How to Use Your iPhone as a Webcam on Mac (Continuity Camera)

To use your iPhone as a webcam on a Mac, mount the iPhone near the Mac with its rear cameras facing you, lock it, and choose it from the camera list in the app you're using. It shows up under your iPhone's name. This feature is called Continuity Camera. It's built into macOS 13 Ventura and later and iOS 16 and later, so there's nothing to install. Both devices need to be signed in to the same Apple Account, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.

What Continuity Camera is on Mac

Continuity Camera lets a Mac use a nearby iPhone's rear camera as a webcam. The Mac treats the iPhone as one more camera, so any app that lets you choose a camera can use it. That includes FaceTime, video call apps, browsers, QuickTime Player and screen recorders.

The connection is wireless by default. You can also connect the iPhone to the Mac with a USB cable.

What you need

• An iPhone XR or later running iOS 16 or later. Some video effects need newer iPhone models. Apple Support lists which ones.
• A Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later. If you plan to use Screen Bolt (covered below), you need macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
• The same Apple Account on both devices, with two-factor authentication turned on.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on on both the Mac and the iPhone.
• A way to hold the iPhone still, such as a clip-on mount, a small tripod or a stand. The iPhone has to be stationary for macOS to use it as a camera.

How to set up your iPhone as a webcam on Mac

1. On the iPhone, open Settings.
2. Tap General, then AirPlay & Continuity (called AirPlay & Handoff on older iOS versions). If you can't find it, search Settings for "Continuity Camera".
3. Make sure Continuity Camera is turned on.
4. Mount the iPhone near your Mac with the rear cameras facing you.
5. Lock the iPhone (press the side button) and leave it still.

Some apps switch to the iPhone camera automatically when it's mounted near the Mac. In the others you pick it by hand, as described in the next section.

Once the iPhone is acting as a camera, leave it alone. If you unlock it or pick it up to use it, the video pauses.

Choose the iPhone camera in an app

The iPhone appears wherever an app lists cameras.

• FaceTime: open the Video menu in the menu bar and choose your iPhone.
• Video call apps: open the app's camera or video settings (often an arrow next to the camera button) and choose your iPhone.
• QuickTime Player: choose File > New Movie Recording, click the arrow next to the record button, and choose your iPhone under Camera.
• Browsers: sites ask for camera access and let you pick a device. To check that the iPhone feed works before a call or recording, use our free webcam test.

While an app is using the camera, macOS offers video effects such as Portrait and Center Stage, depending on your iPhone model. You'll find them in the video effects menu in the menu bar or in Control Center.

Mount and frame the iPhone

• Put the camera at eye level. A phone lying low on the desk films up your nose. Raise it on a stand or clip it to the top of your display.
• Use landscape for most recordings. It matches 16:9 video and leaves room to crop. Use portrait if the final video is vertical, such as Reels or Shorts.
• Face the light. A window or lamp in front of you (behind the phone) works. A window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
• Plug it in for long sessions. Sending video drains the battery, and you don't want the phone to die halfway through a take.
• Leave space around your head. Screen recorders often crop the camera into a square or a portrait-shaped card. If you sit at the edge of a wide frame, the crop can cut you off.

Record your screen with the iPhone as a webcam (built-in way)

The macOS Screenshot toolbar records the screen but has no camera overlay option. The free workaround is to open the iPhone camera in a QuickTime Player window and record that window along with your screen:

1. Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Movie Recording.
2. Click the arrow next to the record button and choose your iPhone under Camera.
3. Resize the camera window and drag it to a corner of the screen. Don't press record in this window.
4. Press ⇧⌘5 (Shift-Command-5) to open the Screenshot toolbar.
5. To record your voice, click Options and choose a microphone.
6. Choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, then click Record.
7. Click the stop button in the menu bar when you're done.

What this can't do: the camera is baked into the screen recording as a window. You can't move, resize, restyle or hide it afterwards, and you don't get a separate camera file. The movie window also shows its controls if your pointer passes over it.

If you're presenting live on a video call rather than making a recording, macOS also has Presenter Overlay, which puts you on top of your shared screen.

Use the iPhone as a second camera in Screen Bolt

A dedicated recorder helps when you want the camera as its own layer that you can style and reposition after recording, or when you want two camera angles. A common setup is the Mac's camera on your face and the iPhone pointed at your hands, a whiteboard or a device on the desk.

We make Screen Bolt, a Mac screen recorder that can use an iPhone over Continuity Camera as the first or second camera. Each camera records to its own file, and the editor lines the cameras up with the screen recording automatically.

