How To Make Old Phone Into Security Camera
Ownership a new Android phone is an exciting thing. Particularly if you're coming from a phone that's 2 (or more) years old, at that place are tons of new features to cheque out, increased functioning to relish, and likely a new version of Android to familiarize yourself with.
That's all fine and swell, but what are y'all supposed to do with your now-one-time handset? You could sell it or trade it in for some extra cash, but depending on its age and condition, the amount of money y'all'd become may not be the worth the hassle of going through all of that. There are stores and other establishments that permit you to recycle your phone, but you may not live near one or be set to fully give up your old friend just yet.
If you don't heed getting a little creative, there are other means to repurpose an Android device so that you can keep getting use out of it without further adding to our planet's growing pile of e-waste material. Today, I'll be educational activity you lot how to turn an old Android phone into a security photographic camera. Seriously!
A quick search on the Google Play Store will reveal several apps that allow yous to do this. I'll be running through the setup procedure and my thoughts on two of the most popular ones and then you lot can get started for yourself and breathe new life into that former Galaxy S9 or Pixel 2.
Alfred Camera
Showtime on the listing, we have Alfred (opens in new tab). Alfred is one of the near popular security camera apps by a long shot, touting over 10 one thousand thousand downloads and a solid 4.seven-star rating on the Google Play Store.
This is the app a lot of people will probable default to when looking for a way to plow their Android phone into a makeshift photographic camera, and in a lot of ways, Alfred earns that popularity. This is an immensely powerful app with reliable performance, but before nosotros can go whatever further into it, we need to go information technology prepare up.
How to set your camera and viewer
With any security camera app that you download, you'll need two phones to complete the system — your old phone to act as the camera and your electric current/new phone to serve as the viewfinder and command panel.
That may sound a fiddling intimidating, simply Alfred guides you through the setup process quite nicely. Here's a footstep-by-step guide you lot can follow for both parts.
Alfred camera
How to set up your Alfred camera
You tin set up the camera or viewfinder in any order, just for Alfred, I decided to set upwardly the camera portion outset. Here's what information technology looks like:
- Open the Alfred app on your phone.
- Tap Skip in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Camera.
- Tap Get Started!
- Tap Sign in with Google. Source: Joe Maring / Android Cardinal
- Choose the business relationship you lot want.
- Tap Allow to confirm account permissions. Source: Joe Maring / Android Key
- Tap Permit to allow camera access.
- Tap Allow to allow microphone access. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
Alfred viewer
How to set up up your Alfred viewer
With your erstwhile phone gear up with Alfred as the actual security camera, information technology's fourth dimension to go your current phone configured to be the viewer. This procedure is pretty similar and goes equally follows:
- Open the Alfred app on your telephone.
- Tap Skip in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Viewer.
- Tap Get started!
- Tap Sign in with Google (since you already signed in on the camera, you don't have to re-allow account permissions). Source: Joe Maring / Android Key
Taking a closer look at the app
Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
Getting Alfred set upwardly on your phones is extremely piece of cake, merely once you lot're all good to become, what'southward it like actually using the service?
Starting with the camera interface, there are a few settings to play effectually with even though most of the controls are done from your viewer phone. You lot'll discover iii icons towards the bottom of the screen, including a shortcut for your settings, enabling/disabling motion detection, and turning on a power-saving mode.
Source: Joe Maring / Android Primal
The settings allow you to configure different things for your phone'due south photographic camera, including which lens you want to record from (rear camera or front camera), sound and continuous focus toggles, and if you want motion detection to automatically end when the camera is being moved. The overall UI is nice and clean, making it easy to find what y'all need without unnecessarily cluttering upward the screen.
Your sometime phone being used equally a camera basically turns into a set-and-forget-it device. You can change its placement in your home whenever you'd similar, but when it comes to checking in on what information technology sees or managing nigh settings, you'll do that from the viewer device.
