Using DockKit-compatible stands for iPhone videos

Apple's new API can control motorized tripods and stands for subject tracking

- CLIFF JOSEPH

A FEW YEARS ago, Apple came up with a feature called Center Stage, which allows FaceTime and other video apps to follow your movements and keep your face in focus if you need to move around during video calls. This is useful if you need to give a presentation or demonstration during a video call, for teachers giving lectures, or for content creators, such as fitness instructors producing workout videos.

Center Stage does have some limitations, though. At the moment, Center Stage only works with the Ultra Wide front-facing camera that's built into certain iPad models, as well as the webcam that is built into Apple's Studio Display. There is a workaround for the iPhone that involves using it with the Continuity Camera feature in macOS Ventura, but the iPhone doesn't currently have full support for Center Stage as the iPad does. And while that camera may have a very wide field of vision, it is still fixed in place, so it will eventually lose sight of you if you move too far to one side.

DOCKKIT KIT

It is possible to buy attachments that will let you mount an iPad or iPhone on a tripod so that you adjust the angle of the camera yourself, and you can even buy motorized tripods and stands that can be controlled by an app so that they turn automatically when required. However, that locks you into using products from specific manufacturers, such as the Matterport range of tripods, which are aimed at professional photographers and business users and require the use of the subscription-based Matterport app.

There are some less expensive motorized tripods that are aimed at vloggers and content creators, but all these products still rely on being controlled by the manufacturer's own app, which may not provide all the features that you need and may not be compatible with other video apps such as FaceTime or Zoom.