DJI Osmo Mobile 6 and SE phone gimbals can now use Apple Watch as remote control

DJI's Osmo Mobile 6 and SE (aka OM 6 and OM SE) are two of the most popular smartphone gimbals among content creators, thanks their solid stabilisation and subject tracking, and the variety of creative shots that enables. Now, the latest firmware update has just added a nifty new feature while also improving overall performance.

Via the DJI Mimo app, an Apple Watch can now be used as a remote control to view live camera feed, adjust gimbal angle, change shooting orientation and, of course, capture photos and videos. ActiveTrack, DJI's subject-tracking technology, can also be activated remotely to lock on to and keep centred a selected object.

For many years, customers have been asking DJI for a means to control the gimbal via a second smartphone. However, a smartwatch is perhaps more suited to remotely control a gimbal, as it's visually less obtrusive when in the frame.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that just a few days ago, Insta360 launched its new Flow Pro gimbal, which is the first (and, so far, only) gimbal to support shooting on the native iPhone camera app as well as hundreds of third-party iOS apps, thanks to DockKit technology integration. iPhones are, of course, hugely popular for photography and video content creation, so it's not surprising that both DJI and Insta360 would want their devices to play very nice with the Apple ecosystem.

The remote control feature requires any of the following Apple Watch models, running watchOS 9 or later: Apple Watch Series 7 and up; Apple Watch SE 2; Apple Watch Ultra 2 and 1. DJI's update on this new feature seems to suggest that it may not remain exclusive to Apple Watch in the future, although nothing concrete has been promised.

Apart from the remote control feature, DJI also promises enhanced stability with their ActiveTrack tracking system as part of this update, as well as a new 'Parents & Kids' mode along with video templates on the Mimo app for creating shareable family videos.

The DJI OM 6 and OM SE (available on Amazon) can receive this update via the DJI Mimo app itself, i.e. by updating the app to its latest version.