6 ms·

Tell HN: Repurposing old iPads as home security cameras

126 points by evo_9 4y ago

Last month I asked[0] what could be done with an old iPad; the responses led me to discover Alfred Home Security[0] and It's exactly what I was looking for. The winning feature being, you can repurpose any old iOS device as a camera. I have since used the app with 2 old iPads, and an iPhone 7 Plus. Works better than I expect, really nicely done app. The motion detection is spot-on. I've been mostly using this to see what our new very shy kitten is up to since we've only seen him twice in 5 weeks; basically he's impossible to find during the day and only comes out to play after we're asleep. The videos are super fun / cute, and it's nice to see he's having fun and in good health! [3] Alfred Security also make a impressive, very inexpensive camera ($34 US, 1080P, night vision, 130 degree viewing angle and easy to mount). I just received 3 of the 4. TLDR: last month I wanted to know what was the best use for old iPads /iOS devices, and I've since discovered Alfred Home Security[1]. Supported Devices[2]: Android: Android 4.4 or above (For a better experience, operating systems above Android 5 are highly recommended) iOS: iOS 10 or above Original post: [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418 [1] https://alfred.camera/ https://alfred.camera/ [2] https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039755571-What-devices-and-systems-do-AlfredCamera-support- https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039755... [3] https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5 https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5 * I have nothing to do, nor any affiliation with Alfred other than pay for and use their products. * Original Post is locked; I couldn't post this information there. * Updated with devices / link, and kitty video link (this is off an old iPad, not the Alfred Camera), and formatting.

