Look and Sound Better on a Phone Video Call

Nobody needs a ring light, a microphone or a new phone to look good on a video call. The difference between a call where the other person can see and hear you properly and one where they cannot is almost always four small things, and all four take less time than making a coffee.

This is the routine we would give anyone about to start a live call on their phone — on Omet's 1-on-1 video chat or anywhere else.

1. Light: face the window

Phone cameras set their exposure for the brightest thing in the frame. If that is a window behind you, the camera darkens everything to cope, and your face becomes a silhouette.

Daytime: sit facing a window, not with your back to it. Side-on is the next best thing.
Evening: put a lamp in front of you, slightly above eye level, a little behind the phone.
Avoid a single ceiling light directly above you. It puts shadows under your eyes that make everyone look tired.

2. Framing: lens at eye level

Holding a phone low and looking down into it is the least flattering angle a camera has, and it is the one most people default to. Lift the phone until the lens — not the screen — is level with your eyes.

Prop it, do not hold it. Lean it on a stack of books or a mug. A still frame is far easier to watch than one that moves every time you gesture.
Head and shoulders. In portrait, leave a little space above your head and let the frame end around your chest.
Wipe the lens. A phone lens lives in a pocket. One wipe with a soft cloth removes the haze people blame on "a bad camera".

3. Background: one tidy square metre

You do not need a nice room. You need the small patch the camera actually sees to be free of anything distracting. Check the frame before you connect, move the laundry, and avoid a busy pattern or a bright screen behind you.

4. Sound: closer and quieter

People forgive a soft picture far more easily than muffled sound. The microphone hears the room more than you do — a fan, a television, an echo off bare walls.

Pick the quietest room, ideally one with soft things in it. Curtains and a sofa absorb echo.
Mind your hands. The main microphone is usually at the bottom edge of the phone. Do not cover it when you prop the phone up.
Earphones with a microphone put the mic near your mouth and stop the other person hearing themselves echo back.

If the picture freezes

On a weak connection video usually degrades before sound: blurry, then frozen, while the audio keeps going. Move closer to the router, switch to Wi-Fi if you are on mobile data, and close anything uploading in the background.

The two-minute checklist

Light in front of me, not behind.
Lens at eye level, phone propped up.
Lens wiped.
Nothing odd in the frame.
Quiet room, microphone uncovered.
On Wi-Fi if I can be.

Then have something to say. The set-up gets you seen and heard; the mobile video chat guide covers camera permissions and adding Omet to your home screen.