Your unused phones or tablets can be turned to powerful security cameras. Not only is it environmental friendly and cost-saving to repurpose your old devices, the solution also proves to be versatile and compelling. The phone is a small device with strong computing power, so it can be adopted for a rich variety of purposes, as long as you have appropriate software installed. This blog post introduces 5 best iOS apps to help you use your iPhone or iPad to protect your home, your baby or your pet.
#1 Alfred Camera - The most popular
Price: Free / $5.99 per month / $29.99 per year
The Alfred Home Security Camera, developed since 2012, is the most downloaded app for security camera. Alfred has all the standard features of a home security camera. It works amazing for video streaming feature. So if you are looking for an app mainly to check in on your main door, your baby or your pet from time to time, Alfred can help you do it. Beside video streaming, the free version also has two-way audio and motion detection. Alfred Premium includes HD video quality, zoom, AI person detection (iOS 11+ only), motion event recording up to 120s, motion detection schedule, cloud storage for 14 days and no ads.
#2 AiCam - The smartest and most secure
Price: Free / $5.99 per month / $29.99 per year
Works like a smart security camera, the AiCam app monitors for specific events using Artificial Intelligence and sends notifications. Event detection by AI is more advanced than motion detection and helps avoid unnecessary notifications caused by random movements. AiCam’s event detection modes include: person detection, face recognition, dog detection, cat detection, bird detection, vehicle detection, noise detection and device movement detection. AiCam enables automation via integration with Siri, Shortcuts app, IFTTT and Zapier.
In addition to smart alerts, AiCam also focuses on data privacy. Its AI video processing runs offline, and not online on a cloud server like most other security cameras. The app requires no registration and does not serve ads. AiCam Premium includes all event detection, facial recognition, livestreaming, HD/4K recording, iCloud integration, video export, automation (via Siri, Shortcuts, IFTTT, Zapier, …) and screen passcode.
#3 AtHome - Multi-platform streamer and viewer
Price: Free / $1.99 one-time
AtHome is another popular security camera app on iOS. To set up, you need to install two apps: the viewer and the streamer. The viewer app works on Android, iOS and Window. The streamer app is available on Android, iOS, macOS and Window. The App Store description and the in-app tutorial state that the two apps also work on smart TV, but I have not found a way to install it. It's App Store page also mentions AI-powered person detection. However, I do not find the feature in 3 AtHome apps: AtHome Camera, AtHome Camera Pro and AtHome Video Streamer. You can pay a one-time fee of $1.99 to remove ads permanently in the app.
#4 Manything - For CCTV system
Price: from $2.99 for 2 days recording / 1 camera
Manything app works both with normal IP cameras and with smartphone cameras. It serves primarily for video streaming and storage purpose without many smart features. Manything does have motion detection and activity zone, however. The app goes with a cloud adapter and cloud plans to store video footage. Pricing plans depend on the number of cameras and recording duration. The monthly plan starts from $5.99 for 1 camera. The 8-channel Videoloft cloud adapter that is affiliated with Manything app costs $109.
#5 Presence - Multi-device security system
Price: Free / $4.99 per month / $49.99 per year
If you look for the complete home security system, Presence is the choice. Unlike the other security camera apps, Presence allows you to also manage security devices like sensors, lighting bulbs, smart lock, thermostat. Regarding video surveillance, it has motion detection to trigger video recording. Presence supports multiple simultaneous viewers and video sharing to Twitter. Presence Pro provides features like 5G cloud storage, video recording over one minute, camera alarm, high-resolution video and additional privacy.
Video surveillance is a bit technical to start with. I hope this guide gives you some basic ideas of what you have to choose from.
Mai
Lead product insights at AiCam
