Connecting the Continuity Camera of your iPhone or iPad to the app

1. Position the camera oriented in landscape mode (horizontally) with the back camera(s) facing you

2. Wait for a green circle to appear and the countdown will start: 3,2,1. It can take a few seconds for this countdown to appear.

3. However, should it not appear, select Skip this step

4. If the view is stuck or if you missed the Continuity Camera prompt on iPhone / iPad, just hit the back button on the Apple TV Siri Remote and select again your iCloud user name. You will be prompted again on your iPhone / iPad to connect the camera.

If you cannot connect the Continuity Camera of your iPhone or iPad to the app

1. Check that your iPhone or iPad is connected to WiFi and that it is on the same WiFi network as your Apple TV

2. If you still can’t connect, restart Apple TV by going to Settings > System > Restart

3. If you still can’t connect, restart your iPhone or iPad

If you don’t see anyone appearing on the screen

Make sure the back camera of iPhone / iPad is pointing toward you. Sometimes, the Continuity Camera of your iPhone will disconnect. In that case, click on the Continuity Device Picker button at the bottom right of the Shoot tab.

Accessing Center Stage settings in the Control Center of your Apple TV

1. Open the Control Center by long pressing on the TV button of the Apple TV Siri Remote

2. Swipe twice to the left to display the Continuity Camera settings (these appear only when a Continuity Camera device is connected to Apple TV)

Keeping your devices in sync

Since Family Studio leverages the Continuity Camera feature of iOS / iPadOS and tvOS, it is best to keep your versions of these operating systems in sync, e.g use iOS 26 / iPadOS 26 with tvOS 26.

Video recording auto stop

When you switch to another app on your Apple TV while a video recording is in progress, the recording will automatically stop and the video will be saved in your Photos library on iCloud. This is because apps are not allowed by tvOS to access the camera while in the background.

Auto saving to the Photos Library

When you take a photo or finish recording a video, it will be saved to your Photos library. You may launch the Photos app to see them after a while due to iCloud syncing.

For best picture quality

Don’t forget to have good lighting in the room as it affects the quality of the photos and videos you shoot

Using your own photos as backdrop: best results

When you use one of your photos as a background, prefer an image of a resolution of 1920 x 1080 px (2K) or 3830 x 2160 px (4K) or at least with a similar ratio. Also, it should be an image with some ground or floor in the foreground.

Controls available in full screen mode

In full screen mode, the shutter button is not visible in order to make space for the content. However, you can still take a snapshot or start / stop recording a video by pressing the Play / Pause button on the Apple TV remote.

If you don't see a user or list of users in the Profile Picker

If you only see a QR code and no user to select in the profile picker, long press the TV button on your Siri Remote, swipe right and switch user in the Control Center. Then switch back to your user and it should appear in the profile picker in the app.