A good setup.
A clearer view of progress.

No. Capture records on iPhone on its own. Add optional paid Monitor service to check progress and images remotely and receive alerts. Creator is a separate Mac app for organizing photos and making the finished video; its local workflow does not require a monitoring subscription.

Connect the iPhone to your Mac and copy the session folder through Finder, then import that folder into Creator. Creator makes verified local copies of the photos and capture metadata. Importing does not automatically sync your cloud sessions or delete the source folder. Creator can also import your own supported photo folders.

1. Mount the phone securely and check the framing and focus of each selected lens.
2. Connect reliable power. Leave room for ventilation and protect the installation from direct sun, moisture and excessive heat.
3. Keep the capture app open in the foreground. Its dark capture screen is intentional; it is not the iPhone’s lock screen.
4. Enable a suitable Focus or Do Not Disturb mode. Review allowed contacts, apps and repeated-call exceptions. Focus helps reduce interruptions but does not guarantee calls or system events cannot interrupt capture.
5. Run a test with your intended settings, power, network and installation conditions. Check sample images, timestamps and monitoring before leaving the phone unattended.

We are continuing long-duration and interruption testing. Model-specific guidance will be refined as those checks are completed.

Keep Timelapse Capture open while the session is running. iOS can suspend camera access when the app is backgrounded or the phone is locked. Use the app’s dimmed capture screen rather than pressing the phone’s lock button. Monitoring cannot wake a terminated app or unlock your phone.

Local capture does not require an internet connection. Remote monitoring and transfers need Wi-Fi or your own active cellular connection. Cellular plans are not purchased or activated inside Timelapse Capture.

Plan for continuous power and a ventilated, protected installation. A warm phone may limit camera performance or interrupt capture. Timelapse Capture does not make an iPhone weatherproof, and remote monitoring cannot prevent a power failure or restart the capture app after every interruption. Test the actual installation before a long project.

A dedicated capture phone is helpful. Use Focus or Do Not Disturb, review exceptions, and avoid unnecessary interaction during the session. Test incoming calls and other likely interruptions on your particular phone before relying on the setup. Keep internet access available if you want monitoring and alerts.

Available lenses, resolutions, exposure ranges and performance depend on the device. We will publish the supported iPhone and iOS list after compatibility testing; not every iPhone offers ultra-wide, wide and telephoto cameras.

Select the lenses you want to use. Each lens records its own sequence with independent camera settings. The app captures the selected lenses sequentially within each capture cycle; exposures are not perfectly simultaneous. Leave enough time in the interval for all selected lenses to expose and save their images.

Adjust ISO, shutter, white balance and focus for each supported lens while reviewing its framing. Settings and exposure limits vary by camera and resolution. Aperture is fixed on current supported hardware unless the device and camera API provide adjustable aperture control.

Yes. Review images by lens, create a video at your chosen available resolution and frame rate, preview it, and share your export. Export limits depend on the phone, source resolution and supported video encoder. Keep your originals backed up for further editing.

Originals are recorded on the capture phone. Monitoring previews provide a smaller view for remote checks. Optional full-resolution transfers let you bring selected originals into cloud storage; transferred originals count toward both upload and storage allowances. Keep an independent backup of important work.

Sign in at timelapsecapture.com in a browser to see connected capture phones, last-confirmed session status, recent previews, battery and charging information, thermal state and available storage when reported. Select a lens to review its images and play a quick preview of the sequence so far.

In the app’s Monitor tab, enable “Allow remote control on this iPhone.” This gives your connected account permission to start the camera remotely while the app is open in the foreground. There is no separate waiting screen: the dashboard shows Available when the phone is ready to receive a start. On the website, choose the lenses, capture interval, preview-upload frequency and Continuous, Scheduled or Day Arc timing before starting. Continuous supports a chosen start time and optional duration; Scheduled and Day Arc use start/end dates and selected weekdays. Choose Auto or Manual for each lens. Manual exposes exposure, ISO, shutter, focus and white balance controls, each retaining its individual automatic options. Click the framing image to select a focus point, then refresh framing to apply changes and check the result. Photo format and resolution use the phone’s saved settings. Every restart creates a separate session, preserving earlier recordings.

1. Keep the app open, with reliable power, internet and ventilation. The enabled setting prevents automatic idle locking.
2. Use Focus or Do Not Disturb and review exceptions. Turn off Low Power Mode and test your installation before leaving it unattended.
3. Do not lock the phone or close the app. Remote control cannot unlock the device, run the camera in the background or launch a closed app. Returning to the foreground restores availability when the setting remains enabled and the phone is otherwise ready.
4. Turn off “Allow remote control on this iPhone” when the installation is finished to restore normal idle locking outside capture.