BigBalli 4y ago
In case anyone else wondered (like me), iOS10 minimum means it ill run on: iPhone 5 and later, iPad (4th generation) and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Mini (2nd generation) and later, iPod Touch (6th generation)
psim1 4y ago
I was excited to read this Tell HN, but quickly deflated. I have an original iPad without a camera. :(
- mysterydip 4y ago
  I started using mine for cheap IoT devices that needed some random app installed to run. I didn't want that garbage on my main phone, but many of them still work on older devices. So I made an account that just uses these apps, nothing else for the email etc.
- downrightmike 4y ago
  Yeah, they abandoned Gen1 pretty quick
pfoof 4y ago
What is the lowest iOS/Android version required for it?
- evo_9 4y ago
  I updated the main comment above with this info too: Android: Android 4.4 or above (For a better experience, operating systems above Android 5 are highly recommended) iOS: iOS 10 or above
logicalmonster 4y ago
Why not leave it on your coffee table with a few games and home automation tools?
mtlynch 4y ago
This is cool! Thanks for sharing. >I've been mostly using this to see what our new very shy kitten is up to... The videos are super fun / cute, and it's nice to see he's having fun and in good health! No links to videos? The cruelty of this post!
- evo_9 4y ago
  Doh, I actually meant to include this in the original above: https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5 https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5
  - mtlynch 4y ago
    Much appreciated! He's a very cute kitten.
jb1991 4y ago
I would want something like this that also records the activity for quick review later at high speed.
- jb1991 4y ago
  looks like that feature is coming: https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4464006151834-Continuous-Recording https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/446400615...
evo_9 4y ago
Update: Camera setup / experience. The cameras are quite nice, the 130 degree viewing angle makes a huge difference over the built-in iOS camera devices I had been using. The resolution / refresh rate is nice too. The video loads up very fast, I'd say withing 5 seconds. I wonder if I can mount one of these outside. That might be the only 'short-coming', for a security solution they need to provide an outdoor camera, or enclosure for these (presumable) indoor cameras. The cameras are new, though, so I'm sure they are eyeing Ring and are working on more products. Either way, something to keep in mind that didn't occur to me until now (no easy outdoor camera solution currently). Also – the setup is very easy / smooth. The camera 'talks' and you have audio prompts to guide you through pairing. It's pretty slick. I'm impressed, I'll be buying a few more for my wife's retail shop.
- prawn 4y ago
  Anyone (else) know of an affordable weather-proof trail-cam? I want to record the nightly possums running across our roof to show the kids.
voisin 4y ago
Is there anything like this that allows the same features for old MacBooks?
- evo_9 4y ago
  They also have a web page, that should work on an old Mac: https://alfred.camera/webapp/camera https://alfred.camera/webapp/camera
- speedgoose 4y ago
  The energy cost of running an old MacBook, I assume an Intel one, may not be financially worth it. It’s probably not too bad during winter if you use electricity to heat your home and don’t have a heat pump because you will enjoy the heat. But otherwise, it’s going to be expensive.
jollofricepeas 4y ago
Wish I could hide like a kitten sometimes: I remember having a very shy kitten. To our surprise we found out that he had discovered that he could climb into an old, hardly used dresser that we used as a linen cabinet. He would climb up the empty cavity space between the drawers and back wall of the dresser to then sleep in a drawer.
- coreyisthename 4y ago
  When one of our cats was a kit, he managed to find a hole in the bottom of our box springs and would sleep in there. Once we figured out where his hidey hole was, it was cute, but the first time led to us being sure he was gone forever.
osigurdson 4y ago
I've a vague notion that one day I would make a cloud service where people send in old iPhone 4/5/6, old iPads and various common old/unused hardware. You would get (lots) of credits for sending in your old devices. Not sure it would be successful but it would be fun to make - and fun to use for cheap little projects.
gnicholas 4y ago
So is the $34 fee a one-time fee, and it works across all devices linked to your iCloud account? If so, that makes this tip much more useful for folks with several old devices. How does the night vision work? I assume it's not nearly as good as IR-enhanced night vision on other security cams? Can you use Alfred in combination with HomeKit or IFTTT to trigger lights to turn on? EDIT: I'm seeing pricing of $30/yr, not $34 as a one-time fee. Am I looking in the wrong place? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alfred-home-security-camera/id966460837 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alfred-home-security-camera/id...
- evo_9 4y ago
  $34 is for the physical camera you can buy from them now; you are correct the yearly unlocked subscription is $30, my bad I should have noted the pricing above.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    Wait, so how does this use an old iPad? I assumed that this app turned my old iPad into a security camera. Is that not the case? I can buy a Wyze camera for $30 and get notifications with no monthly fee (or pay a fee and get more cloud storage). I honestly don't understand how this app is a good use of my old iPad. How is an iPad even involved? Wouldn't I view the video from my phone?
    - jonobird1 4y ago
      Have a read of the Alfred website and your questions will be answered.
      - gnicholas 4y ago
        I did. It says stuff like > Everyone deserves peace of mind, so we made security easy and free for everyone. which lets me know that it's not a useful source of accurate information. A quick look at the App Store page shows that there are many IAPs, including fairly expensive subscriptions. If I have a choice of paying $30/yr to enable my iPad to be a security camera, or $30 one time to buy a Wyze (which has IR sensors/lights), then I'm going to go with the latter every time.
password4321 4y ago
Clickable: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418
ataru 4y ago
I tried a similar phone app years ago but it crashed almost every day, which made it impractical. I'm not sure why it should work now as phones aren't designed to run continuously for long periods without attention from a user.
timkpaine 4y ago
I was in the same situation recently and decided on weather / spotify remote control split screen with a desk mount https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16068 https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16068 useful when combined with the spotify headless app that was on here recently
theden 4y ago
Another use-case for old iPads would be to run altstore (https://altstore.io/ https://altstore.io/) and install emulators for retro gaming
- ace2358 4y ago
  Do you know if there are any good instructions for installing alt store on an AppleTV?
  - theden 4y ago
