VideoBro / Guides

The guides: film it, collect it, finish it.

Every how-to on the site in one place, grouped by the problem you actually have. Start with the one closest to yours.

See how VideoBro works Browse by occasion instead

Collecting everyone's footage

The problem no editing app solves: the clips are on eight different phones. These four are about getting them into one place, with or without us.

GuideCombine videos from multiple phonesEight ways to do it, with the steps for each, and the one thing they all get wrong. GuideCollect everyone's videos after a tripThe trip is over and the footage is everywhere. How to gather it, and how to make one video out of it. GuideGet friends to actually contributeEveryone says they'll send their clips and nobody does. When to ask, who to ask, and what to say. GuideUsing a shared album for videoWhen a shared album is genuinely the better tool, and the exact point where it stops being one.

Making something out of it

Footage isn't a home movie yet. These are about the distance between a camera roll and a thing you'd sit down and watch.

GuideMake a home movie with your phoneNine steps, from a boundary and the right settings through to actually watching it, including where most attempts stall. GuideMake a video without editing for hoursFive honest ways to turn the clips already on your phone into something you can hand to someone. GuideWhat to filmThe unglamorous footage that actually holds up later, and how much of it is enough. GuideWhat to do with all your videosA plain decision guide for the pile already on your phone, whether or not a tape is the answer. GuideMake videos look like VHSWhat made tape look like tape, the three honest ways to get the look, and which one leaves your footage clean.

Sharing it, and keeping it

Getting the finished thing to the people who were there, without posting it anywhere, and knowing where it lives afterward.

GuideShare videos privatelyTen honest ways to keep family video off social media, and why an unlisted link is not a password. FeatureThe Tape CabinetWhere a finished film lives: shelves, a hidden shelf behind Face ID, and one unlisted link per film. FeatureStorage and the free plan2 GB free, what counts toward it, who pays for a shared tape, and what stays after Develop.

Ideas, and the case for the whole thing

For when there's no occasion to point at, and for the question underneath all of these: why make a home movie at all?

IdeaFilm a year of your kidTwo or three repeatable anchors instead of a documentation project. IdeaThings worth a tapeWhat's worth filming when there's no occasion at all: a last year in an apartment, a slow phone call. StoryWhat happened to the home movieWhat a home movie was as an object, why every constraint that made families watch one lifted at once, and why to make one now. ChoosingCollaborative video apps, comparedFive different products get called that. What each is for, and when it's the wrong one, including us.

What every guide here assumes

None of these need VideoBro to be useful, and each one says plainly when a shared album, a cloud folder or a free editor is the better answer. Where a tape does fit, the rules are the same on every page, because they're the same in the app.

  • 8 people per tape, including you, on every plan.
  • 2 hours of footage per tape, on every plan.
  • Clips land in the order they were recorded, whichever phone shot them and whenever it uploaded.
  • 2 GB free to start, and Develop is included, never a separate purchase.
  • Anyone with the link can watch the finished film in a browser, with no app and no account.

If you'd rather start from the occasion than the problem, the ideas hub is organised that way: trips, weddings, a season, a night. And if you just want a short answer to one specific question, the questions page has them.

Start with 2 GB free.

The free plan is the real product, not a demo: make tapes, fill one with up to 8 people including you, trim, Develop, and share films by link. Storage is the only thing a paid plan will ever change.

DOWNLOAD ON THE APP STORE See how it works

Free on iPhone. No trial, no card. Anyone can watch a finished film in a browser. On a computer? Get it on your iPhone.