Wait for the phone’s confirmation after sending a start or stop command. An internet connection alone does not guarantee camera availability. An interrupted session may need local attention before another session can start.

In Profile & settings → Screen & device setup, choose whether to dim automatically, the delay during capture or standby, the fade duration and dimmed brightness. Defaults are twenty seconds during capture, three minutes on standby and a ten-second fade. A moving red recording indicator remains visible during capture. Tap to reveal controls. The app prevents automatic locking during capture and while remote control is available, but cannot prevent manual locking or keep the camera running in the background. Dimming reduces display power use; capture still uses power and generates heat.

Yes. Leave “Monitor this time lapse remotely” off when setting up the session. Photos stay on the phone and that session does not upload monitoring previews. Enabling remote monitoring requires a connected account with active monitoring access.

Choose Start new remote time lapse to open setup and request a fresh framing snapshot from each available lens. The form opens while the photos load. Each snapshot shows its capture timestamp; use Refresh framing photos if you need a newer view. These are still photos, not a live stream, and do not become part of a time-lapse session. The phone must be idle, online and open in the app with remote control enabled. Snapshot uploads count toward monitoring usage; older framing snapshots are replaced.

No. Monitoring previews are uploaded captured images, with capture and upload timestamps. Device status also reflects the most recent report. Use those timestamps and the last-contact indicator to judge how current your view is.

Local capture can continue while the phone remains powered and the app is operating. The dashboard marks contact as delayed or unreachable; it cannot confirm new capture activity while the phone is offline. Queued preview uploads retry after the phone reconnects.

You can enable alerts for lost contact, low storage and capture errors, plus recovery notices. Delivery depends on reporting, the monitoring service and email delivery. An alert helps you decide when to check the installation; it cannot prevent every interruption or guarantee an uninterrupted session.

Yes. Monitoring plans are based on data allowances rather than a phone limit. Each capture phone connects to your account, and you can select the phone, session and lens you want to review.

The iPhone capture app is free. Remote monitoring is an optional paid service with monthly or yearly plans. Yearly pricing is the cost of ten monthly payments. Connected phone count is unlimited; upload and cloud storage allowances depend on your plan.

New previews and original-photo transfers consume upload allowance. Files retained in the cloud—including originals and video exports—consume storage. Viewing and downloading files already in the cloud do not consume upload allowance. The pricing planner helps estimate your needs before choosing a plan.

New image uploads pause when an allowance is reached. Local capture and access to existing cloud projects continue. You can choose additional data or a larger plan; paid overages are not added automatically. Usage warnings are planned at 80% and 90% so you can decide before reaching the limit.

Timelapse Capture is in private testing while we prepare the App Store release and paid monitoring launch. Existing pilot users can sign in. Public signup and the App Store download will open here when available.

Local capture works without an account. Session monitoring uploads smaller previews; original photos stay on the phone unless you request a transfer. A connected phone also reports device status, and remote framing requests upload snapshots. Sign out to disconnect that phone. Read our privacy policy for account data, providers and retention details.

Sign in from the capture app’s Monitor tab and the phone connects to that account automatically. You can rename it there. The Monitor tab shows connection, plan and usage; use the web dashboard to view projects and control capture. Stop recording before switching accounts, and confirm the destination account and phone connection before enabling monitoring.

Choose Download originals for the selected project. Check the phone’s reported transfer size, start the cloud transfer, and watch the completed-photo count. Once all requested originals arrive, download the ZIP archive (large projects may use multiple parts). Files include project, lens and padded sequence numbers. Create video uses uploaded monitoring previews or supported uploaded originals, with resolution, frame rate, crop and day-transition settings. Each camera exports separately.

Use Account access → Delete account to verify your identity and submit an account-deletion request. Private-test requests are processed manually, normally within 30 days, with email confirmation. Contact support for help with a specific project. Automatic subscription-expiry deletion is currently disabled in private testing; see the privacy policy. Removing cloud data does not remove independent local copies.

On October 13, 2026, one iPhone 15 Pro remained available overnight, returned fresh framing snapshots, completed a five-minute remote recording, then started and completed a second recording without phone interaction. This is a limited test on one device, not a guarantee for every setup. Internet-outage recovery, longer recording and other devices still need testing.