ActiveTrack is the feature that turns the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 into your personal cameraman. Set the camera down, walk into frame, and the 3-axis gimbal follows you smoothly while keeping you in focus. Version 7.0 is the biggest upgrade the tracking system has received, with new modes, longer range, and gesture control. Here is everything it does and how to use it.
Watch the video above for the visual walkthrough, then use this guide as your reference for every mode and setting.
How to start and stop ActiveTrack
The basics are simple. When using the Pocket 4 on its own, double-tap your subject on the touchscreen to start basic ActiveTrack. A green target frame appears around whatever the camera locks onto. If you tap an area containing both a face and another object, the face gets priority. If you are connected to the DJI Mimo app on your phone, drag a box around your target on the phone screen instead.
To stop tracking, press the 5D joystick once or tap anywhere outside the tracking frame on the screen. That is it. The whole system is designed to be toggled in about one second, which matters when you are filming yourself and cannot fiddle with menus.
The tracking modes, explained
Basic ActiveTrack. The default. Double-tap a person, pet, vehicle, or object and the gimbal follows it, keeping it centred. ActiveTrack 7.0 holds the lock at up to 4x zoom, a big step up from earlier versions that lost subjects when you zoomed in.
Spotlight Follow. The camera tracks your subject while you keep full manual control of the gimbal with the joystick. Think of it as the camera handling the follow while you handle the framing. Great for walk-and-talk shots where you want the subject tracked but the composition under your control.
Dynamic Framing. This is the creative one. Instead of locking your subject dead centre, Dynamic Framing lets you position the tracked subject anywhere in the composition using the 5D joystick, following rules like the rule of thirds or the golden spiral. Your subject stays framed exactly where you put them while they move. This is how you get tracking shots that look intentional rather than automated.
Face Auto-Detect. In this mode, tracking starts automatically the moment you begin recording and a person is recognized. No tapping required. It is the true set-it-and-forget-it mode for solo vloggers: put the camera down, hit record, walk into frame.
FT (Selfie). Enable it in the control menu and tracking triggers automatically whenever the gimbal rotates to the selfie orientation. Flip the camera toward yourself and it starts following without any input.
Smarter autofocus: Subject Lock and Registered Priority
ActiveTrack handles where the camera points. The intelligent autofocus handles what stays sharp, and the Pocket 4 adds two features worth knowing.
Subject Lock Tracking keeps continuous focus on the person you select. Detected faces show as grey boxes on screen, and the actively focused face shows yellow. To switch to a different person mid-shot, just tap their detection frame. Simple and fast.
Registered Subject Priority goes further: you can pre-register up to three people, and the camera automatically prioritizes them for both tracking and autofocus. In a busy street or a crowded event, the camera ignores passersby and sticks to you. For solo creators filming in public, this is the feature that makes tracking actually reliable.
Gesture control: film completely hands-free
Two gestures give you hands-free control. Show your open palm to the camera to toggle ActiveTrack on or off. Flash a peace sign (the “V” gesture) to take a photo or start and stop recording. Walk up to your tripod-mounted Pocket 4, raise your palm, and it starts tracking you. No remote, no app, no running back to press record.
Tips for reliable tracking
1. Register yourself before filming in crowds. Registered Subject Priority exists for exactly this situation. Take thirty seconds to register your face and the camera will stop jumping to strangers walking through frame.
2. Use Dynamic Framing instead of centre-lock for nicer shots. A tracked subject glued to the centre of frame looks robotic. Nudge them to a third with the joystick and the same shot instantly looks like a human operator framed it.
3. Mind your zoom. Tracking now works at up to 4x zoom, but the wider your framing, the more room the gimbal has to correct before your subject leaves frame. For fast movement like sports, stay wide.
4. Re-acquire instead of fighting a lost lock. If the camera loses you behind an obstacle, do not wave at it. Just double-tap yourself on screen (or raise your palm) to re-lock. It takes one second.
5. FT (Selfie) for talking-head clips. If your content is mostly you talking to camera, enable FT (Selfie) and leave it on. Every time you flip to selfie mode, tracking is already running.
Common mistakes to avoid
Tracking the wrong person. In Face Auto-Detect mode the camera follows whoever is closest to centre frame when recording starts. If a friend steps in front of you at the wrong moment, you will get a beautifully tracked shot of the wrong person. Use Subject Lock or Registered Priority when other people are around.
Forgetting tracking is still on. ActiveTrack stays engaged until you cancel it. If you pick up the camera to reframe manually and it keeps fighting you back to the subject, press the 5D joystick once to disengage.
Expecting miracles in low light. Tracking is visual, so it degrades as light drops. The Pocket 4’s 1-inch sensor helps a lot here, but in very dark scenes keep your movements slower and your framing wider.
The bottom line
ActiveTrack 7.0 is the closest a pocket camera has come to replacing a camera operator. The combination of 4x zoom tracking, Dynamic Framing, subject registration, and palm-gesture control means a solo creator can genuinely set the Pocket 4 down and get usable tracked footage without touching it again. Learn the five-second start/stop habit and the registration feature, and it just works.
Check the current price of the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 on Amazon if you are ready to put your own cameraman in your pocket.