How To Setup Facebook Live On Iphone

Live streaming has become so easy to do thanks to mobile applications. Learning how to broadcast on a mobile phone will help you engage more with your audience even when you're on the road.

Mobile Live Streaming

In today's society, everyone is always on the go and handy equipment is favored over bulky machinery. Now you can go live on Facebook with just your phone.

With most people owning a smartphone, live streaming has become more accessible. Newer phones also have better cameras and hardware that can support HD streaming, so it's becoming a more popular choice for live video.

You can go live on most smartphone operating systems, particularly iOS and Android. In this blog post, let's talk about live streaming with an iPhone, which comprises 13% of mobile phone users in the entire world.

Going Live on Your Timeline

You can broadcast on your personal timeline, in your group, or to an event. Here's how to go live on Facebook from your iPhone on your timeline:

Go to your Timeline and do any of the two options below:
- Click on the status bar beside your profile photo as if you're going to post something and find the Go Live button in the options below it; or
- Tap on the Go Live button with a red camera beside it just below your profile photo.
Your camera will open and you'll be able to choose what kind of video you want to do. You can also choose a filter.
When you're ready, click on Start Live Video.
Engage with your viewers, bring in a friend on the broadcast, or change your filter while you're live.
Once you're done, click on Finish to end the stream.

Go Live in Your Page, Group, or Event

If you're running a private or public group, you can start a show in it using your iPhone. Going live is a great addition to your content strategy for a private group or event which you can monetize later on.

While it's advisable to go live on a desktop complete with your branding assets and setup, sometimes going live while you're on-the-go is unavoidable. Fortunately, going live in a page, group, or event while you're mobile is as easy as broadcasting on your timeline.

To go live in a page or group, open the said group and click on the Go Live button with the red camera. From there, you can start engaging with your followers even while you're on the road.
To go live in an event, click on "Say something" then tap on the Live Video button to start streaming.

Additional Tips

It's easy to go live on Facebook with your iPhone but you can improve your broadcast with a few tricks.

You can stream in landscape mode if you don't want the video in portrait. Just flip the phone on its side until the video fills up the entire screen in landscape mode. But you need to decide on the orientation of your video before starting your stream. You won't be able to change it in the middle of your broadcast.
You can see people's profile photos and comments on your screen while you're live. This is an important feature to engage with your viewers. But if you want to say something to your audience without getting distracted, swipe to the left to remove the comments section.
Before going live, click on the wrench and screwdriver symbol on the bottom right of the screen. It will help you change your lighting and flip your screen horizontally or vertically. Android phones don't have this feature in their Facebook Live apps.
Are people spamming or disrupting your broadcast? Click on the person's profile picture then look for the Block button to boot them off the live.
Once the live ends, it automatically saves as a video so friends can watch the replay. You also have the option to upload the video in HD.
Increase your reach more by sharing the video to other pages or platforms. Facebook has made it easier for you to share by adding the Share button after the live ends.

Internet Connection

Internet is very important when you're live streaming. Broadcasting with a slow or unstable connection will not entice your audience to keep watching your stream. You need to have around 2 to 5 Mbps upload speed to be able to live stream depending on the video quality. It's advisable to use a cabled connection for a smooth show but that's not possible when you're mobile.

If you have access to 4G or 5G wifi, then connect to that. But in a public setting like a cafe, you may be sharing the connection with other patrons which slows down the internet speed.

A 4G or 5G mobile data connection will also work. But you also have to make sure you've got a stable signal and a full battery to avoid interruptions. It's also worth noting that if the people around you are also using up data from the same cellular network.

Want to get beta access to BeLive's mobile app where you can host and produce your shows right from your iPhone? Join our beta Facebook Group here.

How often do you go live on Facebook through your phone? Tell us about your live streaming journey so far in the comments section below!

Pam Amantiad is a Content Writer in BeLive's Marketing Team. With a degree in Creative Writing, she has nearly a decade of experience in digital marketing, particularly in content creation as a copywriter and a freelance blog writer. Not contented with producing written outputs, she dove into the world of live video marketing in 2019 and hasn't left since.