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How to do the lightning hands effect

To do the lightning hands effect on your phone, open Mote, pick Lightning and raise both hands with your fingers spread and palms facing each other: lightning jumps from fingertip to fingertip in the live camera, with no editing.

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AI-generated actor · real Mote effect, recorded in the app

The gesture, step by step

  1. Open Mote and pick Lightning.
  2. Raise both hands with your fingers spread, palms facing each other.
  3. Bring them closer for bigger lightning.

Pinch, or press your palms together, to switch the look without stopping the shot.

  • Plasma
  • Rainbow
  • Ice
  • Void

What makes it work

Live hand tracking
Mote tracks your fingertips in every camera frame and jumps the lightning between them, so it follows your hands as they move. Bringing your hands closer makes it bigger.
No editing
The effect is drawn on the live camera, so the clip you record already has it.
Phones
iPhone (iOS 16.0 or later) and Android (Android 7.0 or later).
Price
Mote Pro (free download; Bubble, Light Trails and Web are free).
Recording
Up to 15 seconds free, 60 seconds with Pro. Save to Photos, or from Mote 1.3.0 share straight to Instagram Stories.

Questions

Is the Lightning effect free?

Lightning is part of Mote Pro. Mote itself is free to download, and Bubble (iPhone), Light Trails and Web are free to use. Mote Pro is a weekly subscription with a 3-day free trial for eligible new subscribers, an annual plan or a one-time lifetime purchase; prices are shown in the app before you buy.

Do I need to edit the video to get the lightning effect?

No. Mote draws Lightning on the live camera while you film, using real-time hand tracking. What you see on screen is what gets recorded, so there is no timeline, keyframing or green screen.

Which phones can do the lightning effect?

Lightning works in Mote on iPhone (iOS 16 or later) and Android (Android 7.0 or later). On a phone where live hand tracking cannot start, Mote falls back to the Web effect.

Can I share it to Instagram or TikTok?

Yes. Record the clip in Mote, save it to Photos, and post it anywhere. From Mote 1.3.0 there is also a Share to Story button that sends the clip straight to Instagram Stories.

Do I need an account?

No. Mote works without an account, and hand tracking runs on your phone; camera frames are not uploaded.

More hand effects

All Mote effects