Home / Articles / Four iPhones and an iPad: how my brother filmed a three-camera music video with old phones synced live to Final Cut Pro, a feature Apple shipped in 2024 that he found by accident

Four iPhones and an iPad: how my brother filmed a three-camera music video with old phones synced live to Final Cut Pro, a feature Apple shipped in 2024 that he found by accident

By Dinis Cruz · 2026-11-02 · article v1.0.0 · newsroom v0.14.32 · videofinal-cut-proipadiphonemulticammusicianscreatorsapplearticle

Abstract: My brother Gabriel DaCruz filmed his Separate Ways synth video from three angles at once, with no camera crew: two second-hand iPhone 12s and an iPhone 13, bought because they were cheap and he only needed the cameras, connected wirelessly to an iPad running Final Cut Pro. The iPad shows every angle live, controls each camera and records them already in sync; then he moved the project to Final Cut Pro on his Mac to finish it. The feature is Live Multicam, which Apple released in June 2024 with Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.0 and a free Final Cut Camera app. It takes up to four angles, the iPad itself can be one of them, and Apple says it works with iPhones from the XS onwards. Gabriel, who knows this world well, found it by accident and was blown away. Coverage was heavy at launch and thin since. If a working producer had not heard of it, plenty of musicians, teachers and small venues have not either. This is the setup, what it needs, and what it is good for, from interviews to a live show.

In short

• Gabriel filmed a three-camera video with three old iPhones and an iPad, in one take, already in sync.
• The feature is Live Multicam, in Final Cut Pro for iPad, released by Apple on 20 June 2024.
• Up to four angles, and the iPad's own camera can be one of them.
• The phones run Final Cut Camera, a free app; Apple lists the iPhone XS or later.
• Each phone records its own full-quality file, which transfers to the iPad afterwards.
• The project moves to Final Cut Pro on the Mac for the edit.
• He found it by accident, which suggests a lot of people who could use it do not know it exists.

How he found it

This came out while Gabriel was explaining something else, the synth part in his Separate Ways video. I asked about the three cameras, expecting a story about editing. Instead: "I discovered that the Final Cut Pro in iPads, there's something that is called Live. So you can actually, I have several iPhones, use the camera. And if you connect all those iPhones to the iPads, you will do like a live show." And then: "I discovered by accident." "When I discovered this, I was blown away."

He bought old phones on purpose: two iPhone 12s and an iPhone 13, "because they were cheaper, and I just needed the camera".

What it is

Apple announced Live Multicam in May 2024 and released it on 20 June 2024, in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.0, together with a free app for iPhone and iPad called Final Cut Camera. In Apple's words, you can "connect up to four iPhone or iPad devices, control their settings remotely, and automatically sync all your footage".

How it works, from Apple's support pages:

• Each phone runs Final Cut Camera and connects wirelessly to the iPad running Final Cut Pro.
• The iPad shows every angle live and controls each camera's settings remotely.
• The iPad's own camera can be the fourth angle, which is exactly the maximum Gabriel described.
• Each device records its own file at full quality. The iPad works from live previews, already in sync, and the full-quality originals transfer from each phone in the background afterwards; both apps need to stay open while they transfer.
• To finish on a Mac, export the project from the iPad and import it into Final Cut Pro on the Mac.

What it needs

• Phones: Apple lists the iPhone XS or later for Final Cut Camera. Gabriel's iPhone 12s and 13 qualify, and second-hand phones of that age are cheap.
• The iPad: one that runs Final Cut Pro for iPad; Apple lists models with an M1 chip or later, or the A16 or A17 Pro.
• Software: Final Cut Camera is free. Final Cut Pro for iPad is a subscription; since January 2026 Apple sells it in its Creator Studio bundle.
• The operating systems move on: Apple's product page and the App Store listings give different minimum versions on the day I checked, so check the current listing before buying a device for it.

What it is good for

• A musician's video, like Gabriel's: the keyboard from above, the player, the instrument's panel, one take, no crew.
• An interview or a podcast: "imagine you want to do like an interview, you want to do like a live TV situation", in his words. Four angles, synced, from things many people already own.
• A small live show, a lesson or a masterclass, recorded from several angles without a video team.
• Teaching: a teacher can show hands, face and screen at once, which is most of what a student needs to see.

Why this is its own article

Apple covered it at launch, and so did the technology press, then it went quiet. I found no figures for how many people use it, so "little known" rests on one data point: a working producer with a serious studio found it by accident. My rule is that if I did not know something, there is already a universe of people who do not know it either, even if it is out there.

That is the other reason to publish what you discover at the moment you discover it. This article exists because Gabriel mentioned it in passing while explaining something else, and an agent could check it against Apple's documentation the same evening.

What this does not claim

• Gabriel's setup is as he described it on 2 November 2026; I did not test Live Multicam myself.
• Requirements and prices are Apple's, as read on 2 November 2026, and they change with each release; the minimum operating system versions conflicted between Apple's pages.
• "Little known" is an impression, from one practitioner finding it by accident and thin coverage after 2024, not a measurement.

Where this comes from

The conversation with Gabriel of 2 November 2026. Apple: the Live Multicam announcement, Final Cut Pro for iPad, connecting camera angles, transferring media from Final Cut Camera, Final Cut Camera on the App Store and Apple Creator Studio. Coverage at launch: TechCrunch and CineD's hands-on. All read 2 November 2026.

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