Move over, Apple — Camo’s update takes on Continuity Camera

By Nathan Drescher Published September 16, 2022

Reincubate Camo has come out swinging against Apple’s Continuity Camera technology with a slew of new controls you won’t find anywhere else. These include variable frame rates, intelligent zoom technology, and video stabilization improvements. Many of these go well beyond anything Apple offers in MacOS Ventura.

You may have heard of the Camo app. It allows you to use your iPhone as a Mac webcam and has been a popular piece of software since its release in 2020. Apple may have borrowed a few of Camo’s key concepts when it displayed the Continuity Camera at WWDC 22 in June. Undeterred, Reincubate, the company that owns Camo, wants to differentiate itself from Apple’s more basic tech. Update 1.8 gives you what Apple does not.

The Camo app showing its latest 1.8 update — image: Reincubate

For starters, there’s a new variable frame rate setting. You can adjust your frame rates between 15 fps and 60 fps. Reincubate claims it is perfect for capturing smooth stream footage with YouTube and Twitch. You’ll see a new frame rate drop-down in the camera settings. Apple’s Continuity Camera does not allow you to change your frame rate, depending on the iPhone’s hardware to figure it out.

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You’ll also get Smart Zoom with the Camo 1.8 update. This limits the amount of digital zoom when possible, so you can zoom and crop your scenes without losing image quality. Reincubate describes Smart Zoom in a blog post. “When cropping out part of a scene, Camo will now avoid using digital zoom wherever possible, and instead rely on a higher resolution source image from the camera’s sensor, mimicking lossless optical zoom.”

Video stabilization is another feature in the update. This is a new feature for stabilizing the image from shaky cameras without sacrificing image quality. People with standing desks who type a lot, and laptops on wobbly surfaces can cause the video to jump around wildly. Image stabilization will compensate for the shaking and keep your face centered in the camera. Your coworkers won’t even know you have a mechanical keyboard!

Finally, Reincubate gives you a way to control the vibrancy of your image in a live stream. Vibrancy Control can enliven or darken your image, which is great for creating a more subtle atmosphere around your face. This update allows you to fine-tune things such as lighting, white balance, and other granular adjustments you simply won’t find on Apple’s offering.

Updates such as Camo 1.8 are what give third-party apps an edge over Apple’s own offerings. You can check out our list of the best third-party apps for your Mac.

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Nathan Drescher

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Nathan Drescher is a freelance journalist and writer from Ottawa, Canada. He's been writing about technology from around the…

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