Widget: BLE remote control for Insta360 One R 360° Action Cam

[updated 2023-04-05]

A widget to remote control (via Bluetooth) Insta360's One R & X cameras.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-EN/apps/bb53f4bb-6c8c-4369-bca9-84cc09b25526

Also available as a data-field for touch based Edge device

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/f0cdaa9c-5733-4748-ba66-1c7a3b008922

Insta360 Remote Control

Features:

  • Start / Stop Recording
  • Select  video or photo shooting mode (Standard, HDR, Time-lapse, 24-25-30 fps, etc).
  • Send GPS telemetry to the camera to be stored in the video file.
  • Add a "Highlight" marker in the video file (not available in the DF).
  • Add a "Track That" marker  in the video file(not available in the DF).
  • Last state is saved, so will resume where it was if the widget exits or was disconnected.

Known limitation & issues:

  • Users have reported that this widget also works with the One X, X2 & X3, but the menus for the various shooting modes are only the ones available one the One R
  • Same goes with the 4K & 1inch module of the One R: only the shooting modes for the 360° module are availbale
  • The widget will auto exit after some time (depending on your device). This is a limitation from Garmin.If you have a newr watch (starting with Fenix 7) you can use the widget as an app, and it won't exit,
  • The widget can be launched from within one of Garmin's official activity (but not if you are in Glance mode) by pressing & holding the back button.
  • There is no countdown / delay option
  • While the widget is active, if the recording is started or stopped from the camera, the widget will react accordingly but will not know in which mode the camera is in.
  • When starting the widget, if it indicates that the camera is still recording and it's not the case, got to the menu and re-select a shooting mode. This will reset the widget.

This thread is to discuss problems with the widget and also possible future functionality.

Have fun!

Greg

  • Sorry no, the F5 does not have the required BLE support, only the F5 Plus series and newer watches have it.

  • Firstly, I am super pleased to see this widget for my One R camera - awesome work.  I do have two questions though:

    - The widget works fine on my Fenix 6 Pro - I can start and stop video recording.  However, if the video recording has been stopped/paused for a minute or two, and the widget exits automatically, and my watch goes back to normal mode.  Is there a way to prevent this happening?

    - I see the settings picture in the IQ store and the description text that explains photos can be taken with the widget.  But I cannot figure out how to open these settings.  For my other widgets, they appear in the Garmin Connect app on my phone, and the settings can be adjusted on teh app.  While I am using the widget on my watch, the doesn't seem anyway of opening a settings screen.  Am I doing something wrong?

    Any assistance much appreciated.

    R.

  • The trick to avoid the widget timeout (that's imposed by Garmin)  is to start any activity, then long press on the back button. You can then access all your widgets, with no timeout.

    The settings menu is accessed by a long press on the up/menu button. You can then select  one of the video or photo mode.

  • Thank-you for the quick reply. I can get to settings now.  I used to have a virb360 and the fenix widget - that widget used to stay on until it was cancelled, I will use  the workaround.

    R.

  • Hi Greg,

    I tried the widget on my Edge 530, unfortunately I can't launch recording: when I go on widget screen, the widget is able to connect to my Insta360 but when I click on the upper-right button, recording won't start and the widget tries to reconnect with the action cam.

    Thank you for supporting us with this widget.

    Regards

  • mmhh strange, I'll have to look into this. If you long press on that button do you get into the menu ?

  • Hello Greg, 

    Will this work  on Fenix 6?

  • Hi, If I long press the upper right button of my 530, I will get the menu for mode selection (4K 30fps, 5K 30 FPS etc)

  • My understanding for GPS Smart Remote (from Insta360) is 2.4Hz. If using Fenix 6 pro to acquire telemetry, what is the data refreshing rate? Can it be manually set to 10Hz or 25Hz for high-speed sports (in the expense of draining watch battery)?