Remote Viewfinder

Transit Now - Bus & Bike

About this app

Remote Viewfinder puts your phone's camera on your wrist — the live view AND the shutter — while you keep using the camera app you already know.

Most watch camera remotes only drive their own bare-bones camera. Remote Viewfinder drives your phone's real camera app: Samsung Camera, Google Camera, whatever you normally shoot with. Every mode, every setting, every bit of image processing you already rely on stays exactly as it is.

HOW IT WORKS

Start a session from your watch. Your phone asks once for permission to share the camera app's screen, then streams the live viewfinder to your wrist. Tap the big circle on the watch to fire the shutter — the watch acts as a Bluetooth camera remote, the same way a selfie-stick clicker does, so the phone's camera app takes the shot natively.

ON A BIGGER SCREEN

Want more than a wrist-sized view? Open the phone app, tap Start, and scan the QR code with a tablet, laptop or another phone on the same Wi-Fi network. The live camera view plays in its web browser, sharp enough to check focus. Nothing to install on that device, and no watch needed for this part.

Nothing goes to the internet. The stream travels only between your own devices. There is no account, no cloud, no analytics.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• See a live viewfinder on your watch, so you can frame a shot from across the room
• Watch the camera live on an iPad, laptop or any browser on your Wi-Fi
• Fire the shutter — or start and stop video recording — from your wrist
• Start straight into photo mode, video mode, or whatever mode your camera was last in (Pro, Pro Video, Portrait, Night — anything your camera app offers)
• Group photos, tripod shots, wildlife, long-exposure setups, solo video: anything where you need to be away from the phone but still need to see the frame

WHAT YOU NEED

• An Android 11 phone or newer
• For the watch viewfinder and shutter: a Wear OS 3.0 watch or newer paired to the phone over Bluetooth, with Remote Viewfinder installed on both
• For the browser view: any device with a modern web browser on the same Wi-Fi network as the phone
• A camera app whose volume keys take a picture. This is the default on virtually every phone; on Samsung it is Camera settings > "Volume key function" > "Take picture/Record video"

HONEST LIMITATIONS — PLEASE READ

• Android requires you to tap "Start" on the phone's screen-share prompt at the start of EVERY session. This is an operating-system anti-spyware rule and no app can skip it. Sessions start from the watch, but that one tap on the phone is unavoidable.
• The watch viewfinder runs at roughly 3 frames per second over Bluetooth. It is for framing your shot, not for judging critical focus. The browser view is smooth video, but it is a viewer: start and stop recording from the watch or the phone.
• The browser stream is sent over your Wi-Fi without encryption, protected by a private link only your phone shows. Use it on networks you trust.
• The session ends when your phone's screen locks. The app holds the screen awake while a session is running.
• The shutter works by sending a Volume-Up press over Bluetooth, exactly like a camera remote. If your camera app has volume keys set to zoom instead of shutter, change that setting first.

Your camera view never reaches the developer or any server.

What’s new

• Live viewfinder from your phone's camera app, on your watch or in any browser on your Wi-Fi (scan the QR code in the phone app)
• Shutter and video start/stop from the wrist over Bluetooth
• Photo, video, and last-used-mode sessions (Pro, Pro Video, Portrait, ...)
• Watch app adapts to large font sizes
• No account, no cloud, no analytics