Virtual Training – Elgato Stream Deck Mobile

A couple of days ago I posted a blog on my using a green screen, OBS Studio and Microsoft Teams. In it I mentioned Stream deck from Elgato as a possible alternative to needing 3 screen to use full screen projection in OBS Studio. The paragraph went

You could also use a scene switching piece of hardware for controlling the scenes. I tend to also open the meeting chat in the browser version of Teams on my control screen, though you could do that from a mobile phone or tablet rather than 3rd screen, if you went with the hardware based solution. Something for me to consider as a next step if the virtual training keeps going.
https://m365train.co.uk/2020/05/03/green-screen-teams-and-obs-studio/

Well it seems there is a software version which comes in much more cost effective.

Stream Deck Mobile is a mobile app that does the same thing as the hardware. Having found this I decided to test it out and this blog is what I found out and how you too can set it up. There is a subscription cost for the app but you can pay for 5+ years subscription for less than the physical device and you get the first month free to test it out. Or use both if you want to.

Getting Set up

Install the app on your mobile device – search or app store or go to https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/stream-deck-mobile on your mobile device and follow the links. You will need to sign up for a subscription which will give you a one month trial.

The mobile app will prompt for a QR code, but you when activated, which you get from the desktop app, so you also need to install desktop software from https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/downloads

Once installed, open Stream Deck on your PC & Phone and connect using a QR code. Follow the steps in the images below.

On the PC , pick **Add Mobile Device…** to display QR code

Switch to mobile device when you see the code

Scan QR code displayed in your PC from this screen. If the QR scan screen is not showing see next image to continue

IF QR scan code is not showing, tap the gear icon (bottom right)

Then tap **Add Connection**. You can also use Add Connection to connect to a different device.

You can now start customising the buttons on your deck. To do this find the item in the action list and drag to a button position. Rotate your phone to landscape to use otherwise the layout between PC and phone doesn’t line up!

The first thing I added was a scene from OBS Studio. I decided to keep the scenes in the same order I had them in OBS Studio and keep the same names.

Enter the title, then adjust display and font options on the title from the T button

To customise the icon, you can upload an image or click **Create New File** to open the **Key Creator** website.

Create your own button using a web based tool by adding icons, text, images and then, click save key to download the compiled image. I recommend that you save the images in a folder just for these icons so they are all in the same place. This will make for easier backup/alteration etc.

Repeat until all the required scenes or other buttons are added to your Stream Deck.

Another great feature is the ability to launch a website or application on your PC from the deck. I regularly open the same set of web pages during training courses, so I created multi action button to open multiple web pages.