    They have some useful links on this page https://wiki.provenance-emu.com/installation-and-usage/installing-provenance/sideloading https://wiki.provenance-emu.com/installation-and-usage/insta... but I've never tried it myself since I don't own an Apple TV Also some discussion here https://github.com/rileytestut/AltStore/issues/1037 https://github.com/rileytestut/AltStore/issues/1037
gpas 4y ago
I've used Alfred some time ago on an old android phone to catch who was throwing cigarette butts in my backyard. The app worked flawlessly, the relations with my neighbors not so much.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  What is it with smokers being the most rampant littering offenders? The average person would never consider throwing a chips packet on the ground even if no one was looking, but smokers will happily chuck their butts in the gutter no matter how many people are watching.
  - codetrotter 4y ago
    I don’t smoke usually but, the difference between a bag of chips and a cigarette butt is that the cigarette butt is on fire and smells bad. You can easily put an empty bag of chips in your pocket or backpack and carry it with you until you find somewhere to dispose of it responsibly. With a cigarette butt, it’s difficult. And also it’s very small anyways so it may not seem like a big deal. The solution is to give up smoking. If you stop smoking then you won’t have any more cigarette butts that you need to get rid of. One neat thing I’ve seen in some places is a “poll” where they ask a question with two alternatives, and they have people put cigarette butts in the compartment corresponding to their choice. Here, the photos on this website explains it better than words: https://ballotbin.co.uk/ https://ballotbin.co.uk/
    - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
      > The solution is to give up smoking. If you stop smoking then you won’t have any more cigarette butts that you need to get rid of. What a ridiculous solution. That's like saying the solution to reducing road deaths is to stop driving.
    - orobinson 4y ago
      A smoker friend of mine used to carry around one of those little camera film canisters to put his cig butts in. Obviously being careful to extinguish them fully first beforehand so the plastic didn’t get melted.
mozman 4y ago
I just tried Alfred Camera but I can’t say I’m impressed. Poor UX and the functionality is poor. Perhaps it’s me.
- coreyisthename 4y ago
  It can’t be integrated with anything outside of their app, which really has a “quickly translated from Chinese” quality about it.
rz2k 4y ago
I've tried using LiveReporter[1] with an old iPad to send a RTSP stream to Frigate[2] running in a Proxmox virtual machine because I wanted to find out who was stealing plums from my trees. However, I never caught the plum-stealing-person, because LiveReporter crashed every few hours on my ancient iPad. Does anyone know of an app that reliably streams the camera of old iPads and iPhones to your local network that is not tied to any cloud service or subscription that collects unnecessary user data? [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/live-reporter-live-camera/id996017825 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/live-reporter-live-camera/id99... [2] https://frigate.video/ https://frigate.video/
- Wingy 4y ago
  You can use Guided Access to automatically relaunch the app when it crashes! https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612
- Havoc 4y ago
  Try app periscope hd for rtsp stream Phones get really hot doing this though which seems like bad news with battery in
diedead 4y ago
I use my old iPad as an ereader. I don't have any fancy setup, just sync books onto it either using iTunes or download directly from libgen or zlibrary. Works well enough for me :)
- Analemma_ 4y ago
  Same. It doesn’t have the battery life of something like a kindle but it’s a lot more flexible (PDFs, web pages, etc. are all a lot better than on a kindle), and I can take handwritten notes too. I’ve actually experimented with several note-taking devices like the reMarkable and eventually the iPad won out as just nicer to use. The one issue is the apps and web access can be a distraction from reading, but I’ve found that by throwing up enough friction in the form of whitelisting sites in Screen Time and not having many apps installed, it’s not an issue in practice.
LimeLimestone 4y ago
We'd love to see the videos of your new kitten!
freddybobs 4y ago
I use an old ipad2 as a music controller. I have my music stored on a [subsonic server](http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp), and then use one of the subsonic player apps on my ipad, connecting to my old skool amp via a bluetooth adapter.
nocsi 4y ago
If this gets big enough, Apple will add the ability to turn old iPhones/iPads into HKSV cameras. It’s one of those things that can be implemented as a feature like Luna display & sidecar mirroring. As it is now, the subscription cost is outrageous. My current setup is mixing different cameras and exposing them to Scrypted wherein they are integrated into a larger HomeKit ecosystem. They all get HKSV support and my Apple TV does all the processing for events, detection and activity. All this piggybacks off my iCloud subscription for storage
nextos 4y ago
How does this compare to https://guardianproject.github.io/haven https://guardianproject.github.io/haven, which is free software?
- coreyisthename 4y ago
  It’s not available on iOS, for starters.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
HellsMaddy 4y ago
> Alfred Security also make a impressive, very inexpensive camera ($34 US, 1080P, night vision, 130 degree viewing angle and easy to mount). I’m interested, but I can’t find anything about this on their site. Can you provide a link?
- coreyisthename 4y ago
  Weirdly, I downloaded this last night. Super easy to set up and works well. I do remember it having google assistant and google home integrations on iOS a few years back, but that seems to be a thing of the past now? I’ve messed around with tons of “diy” security cameras on various platforms, however, so it’s very possible I’ve misremembered.
lobsterbutter 4y ago
Idk the details of your situation at all, but if you haven't heard of it I would suggest looking up "the two kitten rule." Kittens are happier in pairs :) They're more social and teach each other how to be. Could be worth considering.
climb_stealth 4y ago
Just a word of caution: running iOS devices on constant power can bloat and expand their batteries. I don't think I would trust them to permanently run somewhere. Not sure if it actually is a fire-hazard but it sure ends up looking like it. Have seen this happen on iPhones and iPods that were used for automated testing and that were connected via USB 24/7. Searching for "iPhone bloated battery" on any image search shows what it's like.
- dplgk 4y ago
  Maybe put the charger in one of those simple, old school outlet timers so they phone runs off battery for part of the day.
  - Larrikin 4y ago
    Planning to use an iPad that lost two hundred dollars in trade in value between Christmas 2021 and Christmas 2022 as a wall mounted dash board for home assistant. I'll be sure to add an automation to control the plug so I don't run into this issue
  - downrightmike 4y ago
    Yeah, they are like $5. I have one that runs my desk lamp that runs 8 to 5.
justaj 4y ago
Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Old iPads no longer receive security updates, right? So all of such devices would be one juicy exploit away from either being disabled or (perhaps even worse) spied upon.

