How To Turn An Old Android Phone Into A Security Camera

If the idea of a networked security camera that you can remotely view and receive alerts from appeals to y'all (only the $$$ of a commercial model does non), read on as we show you how to turn older generation Android phones into sophisticated security cameras.

Why Would I Want to Do This?

Well, we hate to presume, but we imagine y'all opened this tutorial because you lot have something you want to continue on eye on. Whether that'south your backdoor to picket for delivered packages, your new ferret cage to see if Mr. Winks actually uses the super-deluxe hammock lounge on the pinnacle floor, or your kids in the backyard while you're in the house tidying upwardly, is your business.

We're just here to assistance you exercise it cheaply with sometime hardware you likely have laying around already (or can learn hands off eBay). The Android telephone nosotros used for the tutorial, an HTC Hero, can be picked upwardly off eBay for $20-25—a fraction of the price of Wi-Fi security cameras, and the phone will offer a radically more customizable user feel.

What Practice I Demand?

For this tutorial you'll need the following things:

I Android Phone with Camera.
I charging cable.
One copy of IP Webcam (Gratuitous) (for continuous streaming).
One re-create of SECuRET SpyCam ($4.50) (for motion-activated capture and alerts).
Access to a Wi-Fi network local to the Android phone.
(Optional) Remote access to the Wi-Fi network to monitor continuous video feed abroad from dwelling/piece of work.

Why two unlike camera applications? During our testing we had trouble finding an application that could both stream continuous video in an effective and like shooting fish in a barrel to admission manner and consequence move-detection alerts finer. Rather than have y'all set up a camera system that'southward just kind of mediocre at both tasks, nosotros're highlighting a two prong approach where y'all tin select the all-time app for your needs and desired level of monitoring.

If you lot want to get a notice whenever someone, say, drops a packet off on your porch or opens your back gate, follow along with the first portion of our tutorial that details setting up SECuRET SpyCam.

If you want to generate a continuous live stream, like yous would if yous wanted to be able to continually check in on the results of an experiment or children playing in the backyard, follow along with the second portion of our tutorial detailing how to set upwardly IP Webcam.

In addition, there are a few things worth noting earlier we proceed. First, this tutorial is focused entirely on the software side of things. Considering each physical telephone and location of installation will exist unique, information technology's an exercise for the reader to observe their own mounting solution for their Android phone-turned-security camera. In our testing we used a suction-cup mount intended to mountain the phone to a machine windshield as information technology worked well to mount the camera to windows and shine surfaces.

Second, if you want to access your camera from exterior the network we recommend doing then in a secure way. Configuring a VPN is outside of the scope of today's tutorial simply nosotros have plenty of great tutorials on How-To Geek including How to Connect to a VPN on Android and How to Setup a VPN Server Using a DD-WRT Router to get yous started.

Finally, if you are reusing 1 of your old phones we would strongly recommend performing a factory reset on the device then updating information technology to the most current version of Android available. Stability is important when deploying a device such every bit a security photographic camera, so removing whatsoever extra applications, freeing upwardly as much memory as possible, and running the well-nigh recent stable Android release for your device are all of import considerations. Refer to the documentation for your specific phone to reset information technology and update Android.

Configuring SECuRET SpyCam

In all our tests of Android motion-detection software, SECuRET SpyCam came out alee in every category. Its movement detection algorithms were the well-nigh consistent, information technology features tons of private settings y'all tin refine to aid it work with the widest number of devices, it also features email and Twitter based notification likewise as automated Dropbox-uploading, besides as the ability to capture not just photos just video segments besides.

First, grab a copy of SECuRET SpyCam in the Play Store and install it to your device—if you lot're wary of purchasing an app without test driving information technology beginning there is a demo copy available here.

Subsequently you have installed the application, launch it to begin the configuration procedure:

In the upper right hand corner of the display, adjacent to the assistance icon, is the settings menu icon. Click on the settings menu. In our testing we found that leaving the majority of the default settings solitary was ideal; notwithstanding there are several settings that demand configuration right out of the gate.

The outset important decision is to decide whether y'all want the security photographic camera to capture still photos or video segments when triggered. Navigate to General –> Motion Capture Fashion –> and select either Photo or Video. Although we tested both functions, for the purposes of this tutorial we're configuring the camera for photo capture.

While nevertheless in the General carte du jour, select Photograph Settings to configure photo and notification settings.

Hither you can opt for a colour or blackness and white photograph, what resolution you want the photos to exist taken in (lower resolution if y'all're just monitoring the UPS guy coming and going, higher resolution if you hope to capture a license plate or other identifying information), as well every bit whether or not your desire the camera to capture multiple exposures of each triggered moment (you lot tin can set the outburst capture mode up to 5 photos per trigger).

Finally under the Deportment section you tin turn on Electronic mail and Twitter notification. While there may exist some application for live Tweeting your security camera images, nosotros're more interested in configuring the e-mail service.

