The story behind it
Why this app exists
I'm Bodo Kern, and I have been producing video for 33 years. In all that time one thing was always an issue: the production budget. Hardly any piece of equipment showed that as clearly as the teleprompter.
From foot switch to tablet
I remember well when teleprompters were very expensive devices. Either the text ran through at one monotonous pace, or you controlled it with a foot switch. So you stood in front of the camera, were supposed to speak freely and naturally, and had to control your own foot at the same time. Small hand controllers came later, and then the technology moved faster and faster.
In the early 2000s such devices cost several thousand euros. I couldn't afford that. So I googled what a teleprompter is made of, went to a glazier and asked for a sheet of beam splitter glass. He looked at me in complete surprise. He had never heard the name and couldn't help me.
Tablets put a teleprompter within everyone's reach. The text still ran at a fixed speed, though. If you spoke faster, you left the text behind. If you hesitated, it ran away from you.
The text should follow me, not the other way round
Speech recognition is what changed that. For the first time it became possible to build a teleprompter that listens: it recognizes the words I speak and moves the text along. When I pause, it waits.
I built the app for ourselves first, for our YouTube channel “Grüne Pixelwelt”. Above all it was meant to be one thing: as simple as possible.
Buy once, use forever
There is something I don't like: subscription fees for tools I only need now and then. I think back fondly to the time when software cost money but then belonged to you. You could use it for years and decide for yourself whether to take an update, skip a version or upgrade later.
That was the real motivation for this app. It is why the full version is a one-time purchase: buy once, use forever. No account, no ads.
We added the weekly subscription for everyone who needs a teleprompter just once or wants to try it briefly.
What became of old iPads
We had iPads from 2015 lying around. They had no job left and could no longer even connect to the App Store. We didn't want to throw them away.
That is how the browser display came about. The app runs on the phone, and the phone works like a small server on your own Wi-Fi. The old tablet only opens a page in its browser and shows the text. No app has to be installed on it, and the same goes for older Android tablets.
How the app gets better
The first version followed the spoken word, but it wasn't finished. Many improvements exist only because users reported problems to us. We fixed those right away.
We keep developing the app because we need it ourselves for our channel. We want a tool that is a pleasure to use and brings clarity.
That is why I welcome every piece of feedback: which feature is missing, what is good, what isn't.
Bodo Kern
Write to me
Which feature is missing, what is good, what isn’t? I read every message myself.
AI Teleprompter: Video Studio
Available on the App Store
iPhone · iPad · Mac · Apple Watch
AI Teleprompter: Video Studio for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Fixed-speed prompting is free, the full version is a one-time purchase or weekly subscription, no account, no ads, no tracking.
App Store