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

  • Thank you for developping this app.
    I wonder if you could make it compatible with the descent MK1 ? 
    Thanks !

  • your app seems very useful !
    I wonder if you could make it also compatible with the descent MK1.

    Thanks!

  • Unfortunately no due to hardware limitations

  • Thanks for your reply.

  • Hi Greg,

    I did a little more testing with an Edge 530, Fenix6, and X3 and this is what I have found out so far:

    • The 530 can't seem to handle more than one Bluetooth connection, so if you have a phone, it will fight for the connection to the 530 with the X3
    • If you have any notifications / alerts on your 530, they will pop and and interrupt the widget, will must remain the focus. If it loses focus, you lose connection to the X3
    • When on the F6, it still didn't immediately get GPS, even though it did start on the GPS ON screen. I had to stop and start the GPS on the widget to get GPS signal
    • I believe there is an issue that cause problems on the X3 when the recording parameters on the widget do not match those of the X3. I have had occasion to have to pop the battery out of the X3 and it becomes unresponsive. It could be that I have left the setting on widget in a mode that is not available on the X3. I will double check this

    I recently went on a ride using the F6. I had GPS signal and used the widget to start and stop recording. I had the X3 on single lens 4k30, but it recorded on 4k24. I used the widget using the GPS menu, but not selecting a recording mode. The GPS data was not saved. I'm not sure what happened, but I didn't get any GPS at all for the entire set of recordings

    More to come.

    Great widget though.

  • Thanks for the feedback, I'll have to do more testing on my side to try and reproduce these problems.

  • Just installed this app for my Insta360 One RS,and it seems to work!

    Awesome job done, saves me 100 eur on a Insta gps remote.

    One remark is that it is a bit difficult to operate with my motor gloves on, is it possible to make an option in the app to have just a big start/stop button?

  • What model watch do you have ? If it has a touch screen, you can just tap the screen to start / stop recording. Otherwise you're stuck using the buttons.

  • I have a Garmin Venu.

    When I use your app,I see a big button to start the camera (easy to do with gloves),but when I press to stop recording it will display a menu to stop, highlight and track.

    This is a bit difficult to select with gloves, would be easier if it just switched between red/green button.

    Maybe you can make that menu with highlight and track accessible by swiping?

    I am definitely not a software developer,so I have no clue if this is possible..for now I can start the cam driving my bike,so I am happy to have that option for now.

  • I'm not sure I can increase the size of the menu, but I should be able to double it. I'll check what I can do...