How to Make a Teleprompter at Home (or Skip the Build)
A teleprompter is really just a piece of angled glass that reflects a script up into the camera's line of sight. You can build one at home for the price of a picture frame — or get most of the benefit with nothing but the phone in your hand. Here's both.
How a teleprompter actually works
A broadcast teleprompter uses a beam-splitter: a piece of two-way glass angled at 45°. Your script displays on a screen lying flat below it; the glass reflects that text up so it appears to float in front of the lens, while the camera behind the glass films straight through it. The result is that the presenter reads text that sits *directly on the lens's axis* — so they look right at the audience.
Build a simple DIY teleprompter
- Get a piece of clear acrylic or glass and a small frame or box to hold it at a 45° angle above a flat surface.
- Lay your phone flat, screen up, below the glass, running a prompter app.
- Position your camera (a second phone or a dedicated camera) behind the glass, looking through it at you.
- Turn on mirror mode in the prompter app so the reflected text reads the right way round.
- Line everything up so the reflected script appears centered on your camera's lens.
The one thing every DIY rig needs from software is mirror mode — because the beam-splitter flips the text, the app has to flip it back so it reads correctly in the reflection. Make sure your prompter app can mirror the on-screen text.
Or skip the build entirely
A rig exists to solve one problem: on a separate monitor, the text and the lens aren't in the same place. When you film on your phone, they already are — the script scrolls on the same screen that holds the camera, so your reading eye line is right next to the lens. For most talking-head, YouTube and short-form video, that's all the eye contact you need, with no glass, no second device, and no alignment fuss.
So the honest answer to 'how do I make a teleprompter at home' is often: you don't have to. If you want the polished broadcast look with a real rig, mirror mode makes it work. If you just want to read your lines and look at the camera, your phone alone does it — and if it records at the same time, you're filming and prompting in one move.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to make a teleprompter at home?
A piece of clear glass or acrylic at a 45° angle, a phone below it running a prompter app with mirror mode on, and a camera behind the glass. That's the whole rig.
Do I even need a rig?
Not for phone video. Because the script scrolls on the same screen as the camera, your eye line is already at the lens. A beam-splitter rig is for using a separate camera and monitor.
Why does a DIY teleprompter need mirror mode?
The beam-splitter reflects the text, which flips it. Mirror mode flips the on-screen text back so it reads correctly in the reflection — while the recorded video stays upright.