Sony moves the wired external monitor feature of Xperia 1 phones behind a paywall

A Sony Xperia phone connected to a Sony Alpha camera used to be a staple of Sony’s marketing – this highlighted a cool feature that allowed the phones to work as an external monitor by using the Monitor & Control app (or the External Monitor app on older devices). This used to be free, but someone over at Sony decided that the company can make a few bucks off this and now charges a subscription.

Sony’s Monitor & Control app

Here’s what happened – the wired external monitor functionality is now behind a paywall. You need to pay $5 a month or $50 a year to use it. You can still use a wireless connection for free, but that introduces extra lag, which is unsuitable for professional uses (and hobbyists don’t tend to walk around with a Sony Alpha with an external monitor attached).

This change was introduced with version 2.4.0 of the Monitor & Control app. If you’re still on v2.3.1 or older – don’t update or you’ll lose the free functionality. And if you did already update the app, you can find the old version on APKMirror.

The Basic and Premium plans for Sony’s Monitor & Control app

By the way, the Monitor & Control app has been verified to work with a number of non-Sony devices: Galaxies, Pixels, Xiaomis (including tablets), Oppos and vivos, plus iPhones and iPads. However, the high-resolution monitoring feature that works over UVC (USB video device class) is exclusive to Sony phones. Some features remain free, but it’s a short list – more details on the Free, Basic and Premium plans here

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