1. Live speed control
The clearest sign of a good prompter: you change pace while reading, without leaving record mode. A fixed speed set in advance is almost always slightly wrong.
2. Typography and line length
Large type, adjustable line height, and a limited column width beat any visual effect. A line of five to eight words is read in one glance; a wide line forces your eyes to travel and gives the reading away.
3. Mirror mode
Needed only with beam-splitter glass. Shooting straight off a phone, you will not use it — but its presence shows the app was built for studio work too.
4. Script privacy
Scripts are often confidential: product announcements, legal advice, medical explanations. Check where the text is stored. A prompter that keeps scripts on the device and never uploads them removes an entire class of risk.
5. Works offline, with no account
Shoots happen in basements, on planes, and in fields without signal. An app that demands a login and a network fails exactly then. No mandatory sign-up is a win for both privacy and speed.
6. A script library
Past five scripts you need folders, search, and quick access to the last one you opened. Otherwise you will keep pasting text from notes and losing versions.
7. In-frame controls
Pause, jump back a couple of lines, tap or gesture start, a countdown before recording. Anything that keeps you from reaching into the shot.
A five-minute test
- Paste a real script, not a test sentence.
- Read a paragraph aloud and change the speed mid-way.
- Turn off the internet and repeat.
- Watch the footage: can you tell you were reading?
If you do not want to go back to your notes after that, the prompter is right for you. Everything else — themes, effects, export — is nice but secondary.