Running Iris Fully Local — A Step-by-Step Guide to a Cloud-Free Deployment

This guide walks through every surface that can quietly pull data from the cloud and gives you a clear, step-by-step formula for shutting that door.

Written for users of any experience level. Terms are defined the first time they appear, and every setting is shown with the exact place in the Iris user interface (UI) where you'll find it.

A common misunderstanding sounds like this:

"I switched my Studio to Local Mode, so my video isn't going through the cloud."

That's only partly true. Local Mode controls how one device routes its video. It does not, by itself, prevent other users, other cameras, or a different access path from pulling that same video through the cloud. To run a truly local deployment, you need to lock down every surface where cloud routing can happen — not just flip a single toggle.
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This article identifies each of those surfaces, explains what they do in plain language, and gives you a step-by-step formula for closing them all.

A few terms come up repeatedly. If any of these are new, this section is for you.

You'll need:

If you currently have Iris Enabled cameras linked to your Studio and need fully local operation, plan to remove or unlink them — see Step 2 below.

Before the steps, here's the full list of places where data can move through the cloud. If even one of these is active in your Studio, you are not fully local. Each of the steps that follow exists to address one of these surfaces.

The shortcut to remember. If a path involves a browser, the internet, or an Iris Enabled camera, it's a cloud surface. Local-only means: desktop app + LAN-connected cameras + everyone on the same network.

Follow these steps in order. After the last step, your Studio is fully local and locked against accidental cloud routing.
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The desktop app is the only client that supports Local Mode. The web app, regardless of what your Studio settings say, always uses Cloud Mode.
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On every machine — your Bridge computer, every collaborator's computer, and any monitoring or director station — install the Iris desktop app from dl.tryiris.ai.
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No browsers. A single teammate using studio.tryiris.ai in a browser is enough to pull video through the cloud for their session, even if your Studio is otherwise local. The browser path must be off-limits for fully local operation.
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Where in the UI to confirm: open the desktop app. The Iris window should be a standalone application, not a browser tab. The application icon appears in your dock or taskbar.

Iris Enabled cameras link to your Studio using the Iris Enabled protocol, which connects over the internet through Iris's cloud. They run as Embedded Bridges and currently operate in Cloud Mode only. There is no way to make them fully local today.

For a cloud-free deployment, use standard cameras connected to your local network through any of these supported paths:

Each of these connects through a Desktop Bridge — a regular computer running the Iris desktop app — instead of phoning home through the cloud.
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Where in the UI to check what you have:

To unlink an Iris Enabled camera:

Once unlinked, that camera will no longer connect to your Studio at all.
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Why this matters. If even one Iris Enabled camera is connected, the Mode toggle in your Studio will be locked to Cloud Mode automatically. Local Mode is unavailable as long as any Embedded Bridge is in your Studio.

Local Mode requires that the device you're operating on and the Bridge computer share the same local network — same Wi-Fi network, same wired LAN, or same VLAN with discovery permitted.
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This is true for every collaborator, not just the operator. If a collaborator is on a different network — even another network in the same building — their session falls back to Cloud Mode.
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Where in the UI to confirm:

If you see Online (cloud) when you expected local, the most common causes are:

Resolve the network issue, then re-check the Bridge panel.

With every machine on the same network and the desktop app installed, Iris should auto-switch to Local Mode the moment your Bridge is reachable. But you should verify, not assume.
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Where in the UI:

If you see the cloud icon and want to be in Local Mode, click the toggle. A confirmation dialog appears reading "Enable Local Mode? Local mode uses only your local network to ingest video. Your sources will no longer be streamed from the Cloud."
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Click Enable Local Mode.

Wait for the toggle to settle. You'll see a notification: "Local Mode activated on [Bridge Name] — Sources for this bridge will now route over your Local network."

💡 The 30-second safety net. If the switch can't complete within about 30 seconds, Iris reverts to whichever mode you started in. So if Local Mode keeps reverting back to Cloud, that's a signal the LAN connection isn't actually working — go back to Step 3.

This is the step that turns a current Local Mode session into a permanent policy. Locking the Studio prevents anyone — including future collaborators, browser users, and remote users — from connecting via Cloud Mode. The Mode toggle becomes disabled for every user of the Studio.