Turn on both cameras

1. Set up Continuity Camera and mount the iPhone as described above.
2. In Screen Bolt's recording bar, click Camera and choose your first camera: the Mac's built-in camera, an external webcam, or the iPhone itself. macOS asks for camera access the first time.
3. A circular live preview appears on screen. You can drag it anywhere, and it isn't captured in the recording.
4. Click Camera again. Under Second camera, choose your iPhone. This section only appears when two or more cameras are connected, and only when camera 1 is on.
5. Choose Display, Window or Area as the source, then click the red record button.

The Camera button shows an iPhone glyph when the selected device is a Continuity Camera iPhone, and a small "2" badge when the second camera is on.

Other options in the Camera menu:

If you want only the iPhone, choose it as the first camera and leave Second camera off.

Record the iPhone's microphone

When the second camera is an iPhone or iPad, the Camera menu shows a Record iPhone audio toggle. It's off by default. Turn it on to record the phone's microphone along with the second camera. Screen Bolt needs microphone access for this, so macOS may ask.

The toggle is only offered for the second camera. It's handy when the iPhone sits close to you, or close to something that makes sound, while your Mac's mic is further away.

Style the cameras in the editor

When you stop recording, the editor opens. Open the Webcam panel (⌘3) to place and style each camera.

• Camera has a Show Webcam toggle and Camera 2 has an Enable Camera 2 toggle. Camera 2 starts off in new projects, so turn it on or the iPhone angle won't appear in the preview or the export.
• Position is one of four corners: Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Left or Top Right. You can't drag a camera around the preview.
• Aspect sets the shape: Native, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9. New projects start camera 1 as a rounded 4:5 card in the bottom-left corner, which is why it pays to keep yourself centered in the frame.
• Size (8% to 40%), Roundness, Border, Shadow, Opacity and Mirror finish the look.
• Fullscreen Moments lets a camera take over the whole canvas for a stretch of the video. Mark In and Out on the timeline, then click Add from Marked Range. See switching between webcam and screen for when that works well.

Click Export to render. Both cameras are exported with their styling. The Export to file option (which skips the editor) renders only camera 1, so use the editor for two-camera videos.

Recording is unlimited in the free version of Screen Bolt, but exports are watermarked and capped at 3 minutes and 720p. Pro removes those limits for $79 one-time (as of November 2026; see Free vs Pro pricing).

Which method to use

• Use Continuity Camera in FaceTime or your call app if you only need the iPhone for live calls.
• Use the QuickTime window plus ⇧⌘5 for an occasional recording where a fixed camera window in one spot is fine. It's free and needs nothing extra.
• Use a recorder with separate camera tracks, such as Screen Bolt, if you make tutorials, demos or talking-head videos regularly, want to change the camera's position, shape or size after recording, or want two camera angles.

If the iPhone doesn't show up

It's missing from every app. Check the basics. Both devices must use the same Apple Account with two-factor authentication. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth must be on for both. Continuity Camera must be on in the iPhone's Settings. The iPhone needs iOS 16 or later and the Mac macOS 13 or later.

It appears, then drops out. The iPhone needs to stay still, locked and close to the Mac. Unlocking it or picking it up pauses the camera. If the wireless connection keeps dropping, connect the iPhone with a USB cable.

It works in FaceTime but not in Screen Bolt. Screen Bolt probably doesn't have camera access. If you see "Camera permission denied. Enable in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera", open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera and turn on Screen Bolt. Screen Bolt refreshes its device list when a camera is connected or removed, so reopen the Camera menu after reconnecting the iPhone.

The camera turns itself off in Screen Bolt. When the active camera disappears (the iPhone disconnects or gets picked up), Screen Bolt turns that camera off. Reconnect the iPhone and select it again in the Camera menu.

There's no "Second camera" section. It only appears when at least two cameras are detected and camera 1 is on. Turn on a first camera, then open the menu again.

There's no "Record iPhone audio" toggle. It only appears when the second camera is an iPhone or iPad. If the iPhone is your first camera, the toggle isn't offered.

The iPhone angle is missing from the exported video. Open the Webcam panel and turn on Enable Camera 2. Export from the editor, not with Export to file, which renders camera 1 only.

For other recording problems, see Screen Bolt troubleshooting.

FAQ

Do I need to install an app on the iPhone? No. Continuity Camera is part of iOS and macOS. You only need the requirements listed above.

Can I use the iPhone's front (selfie) camera? No. Continuity Camera uses the iPhone's rear cameras, so the back of the phone faces you. That's why a mount matters: you can't see the iPhone screen while it's filming you.

Can Screen Bolt record my iPhone's screen? No. Screen Bolt uses the iPhone only as a camera through Continuity Camera. It doesn't record the iPhone's own screen.

How do I record my screen with two cameras? Use the iPhone as the second camera as shown above. The two-camera recording guide covers placement and layouts in more detail, and the webcam overlay guide covers styling a single camera.