Belkin’s MagSafe Continuity Digicam mount is a straightforward webcam improve

Belkin’s iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Notebooks has a nasty identify however is an excellent accent. It helps you to clip your iPhone onto your laptop computer so you may make use of macOS Ventura and iOS 16’s Continuity Camera feature, which turns your telephone right into a webcam that completely crushes just about something that’s constructed into MacBooks lately. And if that was all it did, I’d nonetheless be proud of it — however its design and options are what actually make it price contemplating, despite the fact that there’s already a flood of other accessories meant to do the identical job.

Utilizing the mount to show your telephone right into a webcam is simple: you magnetically snap it on, flip out a bit of foot with Belkin’s brand on it, and relaxation it on high of your laptop. Then you definitely simply select your iPhone because the digicam in no matter video chat app you’re utilizing. It’s a fairly easy mechanism that works effectively, and since the mount is round, you may connect your telephone in both portrait or panorama mode.

Its versatile form does, nevertheless, imply that there’s not that additional stabilizing magnet on the backside like some other MagSafe accessories have. That most likely received’t trigger a energy downside; my iPhone 12 Mini by no means slid off Belkin’s mount or something, even once I examined it and not using a case, and none of my colleagues who’ve used the mount with greater telephones famous any points. Nevertheless it does imply that you will have to spend a second twisting the mount a tiny bit to verify your video doesn’t find yourself barely crooked.

The place the mount actually shines is its construct high quality and bonus kickstand / grip ring (sadly, the kickstand can’t actually be used if you wish to prop your telephone’s digicam up on a desk as a substitute of your laptop; it’s simply not in the suitable place). The entire thing feels very clean and stable, like a rock that’s been polished by transferring water. It’s additionally coated in a kind of grippy rubber, which feels nice and may be very unobtrusive. Once I’m utilizing it with my telephone on, the low-profile dome matches just about completely into my palm, and I barely discover it’s there. In case you really need Continuity Digicam to be helpful, it’s a must to be sure to’ve all the time obtained a mount with you. The Belkin is good sufficient that I need to maintain it on my telephone, which suggests I received’t overlook it once I depart the home.

With that stated, I don’t suppose this mount and Continuity Digicam are going to revolutionize my informal FaceTimes or Discord calls with family and friends for one easy cause: when my laptop computer is definitely on my lap, placing a telephone on the high of the lid makes it very tippy, even with my mini telephone. Once I was utilizing it with my legs crossed, it my laptop computer would simply fall over and yeet my telephone throughout the room if I didn’t catch it. Even when I’ve obtained my arm on the palm relaxation, it solely takes the slightest bump for the load of the telephone to tug my 13-inch MacBook Professional’s display screen again to its most open place, often leading to a really unflattering angle (and maybe an uncomfortable quantity of power on my show?).

To be clear, this most likely received’t be an issue on a desk until you’re utilizing the diminutive 12-inch MacBook. One in all my co-workers stated that his MacBook Air was completely secure when sitting on a desk with an iPhone 13 hooked up to it, and the identical was true for one more co-worker who used the mount with a Professional Max and 16-inch MacBook Professional. Nevertheless it does imply that I’ll most likely solely use this accent for extra formal video calls the place I’ll be at a desk or counter fairly than the way more frequent ones that I do from the sofa. That’s not Belkin’s fault; it’s simply physics, and actually, I don’t suppose my mother or sister are going to thoughts seeing me in fuzzy 720p (or, at the least, I haven’t gotten any complaints previously few years).

Even with this limitation, I nonetheless really feel just like the Belkin mount is price its $29.95 price ticket for anybody who cares what they seem like on video, has an iPhone, and plans on upgrading to macOS Ventura when it comes out on Monday (and who doesn’t want the hassle of establishing a devoted digicam / tripod / gentle).

Nonetheless, in the event you largely work from a desk with a monitor, it might be price ready for the desktop model, which Belkin says will allow you to tilt your telephone to reframe the shot. That model is “coming quickly,” in keeping with Belkin’s press release, although it doesn’t point out whether or not it’ll function some kind of energy supply that’s extra elegant than simply plugging your telephone in utilizing a Lightning cable. That kind of function wouldn’t make sense on the transportable model, but it surely’d most likely be a pleasant add for individuals who are in conferences all day lengthy.