DIY teleprompter: build a glass prompter for your camera
Updated October 23, 2026 · Anthony Delmotte
Short answer. A glass teleprompter is a sheet of glass at 45° in front of the lens, with a phone lying underneath showing mirrored text. You read the reflection while the camera films through the glass. A picture-frame glass, a cardboard box and a phone with mirror mode are enough to try it.
Do you need one?
If you film with your phone’s front camera, no: a prompter app already puts the text right under the lens. A glass rig is for when the camera is a separate device, like a DSLR, a webcam or a second phone, and you want to look straight into it.
How it works
Glass reflects part of the light and lets the rest through. Tilted at 45°, it shows you the screen lying below while the camera behind it sees you through the glass. Because a reflection is reversed, the prompter has to mirror the text.
What you need
- A clean sheet of glass or clear acrylic, from a picture frame (about 13×18 cm for a phone).
- A box or a few pieces of cardboard, painted or lined in black inside.
- A phone or tablet with a prompter app that has mirror mode.
- Black fabric to wrap around the lens side and stop reflections.
Steps
- Cut a box so the camera lens can sit against one open side.
- Fix the glass inside at 45°, top edge towards the camera.
- Lay the phone flat under the glass, screen up, text mirrored.
- Darken the inside and cover the gap around the lens with black fabric.
- Check from your seat: you should read the text clearly and the camera should see only you.
Real beam-splitter glass reflects more cleanly than picture-frame glass and shows less ghosting, but the frame glass is enough to test the idea. SmoothCue and our online teleprompter both have a mirror mode.