Do you want to monitor your place using a security camera system? But you do not have enough money to set up an IP or CCTV camera system, do you? Don’t worry. You can easily convert your smartphone into a surveillance camera without buying those high-quality surveillance systems. If you have an iPhone, iPad or iPad Touch, then you can convert it into a security camera within one minute using a free iOS app called Manything. But here we are not going to talk about how to convert an iPhone into a security camera. We are only going to cover the conversion process related to Android devices. First of all, let’s discuss the requirements that we want to accomplish before starting the process.
What do You Want to Have for Converting Your Android Device into a Surveillance Camera?
- An Android smartphone or tablet with working rear-facing or front-facing camera
- Charging cables
This will help you to supply continuous power supply for 24/7 streaming. - Security camera apps for Android.
These apps will convert your Android Phone into a webcam. - Another smartphone or computer
Using this, you can access and view the footage remotely. - Accessibility to a WiFi network
This will help you to connect your Android smartphone or tablet to the Internet.
What Should You Consider When Converting Your Android Device into a Surveillance Camera?
1. Selecting the best security camera app for your Android device.
You can find numerous security camera apps for your Android device in the Google Play Store. Some of them are Manything, Ivideon, Reolink, IP Webcam, AtHome Camera and Alfred.
Before selecting an app it is very important to know about every security camera app and its features. Identify your surveillance requirement and then read many reviews related to those apps while keeping that requirement in your mind. At last, select the best app for your needs.
As mentioned before Manything is among the most popular Android security camera apps that support iOS as well as Android. It offers many features such as
- live streaming
- motion detection
- motion alerts
- cloud storage
- remote control
- Several recording options
- IFTTT integration
Another one of the best apps is IP Webcam. With this app, you can
- surveillance the video feed using a web browser.
- take photos using the Phone’s camera.
- Use cam viewers such as IP Camera Viewer to surveillance the camera from another Android device.
- connect the camera into Skype
- directly transfer the camera video into a media player such as VLC
2. Considering the operating system of your Android device.
It’s crucial to check the minimum system requirement for Android before downloading a security camera app because most of the apps do not run on all the Android versions. For instance, to install Manything Android on your Android device, its Android OS must be version 4.2 or above.
3. Getting the knowledge of viewing the footage of your Android security camera remotely.
You should have another Android or iOS device or computer to view your Android security camera remotely.
Most of the Android security camera apps come up with security camera viewer apps. If not the same apps contain that viewer facility also.
For instance, If you use Manything then you can use its viewer app to view your security camera on another device. But that device must run on iOS 8 or above or Android 4.2 or above. Read the description or introduction of the app to discover this type of information. If you can not find out then contact the support team of the official website.
4. Knowing to view your Android security camera on several devices.
Sometimes you want to watch videos or get motion alerts from your Android security camera on multiple devices such as iPhone, iPad, laptop, desktop computer or web browsers. So to achieve this, you have to select the best Android security camera app that offers cross-platform monitoring features. AtHome Camera is a great example of such apps.
5. Video Storage of your Android security camera.
You can not record and store Android camera video continuously to an NVR (Network Video Recorder), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) upload or cloud storage with some Android security camera apps. But some apps offer features for saving recorded videos to the cloud storage with a monthly subscription plan or to Google Drive.
Manything offers an optional cloud recording feature with it. That means you can store video footage in the cloud storage with monthly subscription plans.
Further, with IP Webcam you can upload camera video to Dropbox, FTP, SFTP or email using the plugin named Filoader.
6. Power supply for your Android security camera.
It is important to provide a continuous power supply to your Android device that is used as a security camera. Apart from that, your device must not go to sleep mode or lock screen after a little while. Because it will close the security camera app and stop its functionality, therefore change the screen lock by going to Settings of your Android device to allow 24/7 continuous streaming.
Conclusion
It is a better idea to convert your old or spare Android device into a security camera without throwing them away. If you want to have a dedicated security camera system with an Android app, then selecting a camera in a quality brand will be a good decision.