Teleprompter mirror mode: how to use it with a glass rig

By the Telepromptia team · Updated November 3, 2026 · 5 min read

Professional teleprompters show the script on a piece of angled glass in front of the lens. The glass reflects the screen, and a reflection reverses left and right, so the text on the screen must be reversed too. That is all mirror mode does. This guide explains how a glass rig works, how to switch the text around in Telepromptia, and how to test and tune the result so the words are easy to read from where you stand.

Key takeaways

• Mirror mode flips the text left to right, so it reads correctly in the reflection of a beam-splitter glass.
• Leave it off if you read straight from the screen. Reversed text on a phone is simply hard to read.
• In a glass rig, a separate camera records through the glass. The iPhone or iPad is the screen the glass reflects.
• Test with the real reflection, from your real position, before you record anything.
• Use maximum screen brightness and large text, because you read at a greater distance than with a phone.

How a glass rig works

A beam-splitter teleprompter has a sheet of glass set at roughly 45 degrees in front of the camera lens. A screen sits below or above the glass, facing it. The glass reflects the screen toward you, and it is clear enough for the lens, which sits behind it, to see you through the glass. You look at the reflected text, and the camera looks at your face along the same line. That is why your eyes appear to look straight into the lens.

A reflection reverses left and right. Without a correction, the words in the glass would read backward. Mirror mode reverses the text on the screen first, so the reflection reverses it back.

Mirror mode or not?

If you only use your phone as a teleprompter and camera in one, you do not need any of this. Our guide on how to look at the camera while reading covers that case.

Where Telepromptia fits in a glass rig

Telepromptia records with the camera of the iPhone or iPad it runs on. In a glass rig the camera is a different one, behind the glass, and your device is only the screen. So the rig uses the Rehearsal view, which shows the prompter without opening the camera. You record with the rig's camera and control the scrolling from Telepromptia.

Set it up in Telepromptia

1. Write or paste your script and open it.
2. Start Rehearsal, the prompter on its own with no camera.
3. Open the text and scrolling settings and switch on Mirror text.
4. Place the device in the rig, screen facing the glass, with the screen as bright as it will go.
5. Look at the glass from your seat and check that the words read correctly and the lines scroll the way you expect.

The setting named Mirror preview in the camera settings is a different thing. It changes how the camera preview is shown when you record with the device itself, not how the script is drawn.

Tune the text for the distance

You usually sit one to two metres from the glass, much farther than a phone in your hand, so the settings change.

• Size. Make it larger than you would for a phone and test from your seat. Our font size and speed guide has a quick method.
• Width. A narrow column of text keeps your eyes close to the lens. Reduce the text width so the lines stay in the middle of the glass.
• Colour and contrast. Light text on a dark background reflects best, and the Rehearsal view already uses a black background.
• Brightness. Set the device brightness to maximum. A reflection is much dimmer than the screen itself.
• Speed. Set it by your measured words per minute, and lower it a little for the first run.

Control it from a distance

You cannot reach the device while you are sitting in front of the lens. A Bluetooth keyboard works in the studio and in Rehearsal: Space starts or pauses, the arrow keys change the speed, and Page Up and Page Down jump between sentences. Use it to start the scroll when you are ready and to pause when you want to take a breath. Keep the keyboard on a stool or a table in reach.

Test before you roll

Do a short check every time you set the rig up.

1. Read three lines aloud from your recording seat. They should read in the correct direction, with no effort.
2. Walk through the full width of the screen. If one end is hard to read, reduce the text width.
3. Watch for reflections. Light from behind you will show in the glass. Dim the room or use a hood.
4. Run a 30 second recording and check where your eyes look in the footage.

If the text reads in the right direction but upside down, turn the screen half a turn, if your device allows it, or change how the device sits in the rig.

Common problems

• The text reads backward. Mirror text is off. Switch it on in the text and scrolling settings.
• The text reads fine on the screen but not in the glass. That is the point: the screen is meant to look reversed. Judge the reflection only.
• The text looks dim. Raise the brightness, clean the glass and shade it from light behind you.
• Your eyes drift to the sides. The text is too wide. Narrow the column.

Where to go next

Setting up the glass is the hard part. Once the words read correctly, the delivery is the same as with any prompter: short sentences, a steady pace and a script written for the ear. The speeches and presentations guide covers how to write and pace a script for a longer talk.