REC00:12:48:06
42min
Read it from 3 m. Recording, timecode, the active mic and the minutes left on the iPhone stay large in the top corners. A red border tells you you're rolling.
bmonitor
Monitor your iPhone camera
from your Mac.
Film with the iPhone's main camera and watch yourself on the Mac that's already on your desk. bmonitor monitors and remote-controls the free Blackmagic Camera app over Wi‑Fi, about 0.3 s behind.
- Signed and notarized by Apple
- Updates itself
- No account, no tracking
- English and Português
- MIT licensed
Still walking to the tripod
to check the shot?
To see yourself while filming with the main camera, you'd clip a selfie monitor to the iPhone, or use a second iPhone, an iPad or an Apple Watch with Blackmagic Camera's own remote monitoring. bmonitor turns the Mac on your desk into that monitor.
REC 00:12:48
42 min
Readable from across the room.
Built to feel native.
Click to focus. Click anywhere on the video and the iPhone focuses there. Zoom, lens and stabilization are one click away too.
ISOAuto
10012516020025032040050064080010001250
Every setting, one click. ISO, shutter (speed or angle), white balance with light presets and tint. The Mac shows the value the camera confirmed, not the one you asked for.
iPhone Microphone
L
R
-40-20-90
Hear what the camera hears. The mic's name and an L/R meter in Blackmagic's own green, yellow and red. The camera's sound can play on the Mac, muted by default.
- I
- ISO
- S
- Shutter
- W
- White balance
- T
- Tint
- L
- Lens
- A
- Audio input
- M
- Mute
- G
- Grid
- F
- Focus now
- ⌘R
- Record
One key per control. I for ISO, S for shutter, W for white balance, ⌘R to record. Press ⌘/ to see them all.
Set it up once.
Then just open it.
After the first time, bmonitor finds the iPhone by itself.
Install
Open the
.dmgand drag bmonitor to Applications.Allow the network
When the Mac asks to let bmonitor find devices on your local network, click Allow.
Set up Blackmagic Camera
In its settings, set Remote Camera Control to Remote Camera and turn on the HTTP server.
Open and shoot
Same Wi‑Fi, Blackmagic Camera on the camera screen, auto-lock off. Open bmonitor.
Questions before you install.
- How do I see myself while filming with the iPhone's back camera?
- Put the iPhone on a tripod with the Blackmagic Camera app, open bmonitor on your Mac, and the Mac becomes your monitor: framing, focus, sound and recording status, readable from about 3 m. No clip-on screen to buy and no second iPhone or iPad.
- How do I monitor my iPhone camera on my Mac?
- Record with Blackmagic Camera on the iPhone and open bmonitor on the Mac, both on the same Wi‑Fi. You get the live picture and sound, and you can start recording and change ISO, shutter, white balance, focus, zoom and lens from the Mac. Continuity Camera is different: it turns the iPhone into a webcam for Mac apps and doesn't monitor a recording on the iPhone.
- What do I need?
- A Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later (Apple Silicon or Intel), an iPhone with the free Blackmagic Camera app, and both on the same Wi‑Fi network.
- Does it record on my Mac?
- No. Recording stays on the iPhone, in the quality you chose there. The Mac is the monitor and the remote control.
- How far behind real time is the video?
- About 0.3 s glass to glass, most of it on the iPhone side. Enough to check framing, focus and sound while you talk.
- What does it change on my iPhone?
- It adds a streaming platform called “Mac Monitor SRT” to Blackmagic Camera and makes it active while bmonitor is open. When you quit, it stops the stream and restores the platform you had before.
- Can I use more than one iPhone?
- One at a time. If there's more than one on the network, bmonitor asks which one to use.
- Is it finished?
- It's a public beta. It works every day on the author's setup, but it was tested on one Mac and one iPhone, so expect rough edges and report what you find.
- How is this different from Blackmagic's own remote monitoring?
- Blackmagic Camera can be monitored and controlled from a second iPhone or iPad running Blackmagic Camera, or from its Apple Watch companion. bmonitor does it from your Mac instead, in a regular window you can keep beside your script.
- Is it made by Blackmagic Design?
- No. bmonitor is an independent project that talks to Blackmagic Camera through its documented remote API and live stream.
- Is it free?
- Yes. Free and open source (MIT), with no ads, no account and no paid version. It collects nothing and only talks to the iPhone on your network. If it's useful to you, a coffee is welcome and never required.
Free. Open source.
Built for the Mac.
If bmonitor saves you a few trips to the tripod, Buy me a coffee