Only Admins and Owners can lock a Studio. Producers and below cannot.

Where in the UI:

That's it. The Mode toggle is now grayed out for every user, including you. Cloud Mode is unavailable until an Admin or Owner unlocks the Studio.

What other people experience after you lock:

This is your guarantee against accidental cloud pull. Without the lock, any user can flip the Mode toggle back to Cloud Mode mid-production. With it locked, no one can — not even by mistake.
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To unlock later (if your needs change):

If you record sessions, confirm that recordings are saving to a folder on the Bridge computer's local disk, not to a cloud destination. Local recording is the default, but it's worth checking.
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Where in the UI:

Recordings written to local disk never traverse the cloud. They are produced by the Bridge computer and saved on the Bridge computer.

After completing all six steps, run through this quick checklist. If every line passes, you're fully local.

If any line fails, return to the corresponding step.

A few patterns we see often, with the fix:
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"I locked the Studio to Local Mode, but my colleague says they can still use the browser." They cannot — but they may be confused by what they see. After the lock, the browser shows a dialog directing them to the desktop app. Their attempt still happens in the browser, but no Studio session opens. Confirm with them by checking the active users list in your Studio: if they're not listed, they didn't actually get in.
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"I unlinked an Iris Enabled camera, but the Mode toggle is still locked to Cloud." There may be more than one Embedded Bridge connected. Open the Bridge panel and confirm every entry is labeled Desktop Bridge. Unlink any remaining Embedded Bridges.
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"My session keeps falling back to Cloud Mode every few minutes." This usually means an unstable LAN connection between your machine and the Bridge. Iris falls back to Cloud Mode automatically when it loses sight of the Bridge over LAN. Check Wi-Fi signal strength, or move to a wired connection. The fallback exists for a reason — it keeps your Studio working — but it does mean you'll briefly route through cloud during the dropout. If the lock-to-local setting is on, the fallback to Cloud Mode is suppressed and the session will simply disconnect until LAN is restored.
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"I disabled cloud quota in my plan settings — does that prevent cloud routing?" No. Plan-level quota is about billing, not routing. Disabling quota does not block Cloud Mode; it only changes what you're charged for. The only way to actually prevent cloud routing is the steps in this article.
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"We're using a VPN to keep things private — do we still need Local Mode?" A VPN encrypts traffic but doesn't change which servers it goes through. If your VPN routes you off your LAN, Iris will still classify your session as Cloud Mode. Use Local Mode in addition to (not instead of) any other network controls.

Yes — when the desktop app detects a Bridge on the same local network, it auto-switches to Local Mode without you doing anything. The lock step is what makes it stick across all users and sessions.
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Auto-Tracking, Magic Movement Tools, Position Presets, recording, multi-user collaboration, and full camera control all work in Local Mode. The features that don't work in Local Mode are remote-access features by definition — the ability to operate from outside the venue, and the use of Iris Enabled cameras.
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Yes. An Admin or Owner can unlock at any time, run the remote session in Cloud Mode, and re-lock when finished. Be aware that during the unlocked window, video routing is no longer guaranteed to stay local.
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Per-Studio. Each Studio has its own lock state. If you have multiple Studios and want them all fully local, lock each one individually.
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Local Mode does not require the internet to keep working — your video continues routing over your LAN regardless. You will, however, lose the ability to authenticate new users into the Studio while the internet is down, since sign-in goes through Iris's account servers. Existing signed-in sessions continue.
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Recordings written to a local disk destination on the Bridge computer stay on that disk. They are not uploaded automatically. If you later choose to upload them, that's a separate, manual action.
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In a fully local deployment, your video frames travel only between your cameras, your Bridge, and your client machines, all on your LAN. They do not transit Iris's servers. Account metadata (who is signed in, Studio configuration, license state) does still synchronize with Iris's servers when you have internet — that's how user permissions and licensing stay current. The video itself is local.
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For now, yes. Local Mode support for Embedded Bridges is on the product roadmap but not shipping today. If your environment requires fully local operation, plan around standard cameras instead.
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No. The presence of any Iris Enabled camera in a Studio forces the Mode toggle to Cloud Mode. The two are mutually exclusive today.