'It's a lot of fun': Blackmagic just turned the Apple Watch into the ultimate remote for iPhone filming

• Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 is now available from the App Store
• The update adds Apple Watch camera controls and monitoring of iPhone footage
• New features also include support for ATEM camera controls

Blackmagic Design, the company behind the popular DaVinci Resolve editing software, has launched a big update to its Blackmagic Camera for iOS app.

Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 brings a host of new functions and features - but the highlight for me is the ability to monitor and control the camera using your Apple Watch.

It also brings ATEM camera control for anyone using their Apple device as a live studio camera.

What's new?

The Blackmagic Camera app adds camera controls and image processing, effectively giving iPhones and iPads the ability to recreate a cinematic style of a high-end film camera using mobile devices.

The newly updated companion app gives you control and monitor what the iPhone is filming directly from your Apple Watch.

Blackmagic Design says this lets users "monitor framing and audio levels, start and stop recording and adjust key settings including exposure, focus and LUTs." You can also switch lenses and control the zoom.

All useful stuff, which the company said is "perfect for situations where an iPhone is mounted out of reach or in a position where physically touching it would cause camera shake."

In a press release, Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, said: “We really want to help everyone use their iPhones in professional productions and to come up with new ways that the iPhone can be used. The Apple Watch companion app does that because it means you can mount an iPhone anywhere and still have full control of it from your wrist.

On top of that, the app also now adds support for ATEM camera control, which allows the iPhone to be "used as a live studio camera."

Hook up the phone to the company's ProDock, and it also offers Blackmagic Focus and Zoom Demands.

Petty called this "the most exciting feature," adding that ATEM camera control support, "means you can use the iPhone as a studio camera while holding onto the tripod handles to focus and zoom. It's a real studio camera and it's a lot of fun."

You can download the free Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 from the App Store by clicking here.

All the features added to version 3.3 - Patch notes via Blackmagic Design

• Camera control and monitoring with companion app for Apple Watch.
• Support for ATEM camera control with Blackmagic Camera ProDock.
• Support for Blackmagic Focus and Zoom Demands with Blackmagic Camera ProDock.
• Support for full screen portrait mode HDMI output.
• Front camera now supports portrait and landscape without rotation for iPhone 17.
• Support for ProRes RAW stabilization in iOS 26.1 and above.
• General performance and stability improvements.

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