Eye contact correction on video calls.

By the Ace Coach team, built with the best speech coaches · Updated October 24, 2026

Why your eyes look down on video

Your camera sits above your screen, and the person you're talking to is on the screen. So when you look at their face, the camera sees you looking slightly down. People are less sensitive to a downward gaze than to a gaze off to the side or above, which is why a camera right on top of the screen works reasonably well. That tolerance runs out quickly as the camera gets closer to your face or the call window sits low on a large screen (Chen, CHI 2002).

It matters more than it seems. In a 2024 study of simulated online job interviews, the same candidates were rated lower on likability, job ability and hireability when their gaze was skewed down at the screen than when they looked at the camera (Shinya and colleagues, *Scientific Reports*, 2024).

Eye contact correction uses AI to redraw your eyes so they appear to look at the lens. Here is what's available and what each one needs.

The main options

• FaceTime on iPhone and iPad. Settings › FaceTime › Eye Contact. It adjusts your eyes during FaceTime calls only, not in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet on the same phone.
• NVIDIA Broadcast on Windows. Free app with an Eye Contact effect that works in any video app as a virtual camera. It needs an NVIDIA RTX graphics card. Reviewers have noted it can look unnatural with wide-angle cameras and when you look far off to the side (NVIDIA Broadcast).
• Windows Studio Effects. Built into Windows 11 on PCs with a supported neural processor (NPU), such as Copilot+ PCs. Standard mode makes a subtle correction; Teleprompter mode, on Snapdragon devices, lets you read on-screen text while appearing to look at the camera (Microsoft Support).
• Descript, for recorded video. An Eye Contact effect you apply after recording, useful when you read a script off-screen. It works best with one clear, well-lit face in frame and uses AI credits (Descript help).

For NVIDIA Broadcast, pick NVIDIA Broadcast as the camera in Zoom, Google Meet or Teams. For Studio Effects, turn on eye contact in the camera settings and it applies in every app. FaceTime's setting stays inside FaceTime.

When it helps, and when it doesn't

• Good for reading. Recorded videos, webinars and talks where you follow notes or a script. This is what the tools were built for.
• Risky in interviews. You may be on a borrowed laptop, a phone or a browser where it isn't available, and a correction that glitches when you turn your head is more distracting than looking down.
• It can't choose your moments. What reads as confident is looking at the camera on your opening sentence, your main point and your closing sentence. A filter that holds your gaze on the lens the whole time looks fixed, and real people glance away while they think.
• It doesn't fix the setup. A camera below your eye line or a call window in the corner of a large screen still makes you look off. Fix those first and you may not need a filter at all.

Doing it yourself takes ten minutes

1. Raise the camera to eye level. Books under the laptop or a stand.
2. Move the call window to the top center of the screen, right under the lens, and shrink your self view.
3. Practice looking up on three lines. Your opening, your key point and your last sentence. Record a one-minute answer and watch it back with the sound off.

The full method is in how to make eye contact on video calls, and the camera and lighting guide covers the rest of the setup.

Ace Coach watches where you look during a practice call, flags the moments your eyes dropped and checks your camera height, so you know which lines to fix on the next take. Video is optional: with it off, Ace coaches your words and voice.