Recording

Record

Tap the red button, and tap again to stop. Or hold it and let go. While you film, the screen shows only the picture, the button and the clock.

Flip camera

Double tap the picture. On phones that can run two cameras at once, this works even while recording.

Dual camera

On phones that can run two cameras at once, double tap and hold the picture: the camera you are using stays the picture, and the other joins it small. Drag the small picture to move it, swap the two with a double tap, or swipe it off.

Focus

Tap the picture where you want it sharp.

Light

Hold one finger still, then drag up for brighter or down for darker. A small sun shows while your finger is on it.

Zoom

Press the volume buttons. A tap takes one step, and a hold keeps going until you let go. Two white bars on the edge of the screen show where the buttons are, on the phones the app knows.

Pre-roll

Double tap the red button. The camera starts keeping the last few seconds without recording them, and a PRE-ROLL label shows with a dial for 1s, 3s or 5s. The dial remembers where you left it.

Your next tap, or hold, is the moment: the seconds before it become a clip of their own, and recording carries on as a second clip. The tap after that, or letting go, stops it. Pre-roll ends with the take.

Stabilization

Choose off, standard, cinematic or extended in Settings. It applies to every clip from then on.

From the Lock Screen

On iOS 18 and later you can add Camcorder to the Lock Screen's buttons or to Control Center. It opens your most recent project on its camera, or a new project if that one is finished. iOS asks you to unlock first.

Where each clip was

If you allow Location, a clip keeps where it was filmed. Nothing about a place is drawn on the app's screens. The place goes only into your own Photos, when you save a film or a moment there. It is not sent to other phones, and it does not go up with a film you publish.