From the Alfred abode screen on your viewer, yous'll encounter your active cameras listed (mine is moto-g-ability) at the very peak. Borer on this takes you to a live feed of that camera, along with some helpful remote controls.
Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
You lot can tap-and-hold on the microphone push button as a sort of walkie-talkie with the camera, allowing you to speak to whoever is on the other end. The video button adjacent to that begins recording if something is going on that you desire to capture and salve.
Tap the arrow icon next to those controls, and you'll notice even more than features at your disposal. In order from left-to-right, these include:
- Switch the orientation of the camera on your phone.
- Switch betwixt the back and rear camera.
- Enable the flashlight on your camera phone.
- Plough on a night vision mode for enhanced visibility at night.
- Play a siren sound at maximum book from the photographic camera phone.
If you tap the gear icon towards the top-left of your viewer abode screen (correct beneath the Alfred logo), y'all'll be taken to the full settings for your new security camera. Hither y'all tin change the camera'southward name, add other people that tin manage/view it, configure motility detection settings, set upwards a schedule for when motion detection goes into effect, and a bunch more.
Source: Joe Maring / Android Fundamental
Free users accept admission to a lot of Alfred'southward settings and features, but if you want the best experience possible, there is an optional Alfred Premium subscription you can sign up for. You can pay either $four.99/month or $29.99/year for the service, giving you access to:
- Hard disk recording
- Camera zoom
- Record motility events up to 120 seconds
- Motion detection schedule
- Cloud storage for recorded events up to xxx-days old
- No ads
I'd fence that's a fair toll considering everything that comes with Alfred Premium, and if you plan on seriously using the service, I'd recommend cough up the cash. The free version of Alfred is fine and gives yous a skillful taste of what to expect, simply without spending any money, video quality is laughably bad, and the advertisements can exist a scrap much at times.
Outside of that, Alfred has been incredibly reliable during my testing, offers timely notifications when motility is detected on your camera and provides you with a simple and easy-to-utilize app for managing everything.
I practise wish the free version wasn't so limited on the video quality side of things, merely based on my experience, I'd happily pay $30 every year to take total reward of everything that's offered here.
Alfred Camera
The golden standard of security camera apps
When it comes to apps that allow you to plow an old telephone into a security camera, Alfred is one of the best in the business organisation. Information technology has millions of users, an insane set of features, and a well-designed mobile app. If yous want to go the nigh out of it, however, y'all'll need to pay.
Security Photographic camera CZ
While Alfred may be the go-to for most people, I wanted to meet how the app compares to something that's a little lesser-known. Security Camera CZ (opens in new tab) is another selection that I found, coming in with over 100,000 installs and a iv.two-star rating.
It does the aforementioned full general thing every bit Alfred, albeit with fewer restrictions and a more affordable premium subscription.
How to ready upward your camera and viewer
Just like Alfred, Security Camera CZ requires you to have two devices for it to work — one that's the security camera and another that'southward the viewer. The setup is more often than not the aforementioned, merely simply to brand sure nosotros're all on the same page, here'southward how to get everything up and running.
Security Photographic camera CZ photographic camera
How to prepare your Security Photographic camera CZ camera
Just like with Alfred, nosotros'll go started with Security Camera CZ by setting upwards the phone we use as the security camera. Let's dive in!
- Open the Security Camera CZ app on your telephone.
- Tap First.
- Tap Sign in with Google.
- Choose the business relationship you desire to log in with. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
- Tap Photographic camera.
- Tap Let to allow access to your phone's camera.
- Tap Let to allow access to your telephone's location. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
- Tap Allow to allow admission to your telephone'south microphone.
- Tap the toggle to allow CZ Camera to display over other apps. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
Security Camera CZ viewer
How to gear up your Security Camera CZ viewer
Now that your security photographic camera is ready to become, it'due south time to stop this equation by getting Security Camera CZ configured on your phone that acts as the viewer. Once over again, the process is pretty straightforward.
- Open up the Security Camera CZ app on your phone.
- Tap Start.