126 points by evo_9 4y ago

BigBalli 4y ago

In case anyone else wondered (like me), iOS10 minimum means it ill run on: iPhone 5 and later, iPad (4th generation) and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Mini (2nd generation) and later, iPod Touch (6th generation)

psim1 4y ago

I was excited to read this Tell HN, but quickly deflated. I have an original iPad without a camera. :(

mysterydip 4y ago
I started using mine for cheap IoT devices that needed some random app installed to run. I didn't want that garbage on my main phone, but many of them still work on older devices. So I made an account that just uses these apps, nothing else for the email etc.
downrightmike 4y ago
Yeah, they abandoned Gen1 pretty quick

pfoof 4y ago

What is the lowest iOS/Android version required for it?

evo_9 4y ago
I updated the main comment above with this info too: Android: Android 4.4 or above (For a better experience, operating systems above Android 5 are highly recommended) iOS: iOS 10 or above

logicalmonster 4y ago

Why not leave it on your coffee table with a few games and home automation tools?

mtlynch 4y ago

This is cool! Thanks for sharing. >I've been mostly using this to see what our new very shy kitten is up to... The videos are super fun / cute, and it's nice to see he's having fun and in good health! No links to videos? The cruelty of this post!

evo_9 4y ago
Doh, I actually meant to include this in the original above: https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5 https://alfred.camera/tv/9IHo74Mj5
- mtlynch 4y ago
  Much appreciated! He's a very cute kitten.

jb1991 4y ago

I would want something like this that also records the activity for quick review later at high speed.

jb1991 4y ago
looks like that feature is coming: https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4464006151834-Continuous-Recording https://alfredcamera.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/446400615...

evo_9 4y ago

Update: Camera setup / experience. The cameras are quite nice, the 130 degree viewing angle makes a huge difference over the built-in iOS camera devices I had been using. The resolution / refresh rate is nice too. The video loads up very fast, I'd say withing 5 seconds. I wonder if I can mount one of these outside. That might be the only 'short-coming', for a security solution they need to provide an outdoor camera, or enclosure for these (presumable) indoor cameras. The cameras are new, though, so I'm sure they are eyeing Ring and are working on more products. Either way, something to keep in mind that didn't occur to me until now (no easy outdoor camera solution currently). Also – the setup is very easy / smooth. The camera 'talks' and you have audio prompts to guide you through pairing. It's pretty slick. I'm impressed, I'll be buying a few more for my wife's retail shop.

prawn 4y ago
Anyone (else) know of an affordable weather-proof trail-cam? I want to record the nightly possums running across our roof to show the kids.

voisin 4y ago

Is there anything like this that allows the same features for old MacBooks?

evo_9 4y ago
They also have a web page, that should work on an old Mac: https://alfred.camera/webapp/camera https://alfred.camera/webapp/camera
speedgoose 4y ago
The energy cost of running an old MacBook, I assume an Intel one, may not be financially worth it. It’s probably not too bad during winter if you use electricity to heat your home and don’t have a heat pump because you will enjoy the heat. But otherwise, it’s going to be expensive.

jollofricepeas 4y ago

Wish I could hide like a kitten sometimes: I remember having a very shy kitten. To our surprise we found out that he had discovered that he could climb into an old, hardly used dresser that we used as a linen cabinet. He would climb up the empty cavity space between the drawers and back wall of the dresser to then sleep in a drawer.

coreyisthename 4y ago
When one of our cats was a kit, he managed to find a hole in the bottom of our box springs and would sleep in there. Once we figured out where his hidey hole was, it was cute, but the first time led to us being sure he was gone forever.

