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Tapes & Library

Choosing a cover photo

Give a Tape or a Collection a picture of your own instead of the automatic one.

By default, a Tape shows a frame from its own footage. That's usually fine, but sometimes there's a photograph that captures the day far better, and you can use that instead.

It works the same way for Collections, and it changes nothing about the video.

Setting a cover photo

  1. Press and hold the Tape or Collection.

  2. Choose Take Photo or Choose from Library.

    You can also add a cover under Optional Setup when you create a Tape.

  3. Pick a picture in the Photos picker that appears.

    This is Apple's own picker. Videflo is handed only the image you tap and never sees the rest of your library, which is why it doesn't ask for photo access.

  4. The cover updates everywhere that Tape appears.

    A Tape's cover is backed up with it, so it's there on a new phone and on every member's copy of a Shared Tape.

Going back to the automatic cover

Press and hold again and choose Remove Cover. The Tape goes back to using a frame from its own footage, and the copy Videflo made is deleted.

Your original photograph in the Photos app is never touched. Videflo only ever reads it, and only once.

How Collection covers work

A Collection without a cover of its own borrows one from the first Tape inside it, including that Tape's custom cover if it has one. So setting a good cover on a Tape often sorts out the Collection at the same time.

Tips

  • Covers are shown as a wide rectangle, so a photograph with the subject in the middle works best. Very tall or very wide pictures are cropped to the centre.

  • Videflo stores a resized copy, usually well under a hundred kilobytes, rather than the full-resolution original, so covers cost almost nothing in storage.

  • Deleting the photograph from your Photos app later won't affect the cover, because Videflo has its own copy.

Common mistakes

  • Choosing a wide panorama and wondering why only the middle shows.

    Covers keep the picture's proportions and crop to fill the space. Pick something where the important part is near the centre.

Troubleshooting

The picker opens but nothing happens when I pick a photo.

  • Very large photographs take a second to bring in. Give it a moment before tapping again.
  • If it fails, Videflo shows a message and leaves the existing cover alone. Try a different picture.

Take Photo says camera access is off.

  • Turn on Settings → Videflo → Camera, or choose a picture from your library instead.

Frequently asked

Does a cover photo change the video?

Not at all. It's the picture on the card, nothing more. Playback and exports are completely unaffected.

Can I use a frame from the Tape itself as the cover?

That's what the automatic cover already is. There's no way to choose a specific frame today.

Who can change the cover of a Shared Tape?

The Tape's owner. Members see the cover the owner chose.

Did this answer your question?

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