Sony Xperia turns camera monitor into subscription: Difference between revisions

Sony Implements Subscription Paywall: Added exhaustive list of affected camera models.
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The feature was marketed as a built-in capability of Xperia phones. This appealed to professional photographers & videographers already invested in Sony's camera ecosystem. Xperia models including the 1 IV, 1 V, 1 VI, 5 V, PRO, & PRO-I all shipped with the External Monitor app pre-installed at no additional cost.<ref name="xda">{{cite web |date=2025-08-26 |title=External Monitor Functionality Changes on Xperia 1 VII (and Later) |url=https://xdaforums.com/t/external-monitor-functionality-changes-on-xperia-1-vii-and-later.4748765/ |publisher=XDA Forums |access-date=2025-09-02}}</ref>
The feature was marketed as a built-in capability of Xperia phones. This appealed to professional photographers & videographers already invested in Sony's camera ecosystem. Xperia models including the 1 IV, 1 V, 1 VI, 5 V, PRO, & PRO-I all shipped with the External Monitor app pre-installed at no additional cost.<ref name="xda">{{cite web |date=2025-08-26 |title=External Monitor Functionality Changes on Xperia 1 VII (and Later) |url=https://xdaforums.com/t/external-monitor-functionality-changes-on-xperia-1-vii-and-later.4748765/ |publisher=XDA Forums |access-date=2025-09-02}}</ref>


==Sony Implements Subscription Paywall==
==Sony implements subscription paywall==
On August 26, 2025, Sony released Monitor & Control app version 2.4.0, which moved the External Monitor functionality behind a subscription paywall.<ref name="reddit">{{cite web |author=super_hot_juice |date=2025-08-26 |title=Xperia External Monitor feature is now subscription feature in Monitor & Control 2.4 app |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/1n47leu/comment/nbj7zj4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button |access-date=2025-09-02 |publisher=Reddit r/SonyXperia}}</ref> The new pricing structure requires users to pay $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for the "Basic" plan to get access to wired monitoring functionality that was previously free.<ref name="creatorscloud">{{cite web |title=Monitor & Control {{!}} Creators' Cloud |url=https://creatorscloud.sony.net/catalog/en-us/monitorcontrol/index.html |publisher=Sony Corporation |access-date=2025-09-02}}</ref>
On August 26, 2025, Sony released Monitor & Control app version 2.4.0, which moved the External Monitor functionality behind a subscription paywall.<ref name="reddit">{{cite web |author=super_hot_juice |date=2025-08-26 |title=Xperia External Monitor feature is now subscription feature in Monitor & Control 2.4 app |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/comments/1n47leu/comment/nbj7zj4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button |access-date=2025-09-02 |publisher=Reddit r/SonyXperia}}</ref> The new pricing structure requires users to pay $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year for the "Basic" plan to get access to wired monitoring functionality that was previously free.<ref name="creatorscloud">{{cite web |title=Monitor & Control {{!}} Creators' Cloud |url=https://creatorscloud.sony.net/catalog/en-us/monitorcontrol/index.html |publisher=Sony Corporation |access-date=2025-09-02}}</ref>