How to Control the Live Carousel from Your Phone (Remote Control)

The Carousel Remote turns your phone into a remote control for every screen showing your live carousel — the venue projector, the lobby TV, and any screen opened through the public share link. Pause the rotation for a toast, skip a photo, pin a special moment to the screen, put the upload QR code up on demand, or send a full-screen announcement like "Dinner is served" — all without walking over to the display.

Everything reacts in real time: tap a button on your phone and every connected screen responds within a second.

Step 1: Open the Remote

1. From your event dashboard, go to Photos → Live Photos to open the carousel
2. Click the phone icon in the carousel controls — the remote opens in a new tab
3. On your phone, sign in to your dashboard and visit the same link: dashboard.fotify.app/carrousel/YOUR-EVENT-ID/remote

The remote is available to the event organizer and collaborators/moderators — it requires a signed-in account with access to the event. Guests and people using the public carousel link cannot control your screens.

Step 2: Check "Now on Screen"

At the top of the remote you'll see a live preview of what your screens are currently showing — the photo thumbnail and the guest who shared it. The green dot lights up as soon as a carousel screen reports in.

If you see "Waiting for a carousel screen to report in…", make sure at least one screen has the carousel open.

Step 3: Control Playback

Pause / Resume

Tap Pause to freeze the current photo on every screen — perfect for speeches, toasts, or dinner. The screens show a small "Paused from remote" note so venue staff know the freeze is intentional. Tap Resume to continue the rotation.

Pause survives screen reloads: if the venue laptop restarts the browser, the carousel comes back still paused until you resume it.

Skip

Tap Skip to immediately advance past the current photo. Handy when something appears on screen that you'd rather move past quickly. (To remove a photo permanently, delete or reject it from the Photos section.)

Step 4: Show the QR Code on Demand

The carousel already shows the upload QR code periodically, but sometimes you want it up right now — for example, when the host announces "share your photos!". Tap Show QR and the code appears on every screen for about 15 seconds.

If you use song requests, a Song QR button appears too (only when the song request QR is enabled in your carousel settings).

Step 5: Pin a Photo (Spotlight)

Want to hold a special moment on screen — the first kiss, the group photo, the cake?

1. Scroll to Pin a photo on the remote — you'll see a grid of the most recent photos
2. Tap any photo to pin it: it takes over every screen and stays there
3. Tap Unpin (or tap the pinned photo again) to resume the normal rotation

Like pause, a pinned photo survives screen reloads — the screens keep showing it until you unpin. Only photos and drawings can be pinned (not videos, voice messages, or text messages).

Send Reactions to the Screen

Tap a reaction — ❤️ 🥂 🎉 💃 🔥 👏 — and the emoji bursts all over every carousel screen, popping up in dozens of places and floating away. Tap repeatedly to stack bursts. There's also a custom text blast: type a short phrase (up to 40 characters) and it scatters across the screen the same way.

Perfect for hyping up key moments — the first dance, the toast, the cake.

Step 6: Send an Announcement

Type a short message (up to 200 characters), choose how long it should stay up (5, 10, or 20 seconds), and tap Send. A full-screen announcement card — styled with your event branding colors — appears on every screen, then disappears automatically.

Great for: "Dinner is served 🍽️", "Group photo on the terrace in 5 minutes!", "Last call for song requests 🎵".

Quick Settings

At the bottom of the remote you can adjust the two most-used display settings without opening the full settings modal:

• Speed — how long each photo stays on screen
• Transition style — crossfade, slide, zoom, or drift

Changes apply to every connected screen live, exactly like saving from the carousel settings. For all other settings (overlays, effects, fonts), use the settings gear on the carousel itself — those also sync to all screens automatically.

Works on Every Screen at Once

The remote controls all connected screens simultaneously — your own dashboard carousel, screens opened by your AV team through the public share link, projectors, and TVs. There's nothing to pair and no extra setup: any screen showing your event's carousel obeys the remote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I control the photo slideshow from my phone? A: Open dashboard.fotify.app/carrousel/YOUR-EVENT-ID/remote on your phone (or tap the phone icon in the carousel controls). From there you can pause, skip, pin photos, show the QR code, and send announcements to every screen.

Q: Who can use the remote? A: The event organizer and collaborators — anyone with signed-in access to the event. People viewing through the public carousel link cannot control the screens.

Q: Does the remote work on screens my DJ opened with the share link? A: Yes. The remote controls every screen showing your carousel, including public share-link screens. No pairing needed.

Q: What happens if the venue screen reloads while paused or pinned? A: Pause and pin are remembered for the event. When the screen reloads, the carousel comes back paused (or still showing the pinned photo) until you resume or unpin.

Q: Can I pin a video or voice message? A: No — only photos and drawings can be pinned. Videos, voice messages, and text messages play as part of the normal rotation.

Q: How long does the QR code stay on screen when I trigger it? A: About 15 seconds. You can tap the button again to show it once more, and the regular periodic QR overlay keeps working as configured.

Q: What are reactions? A: One-tap emoji blasts (❤️ 🥂 🎉 💃 🔥 👏, or a custom short text) that explode across every carousel screen. Tap as many times as you like — bursts stack.

Q: How long can announcements be? A: Up to 200 characters, displayed for 5, 10, or 20 seconds. Emoji work great on the big screen.

Q: Can two people use the remote at the same time? A: Yes. Multiple remotes stay in sync — if your co-host pauses the carousel, your remote updates to show it's paused.

Q: Do I need to install an app? A: No. The remote is a web page that works in any mobile browser.