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Ways to Record in Roll

Two Ways To Record from the iPhone: Front Camera and Back Camera

Laura Hickey avatar
Written by Laura Hickey
Updated over 11 months ago

There are two ways to record with your iPhone in Roll:

  1. Front Camera / Selfie Mode

  2. Back Camera / Multicam Mode

Front Camera / Selfie Mode

Use your iPhone or iPad’s front selfie camera, super easy setup with great quality

Option 1: iPhone or iPad Only

  • Open the Roll iOS app on your iPhone or iPad.

  • Click New or Join to enter a Roll call.

  • You will automatically start the call in Selfie mode.

  • We recommend recording in landscape mode in Selfie for best results

Option 2: iPhone + Computer Browser as Display

  • Go to www.roll.ai/join on a Chrome browser on your computer.

  • Click New or Join to enter a Roll web call. You will join in Producer Mode (Black & White).

  • Open Roll iOS app on your iPhone. Login with the same account you used on the browser.

  • Join call in progress. Once iPhone + web connect, you will automatically start in Selfie. On your phone, select Stay in Selfie.

  • We recommend recording in landscape mode for best recording results

Back Camera / Multicam Mode

Use your iPhone back cameras, paired with a computer browser or iPad as your display. iPhone back cameras produce the best quality video and are required for VFX (pan, dolly, zoom). Multicam is available on Pro phones only.

iPhone + Computer Browser (use your computer as a display)

  • Go to www.roll.ai/join on a Chrome browser on your computer.

  • Click New or Join to enter a Roll web call. You will join in Producer Mode (Black & White).

  • Open Roll iOS app on your iPhone. Login with the same account you used on the browser.

  • Join call in progress. Once iPhone + web connect, you will automatically start in Selfie. On your phone, select Switch to Back Camera. Once selected, the video feed will start coming from your back cameras.

  • Flip the phone around and place the phone on a mount/stand in front of you, in landscape mode, ideally at eye level (Tips for phone setup)

Note: We are phasing out our iPhone + iPad as Display mode. We do not recommend its use.

MultiCam requires a Pro iPhone (Tele Lens)

  • If you have an iPhone Pro, once you are in Back Camera mode, you will see a yellow button “Enable 2x camera” appear on the bottom right of your video thumbnail in your computer browser web call

  • When you select “Enable 2x camera”, you will enter Multicam Mode. You will automatically be placed in Preview, where the camera will start to cycle between your tele (3x/2x) and wide (1x) lenses to help you compose. Exit Preview to return to the call view.

Watch Welcome to Roll video to see how you can get started:

Watch What is Producer Mode to learn more about this feature:

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