Apple will soon let you use your iPhone as a webcam with Macs, but I’d rather its clever software powers were built into a new iSight camera.
One of the most surprising announcements at WWDC 2022 was Apple’s plan to let you use your iPhone as a Mac webcam, thanks to a new feature called Continuity Camera. But while the software trickery on show in this macOS 13 Ventura feature is impressive, I wish Apple had just built it into a new version of its old iSight webcam from 2003 instead. On paper, Continuity Camera makes a lot of sense. Many Mac users also own an iPhone – so why not let them use their phone’s superior cameras to deliver a better webcam experience for video calls? Lots of people already use third-party apps like EpocCam and Camo Studio to do this and (unfortunately for them) Apple’s feature looks like a more streamlined, wireless equivalent. But no matter how good the software looks, the implementation will always feel a bit clunky. You’ll need to clip your iPhone to your Mac using an accessory like the ones coming from Belkin later this year. Rumor has it that Jony Ive still has his head in his hands after witnessing this desecration of the Mac’s clean silhouette. Because Continuity Camera works wirelessly with your Mac, there’s always the danger of video lag, too. And this means Apple is surely using some kind of video compression to make the experience usable, which could impact video quality. These are things I’m looking forward to testing out – but I’ll be expecting a few more blips than in the demo call shown at WWDC 2022. To be fair, some of the features shown in that Continuity Camera demo were hugely impressive.
