Camo update lets you overlay graphics and text when using your phone as a webcam

There is a new feature in Camo that could be very interesting for streamers and those who take every meeting very seriously. You can now include your social media handles or name and pronouns in your video stream, thanks to the new ability in the app.

Apple just announced a feature called Continuity Camera, which will allow you to use your phone as a camera for your Mac without having to install any additional software.

The feature is included in Thursday's 1.7 update. You can use the desktop app to pull the video from your phone to your computer and adjust the settings, but you can also change the templates. Adding text and graphics can be done with a drag-and-drop interface.

People who do a lot of presentations and haven't added any Stream Deck-like hardware to their setup will be able to switch between different overlays via keyboard shortcut. It will be possible for groups that all want their video feeds to look the same to use the export and import feature.

Open Broadcaster Software and StreamElements have allowed you to do that for a long time. It could be difficult to set that up to work with other programs. Camo claims that it's as easy to use its software with most videoconferencing apps as it is to change the camera input.

Some of the advantages of the solution are pointed out in the press release. The company says that its app is much more than Apple's Continuity Camera, with support for iPad, Windows, and other platforms, as well as a host of other features.

Some of the features, like the ability to choose which lens your phone uses, support for portrait mode, and image adjustments, require a $40 per year subscription to use them with your iPhone or iPad. It doesn't mention the convenience factor or the fact that Continuity Camera will work without a cable.

That little bit of effort will give you more flexibility than what Apple is promising. The free version of the app will include the overlays editor, according to an email from the head of marketing for the company.

This update makes it seem like the Camo team is doubling down to better serve the niche of people that will appreciate the app's extra features, since many people who have both an iPhone and Mac will likely go with the free, built in Continuity Camera. That seems to me to be the right move.