How to see yourself while filming with the iPhone's back camera

By Dante Araujo, who makes bmonitor, one of the six options below. Each one says where it beats bmonitor. Updated October 2026.

The short answer

The iPhone's best camera faces away from you, so you need a second screen that shows what it sees. Away from a desk, a clip-on selfie screen or the Apple Watch app is the simplest. With several iPhones, use Blackmagic Camera's own remote mode on an iPad. At a desk with a Mac beside you, bmonitor turns the Mac into the monitor while the iPhone keeps recording.

All six at a glance

Six ways to see yourself while filming with the iPhone's main camera, compared.
Option	You watch on	Recording	Change settings from it	Camera's sound	Cost and requirements
Front camera	The iPhone's own screen	On the iPhone, with the front camera	Yes, on the phone	No	Free
Clip-on selfie screen	A small screen on the back of the iPhone	On the iPhone, with the main camera	On touch models, yes	No	A gadget to buy. Insta360 Snap: $79.99, USB‑C iPhones
Blackmagic Camera remote mode	A second iPhone, an iPad, an Apple Watch or an Apple Silicon Mac	On the iPhone, in Blackmagic Camera	Yes, several cameras at once	Levels on the Watch. On the Mac, no sound in my test	Free app, plus a second device. Mac: macOS 15 and M1 or later
AirPlay to a Mac	The whole iPhone screen on the Mac	On the iPhone, in any camera app	No, only on the phone	Not tested	Free. macOS 12 or later on a recent Mac
Continuity Camera	Any Mac app: QuickTime, Photo Booth, OBS	On the Mac, by that app	No ISO or shutter	Recorded by the Mac app	Free. macOS 13, iOS 16, iPhone XR or later
bmonitor	A Mac window, landscape or portrait	On the iPhone, in Blackmagic Camera	Yes: record, ISO, shutter, white balance, focus, zoom, lens	Yes, on the Mac, with an L/R meter	Free. macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel

Front camera

The quickest fix: switch to the selfie camera and watch the screen. You give up the main camera's image and its lenses, since the front camera has a single lens and a smaller sensor.

Good for: Quick takes, calls, anything where the selfie look is fine.
Falls short: No telephoto or ultra wide, and the image doesn't match the main camera.

Clip-on selfie screen

A small screen that attaches to the back of the iPhone and mirrors its display. The Insta360 Snap, for example, is a 3.5‑inch touchscreen that holds on with magnets and connects over USB‑C, so you can tap the camera app's controls on it.

Good for: Filming anywhere, outdoors or on the move, with no Wi‑Fi and no computer.
Falls short: A small screen to read from a distance and one more gadget to carry. The Snap needs a USB‑C iPhone (15 or newer) and costs $79.99, or $89.99 with a ring light.

Blackmagic Camera remote mode

Blackmagic Camera can monitor and control other iPhones running it, from a second iPhone, an iPad, its Apple Watch app or a Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 15 or later. It's official, it's free, and it's the only option here that handles several cameras at once: an iPad shows up to nine.

On the Mac it runs the iPad version of the app, with the same interface. In my test on an Apple Silicon Mac, the picture lagged noticeably more than in bmonitor, froze after a while, didn't play the camera's sound and couldn't turn to portrait. The Apple Watch app shows the framing and audio levels and starts and stops recording, though a watch screen is small for checking focus.

Good for: Multicam shoots, filming away from a desk with the Watch, and anyone who wants the official tool.
Falls short: Needs a second device. On the Mac, it needs macOS 15 and Apple Silicon, and it's an iPad interface in a Mac window.

AirPlay to a Mac

Turn on AirPlay Receiver on the Mac (System Settings › General › AirDrop & Handoff), then choose the Mac under Screen Mirroring in the iPhone's Control Center. The Mac shows the whole iPhone screen, camera app buttons included. I haven't measured its delay.

Good for: Free, built in and works with any camera app.
Falls short: You can't change anything from the Mac, and the app's interface sits over the picture. It needs macOS 12 or later and a Mac from 2018 or later (2019 for iMac, 2020 for Mac mini).

Continuity Camera

Continuity Camera makes the iPhone a webcam for the Mac. Open QuickTime Player, Photo Booth or OBS, pick the iPhone as the camera and you see yourself on the Mac. The video is recorded by that Mac app, not by the iPhone, and macOS doesn't let apps set ISO or shutter speed on a camera, so Blackmagic Camera's formats and manual controls are out of the picture.

Good for: Video calls, streaming and recording straight into a Mac app.
Falls short: The recording happens on the Mac, with no manual exposure.

bmonitor

bmonitor is a Mac app that monitors and controls Blackmagic Camera over Wi‑Fi. The iPhone records in Blackmagic Camera at the quality you set, and the Mac shows the live picture and sound about 0.3 s behind, in landscape or portrait. Recording status, timecode and audio levels are sized to be read from 3 m, and every control has its own key.

Good for: Filming yourself at a desk or in a small studio with a Mac nearby, and vertical videos.
Falls short: Needs a Mac on the same Wi‑Fi, works with one iPhone at a time and doesn't record on the Mac. It's a public beta, tested so far on two Macs (macOS 26 and 14) and one iPhone; Intel Macs untested.

Which one should you pick?

Filming away from a desk: a clip-on selfie screen, or the Apple Watch app if you have one.
Several iPhones at once: Blackmagic Camera's remote mode on an iPad.
Recording or streaming into a Mac app: Continuity Camera.
A quick look with no setup: the front camera, or AirPlay to a Mac.
Filming yourself with a Mac beside you: bmonitor.

If the last one is you

Download for macOS How bmonitor works

Free and open source · macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel · Public beta

Sources

Blackmagic Camera on the App Store: Mac, Apple Watch and iPhone requirements.
Blackmagic Camera, Blackmagic Design: remote control from another phone, tablet or Mac, and the Apple Watch app.
No Film School: up to nine cameras on an iPad.
Apple: Continuity requirements.
Apple: set up your Mac as an AirPlay receiver.
Apple Developer: custom exposure (ISO and shutter), available on iPhone and iPad, not on macOS.
How-To Geek: AirPlay to Mac.
iGeeksBlog: Insta360 Snap.
Delay, freezing, sound and rotation of Blackmagic Camera on the Mac: my own test, October 2026, on an Apple Silicon Mac.
bmonitor's delay, about 0.3 s glass to glass: my own measurement, October 2026, on an Apple Silicon Mac and an iPhone over Wi‑Fi. Readable from 3 m is what the interface is designed for.