FrontBack
Price: 99p (inc VAT) from fave.co/32khDC3
Smartphone cameras are great for documenting life’s precious moments to replay them over and over again in the years to come. With a front-facing camera, it’s even possible to put yourself in the action, although video selfies come with inherent limitations. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to
shoot high-quality video from the back camera while capturing your reaction from the front camera at the same time?
That’s exactly what Camera FrontBack is designed to do. This 99p app combines live video from the front and rear cameras at the same time in a single movie, allowing iPhone owners to put themselves into the action while
simultaneously recording high-quality video from a camera on the back of the device. The app superimposes video taken with the front camera on top of what’s being recorded with the Wide or Ultra Wide lens on the back. This rectangular picture-in-picture window can be moved anywhere on the screen with your finger, or changed to a circle instead with a double-tap.
Camera FrontBack also works in reverse, putting your own mug front and centre while subjects shot with the rear camera appear picture-inpicture instead. The PiP window can be reduced or enlarged with a pinch, anywhere from 1/16 (the default size) up to one-quarter of the screen.
LIMITS AND BONUS FEATURES
One thing missing from many third-party camera apps is the ability to use the iPhone volume buttons to start or stop recording. Sadly, Camera FrontBack also eschews this convenience, meaning that recording can only be performed by tapping the on-screen shutter button. There’s also no split-screen mode, which would come in handy for professional users.
The app gets other things right: There’s a manual toggle to light up the rear LED flash during darker scenes, as well as options to switch between Wide and Ultra Wide lenses
on supported hardware. Curiously, Telephoto mode is not supported. Camera FrontBack requires recent hardware, specifically iPhone XR or later, including all iPhone 11 models.
Hidden in the settings are toggle switches to retain the current size and placement of the PiP window next time you launch the app, as well as enable pinch-to-zoom for the rear camera, a feature still in beta but which worked well in our tests. Finally, you can change the app icon to Classic or Neon.
VERDICT
A neat way to keep yourself in the action while shooting video with an iPhone, all in real time.