Making a Tape takes about fifteen seconds. You give it a name, choose whether it's filmed upright or sideways, pick a quality, and you're recording.
Two of those choices — orientation and quality — are fixed for the life of the Tape. That's what lets everything inside it play back as one seamless piece, so it's worth a moment's thought before you tap the button.
Making the Tape
On the Home tab, tap Start a New Tape.
If this is your very first Tape, the button in the middle of the screen says Start Your First Tape — same thing. You can also start one from the Tapes tab.
Type a name under Tape Name.
Name it after the occasion: “Summer Vacation”, “Dad's 70th”, “Milo's First Year”. You can rename it later, so don't agonise.
Choose Tape Orientation — Portrait or Landscape.
Portrait is upright, best for watching on a phone. Landscape is sideways, best for a TV or a wide scene. Every recording in this Tape will be filmed that way.
Choose Recording Quality — Standard, High, or Smooth.
Standard suits almost everyone. See Choosing a recording quality if you'd like the detail.
Tap Create Tape & Record.
The camera opens straight away, with the Tape already made and waiting.
Press the big round button to start, and Finish when you're done.
Videflo saves the recording into your new Tape and takes you back.
Nothing is created if you cancel
Tapping Cancel on the setup screen leaves your library exactly as it was. No empty Tape is left behind.
Why orientation and quality can't be changed later
A Tape plays as one continuous video. If half of it were filmed upright and half sideways, watching it back would mean the picture flipping and shrinking part way through — and no amount of clever software makes that pleasant.
So Videflo settles both questions once, at the start, and holds them for the life of the Tape. When you come back to record more, it'll gently ask you to hold the phone the same way before it will start.
If you picked wrong, the fix is simply to make a new Tape with the right settings. Nothing is lost — the old one is still there.
Tips
The Create Tape & Record button stays greyed out until the name has something in it. That's the only thing it's waiting for.
Filming a person, a room, or anything vertical? Portrait. Filming a landscape, a stage, or a football pitch? Landscape.
Not sure how long the occasion will run? Start the Tape anyway. Adding to it later is the whole point.
Common mistakes
Choosing High (4K) for a Tape you plan to grow all year, then running out of space in March.
Standard looks lovely and uses roughly a quarter of the space. Save High for the Tapes where the detail genuinely matters.
Naming the first Tape “Test” and then filming something real into it.
Rename it — hold down the Tape's card and choose Rename. Nothing about the footage changes.
Frequently asked
Can I change a Tape's orientation afterwards?
No. Orientation is fixed when the Tape is created and applies to every recording inside it, which is what keeps playback seamless.
Make a new Tape if you need the other orientation.
What if I don't know what to call it yet?
Put anything sensible in and carry on — renaming a Tape takes two taps and doesn't touch the footage.
Does creating a Tape use up storage before I record?
Practically none. A Tape with no recordings in it is just a name and a couple of settings. The space goes on the video you film into it.
Related articles
Recording: start, pause, resume, finish
Everything on the recording screen, and what each control actually does.
Portrait and landscape orientation
Why every Tape locks its orientation when you create it, and how to choose between the two.
Choosing a recording quality
Standard, High, and Smooth — what each one means for how it looks and how much room it takes.
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