- Tap Sign in with Google (your account should already be remembered)
- Tap Monitor. Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
- Tap Allow to allow admission to your phone's storage.
- Tap Allow to let access to your phone'due south microphone. Source: Joe Maring / Android Key
Taking a closer look at the app
Now that y'all have Security Camera CZ gear up up on both of your phones, information technology's time to go familiar with how each component works!
Compared to Alfred, the user interface for the photographic camera portion of the app is very bones. All you'll see is a toggle for turning the camera on/off, and if you tap the Preview push button, you can see what the current view of the camera looks like and go options to change the resolution.
Source: Joe Maring / Android Central
Annnndddd, that's it. You can't change any additional settings from the telephone that's interim as the camera, significant you'll need to handle everything from your viewer/monitor app. While that does make this side of Security Camera CZ more limited compared to Alfred, information technology's not that big of a deal considering the nature both of your phones play in this setup.
Moving over to the viewer/monitor phone, this is where Security Camera CZ shines. The home screen is most identical to Alfred, showing a listing of any agile cameras that you take. Tap the video icon to picket a live feed of the photographic camera, or tap the gallery icon to see a list of detected motions from your photographic camera.
Source: Joe Maring / Android Fundamental
If yous tap on the gear icon to the right of those two buttons, you'll be taken to all of your camera settings. There's a lot to mess with here, with some of the highlights being:
- Camera resolution
- Zoom
- Hard disk drive video
- Dark vision
- Torch/flashlight
- Motion detection
- Camera proper noun
- Siren
Equally you can run across, a lot of the same features from Alfred are found hither too. While Security Camera CZ doesn't have an option for only alerting you if information technology detects people, it does allow you to customize the motion detection sensitivity, set it upwards on a schedule, and even exclude sure areas of the video from triggering the detection alert.
Security Camera CZ besides has its own paid subscription you can sign upwards for, which costs $6.49/yr and allows you to go on video history for upward to xxx days, supports video without whatsoever interruptions for 30 minutes, and gets rid of in-app ads.
This is pretty similar to Alfred Premium, with the exceptions that Security Photographic camera CZ is much more affordable and doesn't completely cripple the video resolution for free users.
Security Camera CZ
So good, and then complimentary
If you're put off by the price of Alfred, Security Photographic camera CZ is absolutely worth a look. It has many of the same features as Alfred, with its about significant benefit beingness the improved video quality for users of the costless version. You tin can pay to remove ads and get extended video history, though.
Which i should you lot use?
All-in-all, both Alfred and Security Camera CZ are solid applications that legitimately turn your old Android phone into a security camera. The feature prepare is likewise pretty similar beyond each service, making information technology a picayune catchy to decide which one y'all should apply.
Alfred is the more expensive of the agglomeration, and video quality with the gratis version is pretty disappointing. Nonetheless, when dealing with something equally sensitive as security cameras for your domicile, I have to give Alfred the upper-mitt here. It boasts essentially more than users, and the company has received a fair amount of media attention over the years. Insufficiently, Security Camera CZ is used past far fewer people and existence run by a developer out of the Czech republic. At that place's nothing inherently wrong with that, but if y'all'd rather rely on a more publicly-facing company for your security needs, Alfred takes the pb hither (not to mention it has a fairly active forum with Alfred employees active in it).
I've been pleased with the performance and functionality of both apps, and then if yous're on a tight upkeep and just want something for basic monitoring of your habitation, Security Camera CZ is a not bad selection. The app isn't quite as pretty, and it'due south missing a couple of features compared to Alfred, but considering just how good it works without spending a dime, it'southward darn impressive.
I'd recommend giving both apps a shot and seeing which one is the best fit for you and your needs. There's cipher to lose, and by trying them for yourself, you can get a better feel for how they work in real utilise.
Either way, y'all can rest bodacious that you're putting your onetime Android phones to good use and making your home more secure at the same fourth dimension.
Source: https://www.androidcentral.com/how-turn-old-android-phone-security-camera
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