Select E-mail, and then check Car Email Captures, so plug in the credentials for a Gmail account. Finally, plug in a delivery address for the alerts. Y'all can customize the email'southward Subject/Bulletin lines, merely we found no particular need to do so.

The next step is to configure Dropbox syncing. By default all captures are stored on the local device (and emailed to you if accept electronic mail alerts enabled). Nosotros want to go a footstep further and sync the captures to Dropbox so we have a user-friendly backup and, should the device itself go taken, we still take the photos. Navigate to General –> Dropbox to plug in your Dropbox login information and settings.

First, check Auto Sync Captures, then click Log In to authenticate SECuRET SpyCam with your Dropbox business relationship. The concluding setting is to select whether y'all desire the Dropbox syncing to occur over Wi-Fi but or via Wi-Fi and your cellular information plan.

Now that nosotros've configured the basics, it's fourth dimension to exam the photographic camera out. We strongly recommend not messing around with the default settings until you've actually tried out your organisation—in almost every instance the default settings worked fine for united states and required no farther tinkering.

Leave back to the main menu and select Built-in Camera and printing Start.

Once you printing start you'll see a screen like the one in a higher place—the smaller screen in the upper left hand corner is in that location to display the motion detection algorithm in action.

Since it's a rather dreary, snowy, and gray day outside, we're going to use something a picayune more colorful for our test subjects this afternoon: some African Cichlids. Not only are the Yellow Lab exam subjects brightly colored simply they're extremely curious fish and we know it won't take long for them to investigate the camera attached to the side of their tank. To get-go the bodily detection mode tap the screen and and then printing the play button that appears in the lower card bar.

It only takes a minute or two of waiting before one of the fish swims over to investigate:

The image is captured, stored to the device, and then an email alert is issued forth with the file syncing to our Dropbox account. The e-mail alerts are uncomplicated but they get the task done:

That'south all at that place is to information technology; once you've washed the difficult work of configuring the app and positioning your camera, there's nothing left to do but bank check in on it periodically to make certain it hasn't fallen off the window or been unplugged.

Configuring IP Webcam

While SECuRET SpyCam was our favorite pick for movement-based capture, it has one glaring oversight which prevented information technology from beingness a one-stop-shop for our Android security camera needs: it doesn't include a elementary streaming function. If y'all want a security camera you lot can continuously monitor (not only see when it bug you an alert) you'll need to install a streaming application for that purpose. Fortunately there is a well established, costless, and robust solution in IP Webcam.

IP Webcam is a perfect tool for turning your Android device into a streaming security camera. You can monitor the video feed (and take photos from the camera) using any modern spider web browser, utilise complimentary cam viewers like IP Cam Viewer to monitor the photographic camera from other Android devices, connect it into Skype, and even stream it right into media players like VLC.

Before nosotros start actively monitoring the feed, however, let'southward do some basic configuration (IP Webcam is fifty-fifty easier to setup than SECuRet SpyCam). First, install the application from the Play Store. Once the awarding is installed, launch it, and you'll be dumped right into the configuration console—seen in a higher place.

Much like nosotros left the defaults alone in the previous section of the tutorial, we're going to exercise the same here—once you accept tested the camera yous can begin tweaking settings to meet your needs if necessary. Of the few settings we are going to tweak, the get-go is to scroll downwards and check Stream on device boot, nosotros want our security camera to turn back on in the event that the Android device crashes and restarts.

The 2nd setting worth looking into right away is the login/password setting. Since we're the only ones with access to our Wi-Fi network, we opted to make setting upward and deploying our device easier by skipping this pace.

Once y'all've tweaked these basic settings it'south time to position your device and offset up the server. Ringlet to the bottom of the configuration panel and click Beginning server.

You'll see a screen like the ane above—minus the fish of grade, unless you're also setting up your telephone to monitor an aquarium.

At this signal you need the IP address and port number of the server. It'south printed on the lesser of the screen (you tin likewise click How do I connect? in the upper left mitt corner. Navigating to the address provided yields a unproblematic HTML folio like then:

In that location you'll notice feed links and/or instructions for connecting IP Webcam to a wide multifariousness of viewing sources including streaming information technology to media players, watching it direct in your browser via the Java plugin, and linking it to Android-based camera viewing apps. The fastest way to start monitoring the feed is to use the built-in Java view like so:

Information technology's non particularly elegant just it displays the video with very little lag. The solution nosotros preferred was to open the video stream in popular video application VLC past running VLC, navigating to Media –> Open up Network Stream, and plugging in the playlist link: http://ten.x.ten.x:8080/playlist.m3u, where 10.x.x.x is the camera'south address on the local network:

Watching it through VLC made it extremely piece of cake to hitting the record push button to record a video of anything interesting that might crop up.

That's all there is to it: with IP Webcam once yous have the server up and running on the phone and you've selected 1 of the many viewing methods to peek in on your photographic camera, you're done.

Take a nifty idea for repurposing an old Android phone? Want to encounter more than articles about reusing onetime hardware? Audio off in the comments with ideas or shoot us an e-mail at tips@howtogeek.com to let the states know.