Insta360 Flow 2 Pro: A device to help you be in ‘ready, steady, shoot’ mode

In its folded state, the Flow 2 Pro is remarkably small, and packed away into the bundled soft cloth drawstring bag, it fits easily in jacket pockets or the smallest of bags. Despite being lightweight (350g), build quality and weight distribution with a smartphone attached is excellent, and the hinges, the anti-slip handle and the buttons all feel premium in use. Untwist the hinge and the Flow 2 Pro snaps into action, and all you have to do is secure your smartphone in the clamp, which magnetically attaches to the gimbal arm with a satisfying clicking sound. And since it's magnetic, you can quickly remove your phone if you want to check your socials or post a quick video, for example, without unclamping the mount. Just the ease with which it unfolds and is ready to shoot ensures that you don’t miss any key bits of footage.

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As with all Insta360 products, there are thoughtful design decisions peppered all over, from the built-in tripod legs that can be pulled out to stand the gimbal upright on a stable surface to the small convex mirror on the phone clamp which lets you take higher resolution videos and selfies via the rear camera. The gimbal even has a telescoping handle which extends out to a maximum of 8.3 inches from the base, when you need it to act as a selfie stick.

And the coolest bit – if you’re running low on phone battery, the gimbal even doubles up as an emergency power bank via the built-in 1100mAh battery and keeps the show going. Battery life, at roughly 10 hours of use, is middle of the pack, though I find it acceptable given how Insta360 has kept the package super portable for travel.

Control of the gimbal arm is via the joystick and the control ring, and the gimbal stabilizes in one of three modes: Follow (keeps the roll axis fixed), Pan Follow (keeps the tilt and roll axis fixed for panning shots) and FPV mode (all three axes move, allowing for point of view or drone-like movements. Or the Free Tilt mode, which lets you freely tilt the camera up and down to capture everything in a single, continuous shot, right from a low pets-eye view to an overhead shot. On the other side of the handle is a trigger-style button - single tapping it turns subject tracking on and off, double tapping resets the phone to a level central position and triple-tapping spins the phone around, so it quickly faces the opposite direction. Even if none of these controls and modes make sense to you right now, the Flow 2 Pro setup process on the Insta360 app walks you through a detailed tutorial, guiding you through the various buttons and dials, as well as many of the gimbal features.

Now, while there’s nothing stopping Android users from slapping their Galaxies and Pixels onto the Flow 2 Pro, Insta360 makes it clear at various points that the device was made primarily with the iPhone in mind. Not only is there an optional MagSafe adapter that you can attach to the gimbal so that your iPhone attaches directly (sans clamp), but the device is also among the first gimbals to support Apple’s DockKit technology, which opens up native gimbal features across more than 200 camera apps on iOS, including the default Camera app found on all iPhones. Android users should ideally default to the Insta360 app, and that’s often been my choice on the iPhone as well simply on account of the insane number of features it unlocks…and how easy it is to use. The app offers extensive editing features, is intuitively laid out and really eases the process of mastering the use of the gimbal.

Now, while footage captured via the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Pixel 9 Pro XL mounted atop the Flow 2 Pro was extremely smooth, even when I was out on uneven ground or running on a flat road, it’s the subject tracking that impressed me more. Drag your finger across a person or object in the app’s live view until it is selected, and the Flow 2 Pro keeps the selection in frame, even if you move the phone and gimbal. Not only does it quickly follow you around the room, it’s also smart enough to reacquire the subject after losing track for a moment, say if you duck behind a wall and then return a few seconds later – the app will continue tracking without having to reselect the subject and potentially ruin the shot.

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Coupled with the gesture controls to start/stop recording, activate single-person or multi-person tracking, just these features alone will close the deal for content creators and solo adventurers looking to pick this gimbal up. The quality of footage could even convince videographers and professional movie makers looking for a portable gimbal for their B-roll footage. All in all, an outstanding, purpose-built device that thoroughly transforms your everyday shooting, while staying compact enough for you to take it everywhere and actually use across a plethora of shooting scenarios. A perfect accessory for solo shooters who like to work efficiently and fast, and once you’re got the hang of it, it won’t leave your everyday carry.