Smart Scroll and Timed Scroll: the two ways Promptr reads your script
A few weeks after launch, I got a message from a YouTuber in Manchester. She'd recorded twelve takes of a product review and hated every one. Not because the content was bad. She kept losing her place. The teleprompter was either scrolling too fast or too slow, and she had to start over. That's when I realised we'd built the right feature, but hadn't explained it properly. Smart Scroll and Timed Scroll aren't just technical modes. They're two completely different ways of working. And knowing which one to use changes everything.
Why one size never fits the teleprompter
Before Promptr, I spent a lot of time watching creators record on their phones. Some had scripts memorised down to the syllable. Others read every word and needed the scroll to move at exactly the right speed. Some knew their rough talking points but had no idea how long they'd actually speak. Most faced a mix of all three. The traditional teleprompter was built for news anchors reading a script word for word at a fixed pace. That works in a studio with a script supervisor standing next to you. It doesn't work when you're sat on your sofa recording a podcast, or standing in front of a ring light doing a tutorial, or trying to nail a 30-second sponsorship read where timing is everything. So we built two modes instead. One listens to you. One keeps time.Smart Scroll: the teleprompter that follows your voice
Smart Scroll watches your speech pattern in real-time. The script moves forward as you speak. Pause too long, and it waits. Rush through a sentence, and it catches up. You're in control. This works best if you're improvising slightly, or if your script has natural variations in pacing. A podcast host riffing on a topic. A lecturer with notes rather than a manuscript. A preacher working from an outline. Someone doing a product demo where you might spend thirty seconds on one feature and five seconds on another. The catch: Smart Scroll needs a phone or tablet close enough that it can hear you properly. Most creators keep their device on a stand about a metre away. In a noisy room (traffic outside, music playing), it can struggle. We've had users move to a quieter spot and suddenly it works perfectly. When it works, though, it's almost invisible. You read naturally. The scroll follows. No thinking about it.Timed Scroll: the predictable alternative
Timed Scroll is different. You tell Promptr how long your script should take. It divides the total words by the total seconds and scrolls at a constant speed. This suits someone who's written a tight script and knows exactly how fast they speak. A YouTube ad read that has to be sixty seconds. A lecture that fills a forty-minute class. A podcast intro with a specific rhythm. You're not fighting the scroll. You're synchronising with it. If you practise a few times, you know where you'll be at the thirty-second mark. You know which sentence comes next. There's something almost meditative about it. You're not reacting to the technology; you're in step with it. The downside: if you lose your place or stumble, you have to either pause the whole thing or keep going and hope you catch up. Some creators find that nerve-wracking. Others find it freeing because there's no ambiguity. The script and the timer are honest. You either hit it or you don't.The real difference in practice
I spent two hours last month on a call with a lecturer in Glasgow. She'd been using Timed Scroll for her recorded lectures and loved it. Predictable. Professional. But when she tried teaching a live workshop, the timing fell apart because she kept answering questions. She switched to Smart Scroll and discovered she could field an interruption without losing the flow. That's the real difference. Smart Scroll is flexible and responsive. Timed Scroll is disciplined and measurable. One is conversation. One is performance. Most creators end up using both. You use Timed Scroll when you've scripted tight and practised. You use Smart Scroll when you're recording something more fluid, or when you're still finding the rhythm of your content. Both modes are free on Promptr. No subscription required. Import a script as a TXT, PDF, DOCX or RTF file. Pick a mode. Record on your phone. See which one feels right for what you're making.Beyond the scroll: what comes after you choose
Choosing between Smart Scroll and Timed Scroll is often the first decision. But it shouldn't be the last thing you think about. If you're recording multiple takes, you'll want to know that Promptr can save each one separately. If you're working with a tight brand, you'll want control over fonts and text size. If you need captions on your final video, you'll want them burned in without a watermark. All of that sits on top of whichever mode you use. The scroll mode is foundational, but the features that matter most depend on what you're making and where you're sharing it. That's why both modes are free. We want you to know how you work before you decide whether the app is worth paying for. Smart Scroll or Timed Scroll. One will fit your brain better than the other.Which one sounds like it matches how you actually speak and plan your content?