osigurdson 4y ago

I've a vague notion that one day I would make a cloud service where people send in old iPhone 4/5/6, old iPads and various common old/unused hardware. You would get (lots) of credits for sending in your old devices. Not sure it would be successful but it would be fun to make - and fun to use for cheap little projects.

gnicholas 4y ago

So is the $34 fee a one-time fee, and it works across all devices linked to your iCloud account? If so, that makes this tip much more useful for folks with several old devices. How does the night vision work? I assume it's not nearly as good as IR-enhanced night vision on other security cams? Can you use Alfred in combination with HomeKit or IFTTT to trigger lights to turn on? EDIT: I'm seeing pricing of $30/yr, not $34 as a one-time fee. Am I looking in the wrong place? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alfred-home-security-camera/id966460837 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alfred-home-security-camera/id...

evo_9 4y ago
$34 is for the physical camera you can buy from them now; you are correct the yearly unlocked subscription is $30, my bad I should have noted the pricing above.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  Wait, so how does this use an old iPad? I assumed that this app turned my old iPad into a security camera. Is that not the case? I can buy a Wyze camera for $30 and get notifications with no monthly fee (or pay a fee and get more cloud storage). I honestly don't understand how this app is a good use of my old iPad. How is an iPad even involved? Wouldn't I view the video from my phone?
  - jonobird1 4y ago
    Have a read of the Alfred website and your questions will be answered.
    - gnicholas 4y ago
      I did. It says stuff like > Everyone deserves peace of mind, so we made security easy and free for everyone. which lets me know that it's not a useful source of accurate information. A quick look at the App Store page shows that there are many IAPs, including fairly expensive subscriptions. If I have a choice of paying $30/yr to enable my iPad to be a security camera, or $30 one time to buy a Wyze (which has IR sensors/lights), then I'm going to go with the latter every time.

password4321 4y ago

Clickable: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34165418

ataru 4y ago

I tried a similar phone app years ago but it crashed almost every day, which made it impractical. I'm not sure why it should work now as phones aren't designed to run continuously for long periods without attention from a user.

timkpaine 4y ago

I was in the same situation recently and decided on weather / spotify remote control split screen with a desk mount https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16068 https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16068 useful when combined with the spotify headless app that was on here recently

theden 4y ago

Another use-case for old iPads would be to run altstore (https://altstore.io/ https://altstore.io/) and install emulators for retro gaming

ace2358 4y ago
Do you know if there are any good instructions for installing alt store on an AppleTV?
- theden 4y ago
  They have some useful links on this page https://wiki.provenance-emu.com/installation-and-usage/installing-provenance/sideloading https://wiki.provenance-emu.com/installation-and-usage/insta... but I've never tried it myself since I don't own an Apple TV Also some discussion here https://github.com/rileytestut/AltStore/issues/1037 https://github.com/rileytestut/AltStore/issues/1037

gpas 4y ago

I've used Alfred some time ago on an old android phone to catch who was throwing cigarette butts in my backyard. The app worked flawlessly, the relations with my neighbors not so much.

Gigachad 4y ago
What is it with smokers being the most rampant littering offenders? The average person would never consider throwing a chips packet on the ground even if no one was looking, but smokers will happily chuck their butts in the gutter no matter how many people are watching.
- codetrotter 4y ago
  I don’t smoke usually but, the difference between a bag of chips and a cigarette butt is that the cigarette butt is on fire and smells bad. You can easily put an empty bag of chips in your pocket or backpack and carry it with you until you find somewhere to dispose of it responsibly. With a cigarette butt, it’s difficult. And also it’s very small anyways so it may not seem like a big deal. The solution is to give up smoking. If you stop smoking then you won’t have any more cigarette butts that you need to get rid of. One neat thing I’ve seen in some places is a “poll” where they ask a question with two alternatives, and they have people put cigarette butts in the compartment corresponding to their choice. Here, the photos on this website explains it better than words: https://ballotbin.co.uk/ https://ballotbin.co.uk/
  - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
    > The solution is to give up smoking. If you stop smoking then you won’t have any more cigarette butts that you need to get rid of. What a ridiculous solution. That's like saying the solution to reducing road deaths is to stop driving.
  - orobinson 4y ago
    A smoker friend of mine used to carry around one of those little camera film canisters to put his cig butts in. Obviously being careful to extinguish them fully first beforehand so the plastic didn’t get melted.

mozman 4y ago

I just tried Alfred Camera but I can’t say I’m impressed. Poor UX and the functionality is poor. Perhaps it’s me.

