How to Use a Teleprompter Over Your Phone's Camera App

To read a script while you record with your phone's own camera app, open the script in a teleprompter app that supports picture-in-picture, switch it to a floating window, then open the camera app and drag the window right under the front lens. The script keeps scrolling on top of the camera, and you record with the camera app you already know.

Why use your own camera app

Your phone's camera app has the best video quality your phone can give: stabilization, the right lens, HDR, the resolution and frame rate you picked. Many teleprompter apps record inside their own screen with fewer options. Keeping the two jobs apart, one app shows the words and the camera app records, gives you the best of both. It also works with video call apps such as Zoom when you present online.

Step by step

1. Get the script ready. Paste it, type it or import a .txt file. Read it once out loud and cut long sentences. Short lines are easier to read in a small window.
2. Set the speed before you float. Pick a pace in words per minute and check the estimated read time. Around 130 WPM is a relaxed talking pace.
3. Make the text readable at small size. In a small window, bigger text and fewer words per line work better. Raise the text size and widen the side margins.
4. Float it. In Cuewell, tap the window button ("Float over camera"). The script moves into a small picture-in-picture window.
5. Open the camera app. Switch to the front camera if you are filming yourself. The window stays on top and keeps scrolling.
6. Drag the window next to the lens. Tap the window to show play, pause and speed controls.
7. Start recording, then start the script. Hit record first, take a breath, then press play. Trim the first second later.

Where to put the window

On most phones the front camera is at the top center of the screen. Put the window directly below it, touching the top edge. The closer the words are to the lens, the less your eyes move away from it. If you film with the back camera on a tripod, the same idea applies: the words must be as close to the line between your eyes and the lens as possible.

Eye contact tips

• Keep the window small. A narrow window means your eyes travel a short distance from side to side.
• Stand back a little. The farther you are from the phone, the less viewers notice your eyes moving. An arm's length or more helps.
• Slow down. Reading too fast is what makes eyes dart. Lower the speed by 10 to 20 WPM and let the line come to you.
• Look up at the lens between sentences. A glance into the lens at each pause looks natural and keeps contact.
• Practice twice. The second read is almost always calmer. Cuewell logs every read with its time and pace so you can see your progress.

If something goes wrong

If the window does not appear, check that picture-in-picture is allowed for the app in your phone's settings (Apps, special access, picture-in-picture). If you lose your place, tap the screen or press a Bluetooth remote to pause; Cuewell keeps your place and resumes from the same line. Cuewell does not record video or audio and does not scroll by voice: it moves at the speed you set, and you pause it yourself.

Cuewell is free and supported by ads, but no ad appears on the reading screen, during the countdown or in the floating window, so ads never interrupt a recording.

Can I use a teleprompter and the camera at the same time on one phone?

Yes. Android's picture-in-picture lets a teleprompter keep scrolling in a small window on top of the camera app. In Cuewell you tap the window button, then open your camera app.

Where should I put the teleprompter window?

As close to the front camera lens as you can, usually at the top edge of the screen, and keep it small so your eyes barely move.

Does the teleprompter app record the video?

Cuewell does not. It only shows your script; your own camera app records the video and sound, so you keep its quality, lenses and settings.