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Apple Details macOS Ventura and iOS 16 Continuity Camera Feature

I was wondering why it wasn't working and then I remembered my VPN was on. I turned the VPN off on my MacBook and iPhone and it began functioning. Just a heads-up if yours is not working and you have your VPN turned on. 🙂
 
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Nicole1980 said:
All this because they were too cheap to put decent built-in cameras in their laptops or iMacs
Click to expand...

I disagree, Apple is spec'ing their web cam for the masses, not the fringe. A 720 is good enough for what the average person needs and 1080 is now available on most Macs. Most of us do not want or need to see our coworkers in 4k.

Content creators might "need" the increased resolution this provides but my guess is they have other cams for in studio use.
 
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Using my iPhone 13 Pro produces a lot better picture on video calls than the 1080p MacBook Air M2 webcam. In low light the difference is even more dramatic. For people who spend a few hours per day on calls this is a huge benefit.
 
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After testing Continuity Camera with an iPhone 13 Pro, the quality is indeed an order of magnitude better than the 1080p camera in my 2020 iMac.

The OS reports that the camera video quality can hit 1920x1440 and with a framerate of 60fps, but I'm still experimenting if it actually can return those numbers.
 
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dbwie said:
It doesn't have to sit on top of your monitor, you can hold it in your hand, put it on a tripod mount, etc
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I was referring to the Logitech camera sitting on top of my monitor. I'd rather have a "pop-up" iPhone holder that I can raise whenever I want to use my iPhone as the camera for my mini.

But as it is now, the USB camera needs to remain plugged in for Continuity to be available. I'm hiding it under the desk with the mini 🙂
 
Nicole1980 said:
All this because they were too cheap to put decent built-in cameras in their laptops or iMacs
Click to expand...
Well, I think it’s more to do with the hardware. You laptop lid is pretty thin, thinner than any iPhone. If you wanted a better camera in there, you’d probably need a camera bump, on your Mac. While we tolerate this on a phone, I think a camera bump on my laptop would be pretty undesirable.
 
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Continuity between Apple devices is a good feature.

What about continuity microphone?

Macrumors could demo Continuity camera and microphone. ⛅
 
It's been a mystery to me why they focus so much on mounting the iPhone to the MacBook. There are a million better ways to position your phone as a camera. The quality is very good, but the connection/disconnect/pause is a little buggy.

It's also interesting that they didn't extend the Continuity Camera to iPads. Sure - who would bother, but then again, why not just include iPads in the mix?

Similarly, I wish Universal Control worked with iPhone. It's very handy to just swipe over with my mouse to my iPad to click on something - it would be equally handy to do it to my iPhone sitting here on its charging stand.

Interestingly when I use my BT keyboard and mouse paired to my iPad, Universal Control seems to work in the reverse where I can originate on the iPad with paired devices, and move them to the MacBook. Have to experiment more with this to confirm, but it doesn't seem to matter which device your mouse/keyboard are connected to which is cool and perhaps an obvious idea, but not all these sharing mechanisms are bidirectional.

With Universal Control and Continuity Camera, it feels like we're in the very early days of a perfectly seamless sharing experience across Apple devices - they're 10 years (at least) ahead of Android/Windows in this space.
 
kiranmk2 said:
Is there a minimum iPhone requirement other than iOS16? I guess iPhone 11 for the deskview / centre stage feature by way of the ultrawide lens, but will iPhone 8, X, XS, XR, SE (2md/3rd gen) work as a basic webcam?
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Yes there is a requirement.
1B131821-ECBD-400F-BF90-39724A766F44.jpeg


Continuity Camera: Use iPhone as a webcam for Mac - Apple Support

Use the powerful camera system of your iPhone to do things never before possible with a webcam, including Center Stage, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Desk View.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

This is why I think this macrumour post is pretty pointless as it has left out crucial information.
 
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anthogag said:
Continuity between Apple devices is a good feature.

What about continuity microphone?

Macrumors could demo Continuity camera and microphone. ⛅
Click to expand...
What about the microphone? It's also there - you can choose the iPhone microphone as an audio input on your MacBook.
 
A.wang28 said:
Yes there is a requirement.
View attachment 2101748

Continuity Camera: Use iPhone as a webcam for Mac - Apple Support

Use the powerful camera system of your iPhone to do things never before possible with a webcam, including Center Stage, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Desk View.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

This is why I think this macrumour post is pretty pointless as it has left out crucial information.
Click to expand...
If MacRumors or any other single source of information is your one and only source for knowledge and you expect 100% from any one of them, then the problem is not with MacRumors.

Did MacRumors suggest this would work with any iOS 16 capable iPhone in error? Or did they just not provide enough detail for you?
 
icanhazmac said:
I cannot think of a single thing that would make me hang my phone off the back of my laptop.
Click to expand...
It's actually nice to retrofit an older MacBook with an up-to-date camera. I use my new iPhone 14 Pro with a 2017 MacBook Pro all the time, and the video is SO MUCH BETTER.

It's a niche use case, but worth it for me.
 
torontotim said:
What about the microphone? It's also there - you can choose the iPhone microphone as an audio input on your MacBook.
Click to expand...
It is not working for me. In Settings->Sound->Input I don't get it as an option.

I have M1 Mac mini and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both have latest public beta installed.
 
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There's been a lot of one-dimensional comments on why this is lame and I understand that it is not a feature everyone will use. But let me play devil's advocate and lay out a few use-cases and points.
  • Wanting a high-resolution camera for webinars, video recordings, et cetera, where the built-in laptop camera won't cut it
  • It gives you the flexibility to place the camera wherever you want
  • It allows iPhone users to now use a webcam if they have a desktop Mac
  • It allows you to move the camera around, which may be useful during a livestream
  • Ever since webcams have become integrated into laptops, external ones seem lame. A lot of them are still on USB-A, are not very high resolution, have driver issues, are not competitively priced, et cetera.
  • People mentioning that Apple is too cheap to put a better camera in the laptops but ignore the fact that Apple wants its hardware thin and lightweight. Apple has the growing camera bulge in the back camera for recent iPhones but I doubt they could easily do that in the laptop (even if they could, the increase in image quality wouldn't be worth the backlash). I'm willing to concede this point if someone can point me to PC laptops that have a much better resolution and a screen that is the same or less thickness—I don't follow the topic closely.
Just including these perspectives for balance. Any thoughts?
 
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torontotim said:
It's been a mystery to me why they focus so much on mounting the iPhone to the MacBook. There are a million better ways to position your phone as a camera. The quality is very good, but the connection/disconnect/pause is a little buggy.

It's also interesting that they didn't extend the Continuity Camera to iPads. Sure - who would bother, but then again, why not just include iPads in the mix?

Similarly, I wish Universal Control worked with iPhone. It's very handy to just swipe over with my mouse to my iPad to click on something - it would be equally handy to do it to my iPhone sitting here on its charging stand.

Interestingly when I use my BT keyboard and mouse paired to my iPad, Universal Control seems to work in the reverse where I can originate on the iPad with paired devices, and move them to the MacBook. Have to experiment more with this to confirm, but it doesn't seem to matter which device your mouse/keyboard are connected to which is cool and perhaps an obvious idea, but not all these sharing mechanisms are bidirectional.

With Universal Control and Continuity Camera, it feels like we're in the very early days of a perfectly seamless sharing experience across Apple devices - they're 10 years (at least) ahead of Android/Windows in this space.
Click to expand...
My thoughts...you are correct, the other negative comments suck
 
After some thought I realized this could be useful for meetings where I use a monitor without a built-in camera.

Can I use Continuity Camera with something other than a laptop?
 
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