An autocue app for iPhone

"Autocue" is what much of the UK, Ireland, and Australia call a teleprompter, after the company that made the first widely used ones. If you are looking for an autocue on your phone, any iPhone teleprompter app does the job. Here is what to look for and how to set one up with Rolltake, which is free.

Autocue is a trademark of Videndum, which publishes its own Autocue Prompter app. Rolltake has no connection with Autocue or Videndum; this page uses the word in its everyday sense.

What an autocue app on a phone needs

A reading line near the lens. On a phone the camera is at the top edge, so the line you read should sit just under it. Rolltake's Top position puts it there. The closer the line is to the lens, the less your eyes appear to move.

Speed you can change while you talk. Rolltake has ten speed steps from 70 to 660 words per minute, with 220 as the default, and you can step it up or down mid-read from the screen or a remote.

A way to record. If the phone is also the camera, the autocue and the recording should be one app. Rolltake records the front camera while the script scrolls and keeps the text out of the video. Recordings save at the camera's full resolution with no watermark.

Mirror mode for glass rigs. A hood with beam-splitter glass, the classic autocue setup, needs the text flipped. Rolltake has horizontal and vertical flip.

Remote control. A presenter should not touch the phone. Rolltake works with Neewer-style Bluetooth teleprompter remotes, presentation clickers, page-turner rings and pedals, keyboards, and game controllers.

Setting up Rolltake as an autocue

Paste it, import a .txt or .md file, or share text from Mail, Notes, or ChatGPT straight to Rolltake (see sending a script from ChatGPT).

Pick a theme (Classic, Amber, Green, Paper, or Night) and a typeface (Sans, Serif, Rounded, or Mono). Pull the margins in until each line holds one phrase. Amber and Green on black mimic the look of studio prompters and are easy on the eyes under lights.

For phone-camera recording, use Top. In a glass rig, move the line to where the lens sits behind the glass and turn on Mirror.

The countdown gives you a beat before the first line moves. Start at 220 words per minute and adjust during a rehearsal pass; the speed guide has a two-minute calibration.

Turn on the camera in the prompter to record on the phone, or leave it off and use Rolltake as the autocue for a mirrorless camera in a hood.

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Phone autocue or a glass rig?

If the iPhone is your camera, you do not need glass. The reading line sits a few millimetres from the lens and viewers cannot tell. A beam-splitter rig earns its weight when a separate camera does the shooting, because it puts the words directly over that camera's lens. The beam-splitter setup guide covers mirror mode, alignment, and reflections.

Frequently asked questions

A teleprompter app. Autocue is a brand name that became a common word for teleprompters, especially in the UK and Australia.

Rolltake is free to download with no ads, no account, and no in-app purchases right now. Recordings save at the camera's full resolution with no watermark.

Yes. Turn on Mirror in the prompter's display settings, and Vertical flip if your rig holds the phone the other way up.

No. Rolltake is an independent app with no connection to Autocue or Videndum.