PromptSmart Pro: Teleprompter App Review
Whether you’re a broadcaster, content creator, or presenter, having a good teleprompter system can be a huge help with presenting a script to an audience. Teleprompters (aka prompters or autocues) are great when there is a lot of information to share or when you’re on a short deadline, thus making it harder to memorize every specific point of a script. The teleprompter will show the script to the speaker over time so you know what you need to say and stay on track.
Now, what if you don’t have the money, time, and/or manpower to have a professional teleprompter system?
This is where PromptSmart Pro can come in.
PromptSmart Pro provides easy, affordable and mobile teleprompting for iOS and Android. This system helps streamline the video production and presentation process. And here are the core features that help it do all of this.
When we open up the App, the first section we come to is the “Scripts” section. This is where we can go through our current list of scripts, edit or delete them and add new scripts. When it comes to new scripts, you can either create a new script directly in the app or upload them. You can either do a single script upload or bulk upload from GoogleDrive, DropBox, OneDrive, Box, or iCloud.
PromptSmart Pro accepts DOCX, PDF, RTF, TXT, and GDOC files. With these files, it’s highly recommended that they are unformatted as formatting fragments can create issues such as freezing or jumping forward when using the Teleprompter with VoiceTrack system (which we’ll cover shortly).
There’s also a Notecard section that’s very similar to the Scripts section. The same creation, editing, and uploading features exist here. The difference is that Notecards are meant to give you points to follow during a presentation rather than a full script.
After the Notecard section is the Video section and then the Audio section. When you’re using the teleprompter feature of this app, you’ll also be able to use your device's front or rear-facing camera as well as a microphone to record your presentation. You can then use this audio and video as the core source for any content you’re looking to create or just use it to review how things are sounding and looking.
Let’s get into the main feature, the Teleprompter with VoiceTrack system. Traditionally with Teleprompter systems, you had one person reading the Teleprompter while another controlled the speed at which the reader saw the text. With PromptSmart, you can establish all the settings that work best for you prior to when you present. Then the VoiceTrack system will capture what you’re saying and adjust when you see specific parts of the script accordingly.
It’ll have the prompting follow right along with what you’re saying or it’ll pause if you go off script and wait until you’re ready to go back to the spot you left off at. It’s important to note that for VoiceTrack to work, you’ll need to make sure your device has a properly working internal microphone or you attach a wired microphone to it.
Now within the settings, you can pre-set scroll speed, change the side margin positions, turn on/off video recording, turn on/off a timer, choose whether you want a single line of script highlighted or multiple lines among several other features. All of these options allow you to add additional features that can help enhance the overall production experience.
The most important settings for us are the Mirror settings. We use a Beam Splitting Teleprompter rig. This makes it so the screen of my tablet reflects onto a mirror that’s in front of my DSLR camera. With this set-up, we can read a script while looking right into the camera but without the reflection of the script from the tablet appearing on the video.
PromptSmart Pro can be used on iOS but requires an iPhone or iPad with iOS 11.0 or later. The cost is $19.99. Some features are locked behind a subscription. The subscription is PromptSmart Extended and it’s for $19.99 a year or $1.99 a month.
PromptSmart Pro can also be used on Android with a minimal OS of kitkat 4.4. It’s a yearly subscription of $29.99 or $2.99 a month. The app has been built to be flexible on a large variety of devices.
It’s important to note that the VoiceTrack feature in PromptSmart Pro, only works for the English language. If you’re a Spanish speaker, you can also get the PromptSmart ESP on the iOS App Store.
Thus far, this app has been our favorite for teleprompting. The responsiveness when clicking on buttons can be a little finicky but the amount of settings and options available to us (as well as the VoiceTrack system) completely outweighs any minor negatives.
We can see this being a great tool for educators, speakers, and content creators. We think the two biggest hurdles for prospective users are the English only requirement for those that don’t speak English fluently (or at all) and the use of a subscription model. Overall, though, we would say this is well worth it if you’re looking to present or create content several times throughout the year and you feel a teleprompter would help your process.
