A handheld communication device is used to capture a video and stabilize the video during a video chat session. The device has a camera to capture a video during a video chat session that is conducted between a user of the device and a far-end user. The video includes images frames, each of the image frames containing an image of a face of the user. The device detects the position of the face in each image frame. Based on the detected position of the face, a boundary area of each image frame is cropped to produce an output video while the video is being captured. The image of the face stays substantially stationary in the output video. The output video is transmitted to the far-end user during the video chat session. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.