Guide · Multicam
How to live stream multicam from iPhones — completely free.
Two or more iPhones, one Mac, one Wi-Fi network — and you get a live multiview with tally lights and remote camera control, streamed anywhere. No capture cards, no subscriptions.
What you'll end up with
Every iPhone becomes a wireless camera. They all land on your Mac in a live multiview, you CUT between them like on a broadcast switcher, each operator sees a tally light, and you can adjust every camera's exposure from the Mac. The program then goes wherever you need it — OBS, NDI®, SRT, RTSP or a clean HDMI screen.
The whole stack is free. The one paid thing in the ecosystem is a $15 one-time unlock that removes the watermark from the phone's live stream — recordings are always clean, and nothing here requires it.
What you'll need
- Two or more iPhones — iPhone 11 or newer, iOS 17+.
- A Mac to act as the switcher — macOS 13+, Apple Silicon.
- One decent Wi-Fi router. Wire the Mac by Ethernet if you can — the cameras stay wireless.
Step 1 — install the two pieces
On the Mac, download Airlive Bridge — the free, open-source switcher — and drag it into Applications. On each iPhone, install Airlive Camera (free; it's coming to the App Store — the Downloads page tracks availability).
Step 2 — connect the phones
Open Airlive Camera → Live on each phone. Your Mac shows up by name — no IP addresses, no pairing codes; discovery is automatic on the local network. In Bridge, press ＋ on the channel rail and each phone appears as a channel with a live thumbnail.
Mixing sources — Blackmagic Camera and other apps
Channels don't all have to run Airlive Camera. Bridge also takes Screen Mirroring channels: any iPhone mirrors its screen over AirPlay, so any camera app — including Blackmagic Camera — drops into the same multiview next to your Airlive channels (full walkthrough here). Airlive Camera channels come with tally and remote control built in; a mirrored phone picks those up too when it runs the Airlive control channel alongside.
Step 3 — multiview and switching
Every camera sits in the multiview. Click a tile to put it on Preview, then CUT — button, spacebar, or double-click — to take it to Program. It behaves like a hardware switcher, because that's what it is, minus the hardware.
Step 4 — tally and remote control
The moment you cut, every phone knows its state: green when it's cued next, red when it's on air. Operators stop guessing, and talent knows where to look. From the Mac you can also adjust each camera's ISO, shutter, white balance and zoom — the ranges match what each device can actually do.
Bridge remote-control panel for one camera (ISO, shutter, WB, zoom).
There's a whole post on why tally matters — a tally light on a phone — and one on running four cameras as a single operator.
Step 5 — route the program out
Whatever is on Program leaves Bridge through every output you enable: the OBS source (via the free plugin), NDI®, SRT, RTSP, or clean HDMI/AirPlay to a second screen. The phones just send their feed to the Mac — Bridge does the distribution. Details per output live in this guide.
Tips for a stable Wi-Fi multicam
- Give the production its own router or SSID — don't share the venue's guest network.
- Wire the Mac with Ethernet; keep only the cameras on Wi-Fi.
- Prefer 5 GHz, keep phones within sane range of the access point.
- Set the same latency preset on every camera so the multicam stays in sync — here's why fixed latency matters.
FAQ
How many cameras can I connect? The limit is your network, not the app — a solid router handles more phones than most productions need.
What's the delay? You pick it: latency presets go from Unbuffered to Smooth. The point isn't "as low as possible" — it's the same, fixed delay on every camera, so cuts stay in sync.
What does it cost? The camera app, Bridge and the OBS plugins are free. A $15 one-time purchase removes the watermark from the live stream; recordings never have one.