Guide · OBS

iPhone as an OBS camera — 60-second setup, no subscription.

A wireless iPhone camera source in OBS Studio in about a minute: free plugin, auto-discovery on your LAN, no NDI® license, no subscription, no capture card.

Airlive team 4 min read

Install once

  1. You need OBS 30+ on macOS 14+.
  2. Download Airlive Camera for OBS (free, open-source). Quit OBS, run the PKG, relaunch OBS.
  3. On the iPhone (11 or newer, iOS 17+): install Airlive Camera — free on the App Store.

Add the source — the 60 seconds

  1. In OBS: Sources → + → Airlive Camera.
  2. On the iPhone: Airlive Camera → Live → pick your Mac. Discovery is automatic on the same network — no IPs, no pairing.
  3. The feed appears in the scene. That's the setup.
The 60 seconds, start to finish — add the source, pick the Mac, you're live.

Dial it in

Open the source's Properties. The two settings that matter:

Latency preset — from Unbuffered to Safe. Lower is snappier; a higher rung rides out Wi-Fi hiccups. In the plugin this is a property of each source, so if you run several cameras, keep the rung identical on all of them — here's why fixed latency beats "as fast as possible".

Remote control — tally, lens and exposure for the connected phone, right from the source properties. You can also set a receiver password so only your phones can connect.

Screenshot · 16:9 · 2560×1440

OBS source Properties: latency preset, quality, remote control.

Tally, straight from OBS

The phone knows its on-air state — the operator sees it on screen the moment the source goes live. No glancing at the monitor to check. More on why that matters: a tally light on a phone.

Troubleshooting

  1. The source isn't in the + menu — OBS wasn't restarted after the install. Quit fully and reopen.
  2. The phone doesn't see the Mac — both must be on the same network, and it must allow local discovery (guest/hotel Wi-Fi often blocks it).
  3. Stutter — step the preset up a rung, or move the router closer. Wire the Mac by Ethernet if you can.

FAQ

What about latency? You choose it with the preset. The useful property isn't "lowest ever" — it's a known, stable delay you can mix audio against.

Do I need Airlive Bridge? No — the plugin connects phones to OBS directly. Bridge is for multicam switching before OBS, with a multiview and CUT; it needs no plugin at all, because it publishes its program as a virtual camera.

Windows? Not yet — the receivers are Mac-first today. That's the honest answer.

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