coreyisthename 4y ago
It can’t be integrated with anything outside of their app, which really has a “quickly translated from Chinese” quality about it.

rz2k 4y ago

I've tried using LiveReporter[1] with an old iPad to send a RTSP stream to Frigate[2] running in a Proxmox virtual machine because I wanted to find out who was stealing plums from my trees. However, I never caught the plum-stealing-person, because LiveReporter crashed every few hours on my ancient iPad. Does anyone know of an app that reliably streams the camera of old iPads and iPhones to your local network that is not tied to any cloud service or subscription that collects unnecessary user data? [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/live-reporter-live-camera/id996017825 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/live-reporter-live-camera/id99... [2] https://frigate.video/ https://frigate.video/

Wingy 4y ago
You can use Guided Access to automatically relaunch the app when it crashes! https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202612
Havoc 4y ago
Try app periscope hd for rtsp stream Phones get really hot doing this though which seems like bad news with battery in

diedead 4y ago

I use my old iPad as an ereader. I don't have any fancy setup, just sync books onto it either using iTunes or download directly from libgen or zlibrary. Works well enough for me :)

Analemma_ 4y ago
Same. It doesn’t have the battery life of something like a kindle but it’s a lot more flexible (PDFs, web pages, etc. are all a lot better than on a kindle), and I can take handwritten notes too. I’ve actually experimented with several note-taking devices like the reMarkable and eventually the iPad won out as just nicer to use. The one issue is the apps and web access can be a distraction from reading, but I’ve found that by throwing up enough friction in the form of whitelisting sites in Screen Time and not having many apps installed, it’s not an issue in practice.

LimeLimestone 4y ago

We'd love to see the videos of your new kitten!

freddybobs 4y ago

I use an old ipad2 as a music controller. I have my music stored on a [subsonic server](http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp), and then use one of the subsonic player apps on my ipad, connecting to my old skool amp via a bluetooth adapter.

nocsi 4y ago

If this gets big enough, Apple will add the ability to turn old iPhones/iPads into HKSV cameras. It’s one of those things that can be implemented as a feature like Luna display & sidecar mirroring. As it is now, the subscription cost is outrageous. My current setup is mixing different cameras and exposing them to Scrypted wherein they are integrated into a larger HomeKit ecosystem. They all get HKSV support and my Apple TV does all the processing for events, detection and activity. All this piggybacks off my iCloud subscription for storage

nextos 4y ago

How does this compare to https://guardianproject.github.io/haven https://guardianproject.github.io/haven, which is free software?

coreyisthename 4y ago
It’s not available on iOS, for starters.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

HellsMaddy 4y ago

> Alfred Security also make a impressive, very inexpensive camera ($34 US, 1080P, night vision, 130 degree viewing angle and easy to mount). I’m interested, but I can’t find anything about this on their site. Can you provide a link?

coreyisthename 4y ago
Weirdly, I downloaded this last night. Super easy to set up and works well. I do remember it having google assistant and google home integrations on iOS a few years back, but that seems to be a thing of the past now? I’ve messed around with tons of “diy” security cameras on various platforms, however, so it’s very possible I’ve misremembered.

lobsterbutter 4y ago

Idk the details of your situation at all, but if you haven't heard of it I would suggest looking up "the two kitten rule." Kittens are happier in pairs :) They're more social and teach each other how to be. Could be worth considering.

climb_stealth 4y ago

Just a word of caution: running iOS devices on constant power can bloat and expand their batteries. I don't think I would trust them to permanently run somewhere. Not sure if it actually is a fire-hazard but it sure ends up looking like it. Have seen this happen on iPhones and iPods that were used for automated testing and that were connected via USB 24/7. Searching for "iPhone bloated battery" on any image search shows what it's like.

dplgk 4y ago
Maybe put the charger in one of those simple, old school outlet timers so they phone runs off battery for part of the day.
- Larrikin 4y ago
  Planning to use an iPad that lost two hundred dollars in trade in value between Christmas 2021 and Christmas 2022 as a wall mounted dash board for home assistant. I'll be sure to add an automation to control the plug so I don't run into this issue
- downrightmike 4y ago
  Yeah, they are like $5. I have one that runs my desk lamp that runs 8 to 5.

justaj 4y ago

Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea? Old iPads no longer receive security updates, right? So all of such devices would be one juicy exploit away from either being disabled or (perhaps even worse) spied upon.