What you need to know
- Apple announced a new macOS Continuity Camera feature at WWDC.
- It will let you use your iPhone as a camera for your Mac.
- Someone has gone and 3D printed the mount you'll need to use it way ahead of its release.
An impatient 3D printer has knocked up a working version of the adapter you'll need to mount your phone on your Mac to take advantage of Apple's new macOS Continuity Camera feature.
Jonathan Wight took to Twitter this week stating:
Designed and printed a Continuity Camera mount for my iMac Pro.Will modify it for a MacBookPro tomorrowNo need to wait for Belkin or whoever is making the actual 3rd party mount.
Designed and printed a Continuity Camera mount for my iMac Pro.
Will modify it for a MacBookPro tomorrow
3D print files: https://t.co/WvvWfmvO3E
Github repo: https://t.co/ZckfVPO6pu
No need to wait for Belkin or whoever is making the actual 3rd party mount. pic.twitter.com/vuOoAZlSUcDesigned and printed a Continuity Camera mount for my iMac Pro.
Will modify it for a MacBookPro tomorrow
3D print files: https://t.co/WvvWfmvO3E
Github repo: https://t.co/ZckfVPO6pu
No need to wait for Belkin or whoever is making the actual 3rd party mount. pic.twitter.com/vuOoAZlSUc— Jonathan Wight (@schwa) June 14, 2022June 14, 2022
As you can see Wight has knocked up a rudimentary version of the new Belkin mount that Apple unveiled at WWDC 2022 when it revealed Continuity Camera in macOS Ventura. From Apple:
Continuity Camera now gives Mac customers the ability to use their iPhone as a webcam, and unlocks new capabilities that were never possible before on a webcam. With the power of Continuity, Mac can automatically recognize and use the camera on iPhone when it is nearby — without the need to wake or select it — and iPhone can even connect to Mac wirelessly for greater flexibility. Continuity Camera delivers innovative features to all Mac computers including Center Stage, Portrait mode, and the new Studio Light — an effect that beautifully illuminates a user's face while dimming the background. Plus, Continuity Camera taps into the Ultra Wide camera on iPhone to enable Desk View, which simultaneously shows the user's face and an overhead view of their desk — great for creating DIY videos, showing off sketches over FaceTime, and so much more.
One of the coolest features lets users show a top-down camera view of their desk using the Ultra Wide camera lens on its best iPhones such as the iPhone 13.
Everything you now need to make the Continuity Camera mount are freely available online to anyone with a 3D printer and the know-how to knock this together. It requires a MagSafe compatible iPhone as it's designed to work with magnets. As Wight notes, the current version works with the iMac Pro and MacBook Pro with about 5mm of clearance for the display, so this may not be compatible with every Mac out there.
Still, this is a very fun way to get people an early look at Continuity Camera on macOS and probably saves them some money too. I'm sure the accessory makers Apple is teaming up with to create the official version will not be happy about this.
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