A teleprompter for YouTube videos
Long takes are where off-camera notes show most. Keep your eyes on the lens for a ten-minute video, and lose the flick-down that tells viewers you are reading.
By Prompter · Updated
YouTube rewards two things a teleprompter is good at: a clean, confident open, and eye contact that holds across a long runtime. The script scrolls over your phone’s camera — or over an external camera with the phone parked beneath the lens — so you read the next line and look down the barrel at the same moment.
Two ways to shoot it
Phone as camera. For a talking-head video, the front camera and the prompter are the same screen: the words sit right where the lens is, so there is almost no eye movement to hide. This is the fastest setup and the one most channels use day to day.
Phone under an external camera. Shooting on a mirrorless, DSLR or webcam? Stand the phone directly below or beside that lens and read from it. The closer the words sit to the recording lens, the less your eyes travel — and the further away it is, the more obvious the drift becomes.
Pace and size for long-form
A talking-head video usually wants a scroll near 1×, slower than short-form. You are speaking to hold attention over minutes, not to win the first two seconds. Because Prompter lets you change speed while recording, a small drift is a nudge, not a retake.
Break the script into short paragraphs with a blank line between them. A wall of text scrolls past the reading band faster than your eye can re-find its place; paragraphs give you a natural landing spot every few lines.
| Video type | Scroll speed | Font size |
|---|---|---|
| Channel intro / hook | 1.1× – 1.4× | 44 – 60 pt |
| Tutorial / how-to | 1.0× – 1.2× | 44 – 60 pt |
| Review / commentary | 1.0× – 1.3× | 44 – 60 pt |
| Sit-down / vlog talk | 0.9× – 1.2× | 48 – 64 pt |
Nail the first fifteen seconds
Retention on YouTube is decided at the open, so write the first line exactly and rehearse it more than anything else. Prompter’s Rehearse mode runs the script with no camera and saves nothing, so you can run the intro ten times without filling Photos with throwaway clips.
Everything after the hook can be looser. Write it the way you talk — contractions, short sentences, one idea per paragraph — and it will read as speech rather than recital.
Record the intro as its own clip. A tight scripted open cuts cleanly onto a looser main take, and you only re-shoot fifteen seconds when it misses.
Batch a week in one sitting
Once the phone is set at eye height and the size is right for your distance, the setup does not change between videos. Load the next script, reset the countdown, and go. A countdown of 5 or 10 seconds gives you time to step back into frame between takes when the phone is on a tripod.
Questions
Can I use it with a DSLR or webcam instead of the phone camera?
Yes. Run Prompter in Rehearse mode or with the phone as a second screen and stand it directly under or beside your main lens. The script scrolls where your eyes already are, so you read while facing the recording camera.
What scroll speed is right for a YouTube video?
Start near 1× for talking-head and tutorials, a touch faster for a punchy intro. You can change speed while recording, so match it to your delivery rather than chasing an exact number.
Will there be a watermark on my YouTube video?
The free version adds a small watermark to exported videos. Prompter Pro removes it. The teleprompter itself behaves the same either way.
Shoot the next video in one take
Front camera, back camera, or the phone under your main lens.
iOS 16.4 or later · iPhone and iPad