F8 Control 4+

Partial review based on version 1.1.0.29 of the app, tested mostly on an iPhone 5S, and also a little on iPhone 4S and an iPad 4.

I've used the app a few times to keep track of the ZOOM F8 while operating cameras during theatre performances. Doing this paid off: Once, I realised that I had misjudged the correct trim setting for two of the mics and was able to readjust them without making my way to the theatre's tech booth, where I had set up the F8 (close to the multicore XLR cable which had all my mic signals).

a couple of negative points I noticed:

- it's a bit too easy to accidentally stop a running recording. Though this didn't happen to me during the actual performances, since I took extra care while handling the iPhone. I would welcome a safety lock (like the iPhone's own unlock slide) for critical bits such as the stop button, or the input trims, to prevent accidentally spoiling a recording.

- it's possible to activate the "move to FALSE TAKE Folder" shortcut by long-pressing the rewind button on the iPhone/iPad. However, the confirmation asking whether I really want to do it pops up on the zoom's LCD, not on the iPhone! That's only useful if the F8 is sitting right in front of you, easily accessible.

- there are a number of F8 menus that become unavailable (greyed out) once the app takes control. Those are:
Finder, Metadata, Input, Rec, SD card, USB.

This would be OK if the entire greyed out menus were then accessible from within the app, however not all functions made it across. It's likely that you need to exit Bluetooth mode at some point, just to make a setting on the F8 itself when the app doesn't support it.

The finder view on the iPad is less useful than the zoom f8 screen; the latter displays the filenames left and the information (TC, Len, Format etc) right. The iPad, despite the huge screen size, doesn't. You have to tap "i" to get the same information about each file. The False Takes folder is hidden in the iPad, and it's not possible to create new folders.

The metadata menu has wandered into the app's REC / Next Take submenu. Not all the options made it there though, for example, the take name format cannot be changed. The "history" list for scene names and notes isn't available in the app.

The input menu (accessible via a track's PFL button in the app) seems to be almost complete. However the input trim link is missing. Once enabled from outside the app, it works. But then can no longer be disabled from within the app.

The REC menu is missing the prerecording feature and the File Max Size setting, as well as dual channel recording. The app however is aware when dual channel recording is enabled: it displays a "D1/2/etc" instead of the real channel number.

The SD card menu is missing completely. Make sure you've formatted and tested your cards before switching to Bluetooth control. A shame really, this looks like a missed opportunity to display much more detail about the card performance tests... Why not show proper performance graphs?

The USB menu is also missing in the app. But fair enough ... App control will probably be less useful while the F8 is being used as an audio interface.

- though changing the "next take" name is possible, it's a little too cumbersome for field use. It's 4 taps away from the main screen, but it needs to be merely 1 or 2 away.

- I mostly controlled the F8 from and iPhone 5S. Though the app is supported for the iPhone 4S, I found it to be almost useless for that. Apparently Zoom couldn't find a proper way of fitting the GUI into the lesser screen size of the 4S, so they left out a whole load of controls. Basically, all you can do with the 4S is this: enable/disable recording tracks, monitor input levels, battery status, recording time, SD card space, and start/stop recording or playback. Changing the monitor mix or input trims is no longer possible, and the menus are also not accessible.

- if you have more than one iDevice, you're likely to run into a situation where you're locked out of controlling the F8 via Bluetooth altogether. Then you need to go into the BT settings, press the "i" beside the Zoom F8, and say "forget this device"; once you've done that, you can reconnect from the app. You can't control the F8 from two iDevices simultaneously.

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Minor update to this review: Having recorded location sound on a film shoot (rather than the music ensemble recording I mostly use the F8 for), I can confirm that the app isn't all that useful on set. The fact that using the app locks you out of various controls on the device is unacceptable in the sometimes hectic surroundings of a film set. Even just ejecting yourself out of Bluetooth mode to unlock the required settings takes those extra few seconds too long.

Firmware 3.2 doesn't improve the control lockout situation (my initial review was based on F8 Firmware 2.0).
The newly introduced key inhibit feature in FW3 (using the buttons stop+CH8) doesn't apply to the app. Everything can still be operated even when the physical keys are locked. As I mentioned back then, a partial lock on some of the app features (especially, pressing Stop accidentally) would be useful.

It would also be useful if operating most of the device's shortcuts didn't bring the inherent risk of stopping a running recording. However, that's related to the recorder and not the app.

Man muss beim Zoom F8n in den Einstellungen unter Bluetooth Device auf iOS 13 umstellen, danach funktioniert die Verbindung zur App plötzlich hervorragend.
Lediglich eine kleine Verbesserung habe ich anzumerken:
es wäre schön, wenn man als blinder Nutzer hören könnte, ob ein Kanal ein- oder ausgeschaltet ist. Dankeschön.

Danke für das Update. Allerdings ist bei iOS 14 keine Passworteingabe möglich/nötig