How To Make A Security Camera Out Of Old Cell Phone

A hand holding a phone — Utilize Manything, Salient Eye or a like free app to turn an old phone into a security camera.
Chris Monroe/CNET

The cheapest way to become eyes on your house when you lot're not at that place? Probably rummaging effectually in your junk drawer and converting one of your quondam smartphones into a security camera. Nearly people have at least one old phone collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. Y'all'll relieve a ton of cash by upcycling an old phone instead ofbuying a new home security camera. And setting it upwardly isn't hard. In fact, yous tin start using that old, dusty iPhone or Android telephone equally a dwelling house security camera in only three steps.

Certain, you lot can sell your quondam phone or do a trade-in for a fraction of its purchase cost, but if it nonetheless turns on, there are a number of adept uses for erstwhile phones around the house. Yous can turn that old Android phone into ababy monitor or amakeshift Google Home speaker, for example. I of the well-nigh useful ways to upcycle an erstwhile phone is to convert it into a home security camera.

Read more than: 8 Reasons Not to Sell or Trade In Your Old iPhone and nine Ingenious Ways to Requite Your Old Android Phone New Life

Footstep ane: Install a security camera app on your old phone

To begin, you will need to choose a security camera app for your phone. Most apps offer many of the same features, such every bit local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and movement detection and alerts. Once you're set upward, you volition be able to monitor your living space and control your security photographic camera from anywhere, straight from your new phone.

One of the all-time app options for setting upwards your phone as a security camera is Alfred. Information technology's cross-platform, and so it doesn't matter if your old telephone was an Android phone or iPhone. And the aforementioned goes for your new phone.

Alfred is free to use and gives you a remote view of your live feed, motion detection with alerts, gratis deject storage, a two-way audio feed and use of both the forepart and rear cameras. To unlock additional features, like higher-resolution viewing and recording, zoom capabilities, ad removal and 30-day cloud storage, you can upgrade to Alfred Premium.

Download Alfred (Android, iOS) on both your onetime and new phones, or whatsoever tablets you want to utilize.
On the new phone, swipe through the introduction and tap Showtime. Select Viewer and tap Next.
One time you get to the sign-in page, click Sign in with Google (a Google account is required) and sign in with your Google account credentials.
On the sometime telephone, echo the aforementioned steps, but instead of selecting Viewer, select Camera. And make sure to sign in to the same Google account.

One time both phones are signed in to Alfred, you're pretty much done with the setup. Alfred has simplified the photographic camera options to only include a few settings. On iOS, you can only enable motility detection, cull between the front end and rear cameras and enable or disable audio. If you're using an Android device, you have those options and you tin also enable continuous focus, accept Alfred automatically reopen if the telephone reboots, set a resolution and enable a passcode lock.

From your new phone, you can change a few more settings, such every bit turning notifications on or off, setting a camera or viewer name, adding other people to your Trust Circumvolve (granting other people access to your video feeds), removing a camera, checking how many times a camera has disconnected, setting movement detection sensitivity and enabling a low-light filter on cameras.

While Alfred is a solid choice, keep in mind information technology's not the only choice. Far from information technology, in fact. Manything, Salient Heart and Presence are all solid gratuitous choices with an affordable subscription model if you need more than features. And IP Webcam is one of the more popular Android-only options.

Pace two: Choose a spot for your telephone security camera

After you have the stream upward and running, you lot volition need to set up and position the camera. Yous may want it focused on the main entry bespeak to your home, your backyard, the identify where you shop valuables or a point you think might exist particularly vulnerable. You can besides prepare an IP photographic camera as a infant monitor.

If you accept multiple old phones lying around, you can set up multiple cameras for fairly robust video coverage.

Stride iii: Mount and ability your new security camera

To mount or position the photographic camera, a modest smartphone tripod or suction-cup auto mount can work wonders and help y'all position the camera in an inconspicuous place. To broaden the field of view, consider ownership a broad-bending lens for your phone, something that can be purchased for between $5 and $20 online.

Streaming video is very power-intensive, and the phone volition exist on 24/7. To keep the phone from dying in the showtime few hours, y'all will need to position it shut to a power source. A 10-pes Micro-USB or Lightning cablevision will give you more flexibility in where you put information technology.

And that's it! At present y'all can use the security cam app on your new phone to view the feed from your sometime phone's camera, and yous've made your domicile more secure without spending much.

While you're here, check outvi quick tips for getting the most out of your home security camera, how to use your Alexa device every bit a home security camera and the all-time DIY dwelling security systems.