone as an external camera. However, you cannot record directly into iMovie. You need to use QuickTimePlayer. To do that, plug in your iPhone to your Mac and open QuickTimePlayer. Use QuickTime’s Record New Movie feature to activate and recognize the iPhone as an external camera. Here’s a link that explains how to use the feature:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201066


– Rich

Oct 30, 2020 1:54 PM in response to be_ing_smith90

But isn’t what’s happening on the iPhone screen what the camera is recording? Whatever you point the iPhone camera at is what will show on the screen, and what will record to QuickTimePlayer. That’s how it works with my iPhone. When you stop recording you can save what you recorded as a movie to your Mac’s screen.


If that’s not happening for you you might call Apple support and see if the techs there can help.


— Rich



This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

can I use my iPhone 11 as a camera in iMovie?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.