Tutorial
How to remove your background while recording on iPhone
Face Mode removes your background on-device and overlays just your face on the rear-camera footage, no green screen.
TL;DR
To remove your background while recording on iPhone, open SplitRig, switch to Face Mode in the layout picker, and tap record. SplitRig removes your background from the front camera, entirely on your iPhone, and overlays just your face over the rear camera in real time: no chroma key, no green screen, baked into the saved video.
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What Face Mode actually does
Face Mode separates you from whatever is behind you on the front camera, entirely on your iPhone, and places just your head and shoulders over the rear-camera scene. It happens live as you record, with no green screen and no editing step.
The cut-out is clean, with no noticeable lag: the background removal runs at the same time as the recording, so it never slows the capture down.
How to use it
- Open SplitRig.
- Tap the layout picker (the icon at the bottom-right of the control tray).
- Choose Face Mode.
- Position yourself. The front camera now shows only your head and shoulders over the rear scene.
- Tap record. The composite is baked into the saved video.
Tips that actually work
- Light your face evenly. The cut-out can soften at the edge between your hair and a similarly-colored background. A direct front light helps.
- Stay 60–120 cm from the front camera. Closer than that, parts of your face go off-frame. Further, there is less for the background removal to work with.
- Plain backgrounds aren't required, but a busy background helps the contrast and produces a sharper cutout.
- Avoid glasses with thick frames. Thick-rim glasses can occasionally soften the cut-out at the temples.
Why on-device matters
Cloud-based "remove background" services exist, but they require uploading every frame to a server. That's slow, expensive, and a privacy risk. SplitRig's background removal runs entirely on your iPhone: no frames leave the device, ever. Your footage is yours.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove the background while recording video on iPhone?
Use SplitRig's Face Mode. The iPhone's Neural Engine removes your background from the front camera and overlays just your face onto the rear camera feed in real time, baked into the recording, no green screen needed.
Can I switch out of Face Mode mid-recording?
Yes. The layout picker works during recording. Switching modes does not interrupt the file.
Does Face Mode work on iPhone 11?
Yes, Face Mode background removal works on every iPhone SplitRig supports (iPhone 11 and up), and it runs faster on iPhone 13 and later thanks to the more powerful hardware.