Show a clean feed on a monitor or AirPlay screen

Turn on External monitor in Settings, then connect a monitor with a cable or choose an AirPlay screen. The monitor shows the frame, or the whole picture with the frame marked, and your iPhone or iPad keeps every control.

The director, the client or the operator can watch the shot on a bigger screen while you frame on the iPhone or iPad. The monitor gets the picture without the app's buttons, guides or sun path; those stay on your device. It works on iPhone and iPad.

Open Settings and turn on External monitor. The line under the switch names the connected display and its resolution, or reads Not connected.
Connect a monitor with a cable, for example an HDMI monitor through a USB-C display adapter. For an AirPlay screen such as an Apple TV, tap AirPlay… in the same section and pick it, or start Screen Mirroring from Control Center.
Go back to the viewfinder. The picture appears on the monitor and follows every change of camera, mode, lens and aspect.

What the monitor shows

Under Feed, pick one of two:

Frame only, the default: the framed picture with black around it, the same frame as on your device.
Full picture: the live picture out to the edges of the monitor, dimmed outside the frame, with the frame drawn as lines in your line color and width. It suits an operator who wants to see what is about to walk into shot. The frame stays in the same place in both.

The look you have on is on the monitor too. Where the phone's cameras cannot see as wide as the frame, the monitor shows the same placeholder color as your device. A 9:16 frame stands upright on a wide monitor, with black either side.

The lower third

Lower third is on to start with. Its first line names the camera, the recording mode, the lens and the aspect, and on a vertical frame whether it is Extract or Rotated. Its second line gives the field of view, the depth of field and the hyperfocal distance, in the units chosen in Settings, and it follows focus as you change it. When there is black under the picture, the band sits there; when there is none, it sits over the bottom of the picture on a dark strip. Turn it off for the picture alone.

The recording tally

While a take is recording, a red dot and REC with the running time show in the top right corner of the monitor. The time is the one beside your record button, and the tally goes the moment the take stops.

Overscan

If the monitor crops the edges of the picture, choose 2, 4, 6 or 8 percent under Overscan. The picture, the lower third and the tally move in together. Most current monitors need 0.

When there is no picture

Until the picture arrives, the monitor shows the frame's outline on black with WAITING FOR THE VIEWFINDER inside it. It does the same after you sign out or while the camera is not allowed, so a frozen shot is never left on the screen.

Turn External monitor off and the monitor goes back to what iOS shows there; Settings still names the display, followed by off.

Good to know

One monitor at a time. On an iPad with two Viewfinder windows, the feed comes from the window that holds the viewfinder.
These settings stay on this device. They are not part of a favorite.

If that didn't work

If the line under External monitor reads Not connected, reconnect the cable or adapter, or choose the AirPlay screen again, with Viewfinder open on the viewfinder.
If it reads Needs an app update for this iOS version, update Viewfinder from the App Store.
If the monitor stays on WAITING FOR THE VIEWFINDER, go back to the viewfinder and check that the camera is allowed: see no live picture in the viewfinder.

Updated November 2, 2026