Using iPhone as webcam with Quicktime Player

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Level 1

24 points

Using iPhone as webcam with Quicktime Player

(This may be a stupid question but, for the life of me, I can't find an answer that satisfies what I'm trying to do. Also, apologies if this should end up going in a different forum. I took a 50/50 guess that this would be the correct one)

I am looking to use my iPhone 12 Mini, connected to my iMac, to film work-in-progress videos of my drawing and watercolors using Quicktime Player.

When I follow the steps generally given to do this (and found all over the web), Quicktime Player ends up recording what is on my iPhone's screen, and not what is being seen through the camera. When I switch over to the Camera app, Quicktime then records all of the camera tools that you see on screen which I, obviously, don't want. I just want what the camera sees.

Is there a way to tell Quicktime Player to use the camera itself, and not record the screen showing what the Camera App sees?

To forestall a potential suggestion, recording onto the iPhone is not ideal, as watercolor can take a long time, and the videos get rather large. This usually forces me to stop, in progress, to offload the video from the phone to the computer, and then get back to work. Ideally, as with my old (crappy) webcam I used to do this with, I just want to film using the iPhone's camera, and have it saved direct to my iMac, which has plenty of space to store the video file until it is processed later.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jeff

Posted on Feb 15, 2022 8:27 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lindsay_B.

Community Specialist

Feb 16, 2022 8:51 AM in response to Jeff Sorley

Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities, Jeff,

We see you are trying to use the camera on your iPhone as a webcam for your iMac to record using QuickTime, and want to know options for removing camera controls from the view. We are happy to provide you with some information!

Currently, QuickTime Player will record everything that is visible on your iPhone display. In the Camera app, this means not just what you are recording, but also the controls for the app: Record a movie in QuickTime Player on Mac - Apple Support.

While there is no way to alter the fact that the controls are also recorded, you can use iMovie to crop out the unwanted information: Crop clips in iMovie on Mac - Apple Support.

And if you'd like to see additional recording options available in the future for QuickTime, you can let Apple know here: Feedback - QuickTime - Apple.

Have a wonderful day!

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Answer 2

Jeff Sorley Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 16, 2022 9:23 AM in response to Lindsay_B.

Thank you for the response. The general information is helpful, but the process you've described is essentially the advice I already recommended against giving, as having to crop a major portion of the video pretty much defeats the point of using the hi-def, quality camera on the iPhone in the first place.

Luckily I have did a lot more digging, and seem to have landed on a solution. the True Visage app in the app store has a minimal interface that disappears after a few seconds. This will, hopefully, do the trick.

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