How To Turn My Old Cell Phone Into A Security Camera

manything-2 — Use Manything, Salient Eye or a similar free app to turn an old phone into a security camera.
Chris Monroe/CNET

Near people take at least one quondam smartphone collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. You tin sell your old telephone or practice a trade-in for a fraction of its purchase price, just if it nevertheless turns on, in that location are a number of good uses for old phones around the house. Yous tin turn that old Android phone into ababy monitor or amakeshift Google Home speaker, for instance. One of the most useful ways to upcycle an sometime phone is to convert information technology into a home security camera.

You'll save a ton of cash by upcycling an old phone instead of buying a new home security camera. And setting it upward isn't difficult. In fact, you lot can start using that onetime, dusty iPhone or Android telephone as a home security camera in only 3 steps.

Read more: 8 reasons not to sell or trade in your one-time iPhone and 9 ingenious ways to give your onetime Android phone new life

Stride 1: Install a security photographic camera app on your old telephone

To begin, you will demand to choose a security camera app for your telephone. Most apps offering many of the same features, such every bit local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and motility detection and alerts. Once you're prepare, you will be able to monitor your living space and control your security photographic camera from anywhere, direct from your new phone.

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

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

Download Alfred (Android, iOS) on both your old and new phones, or any tablets you want to use.
On the new phone, swipe through the introduction and tap Offset. Select Viewer and tap Next.
One time you go to the sign-in page, click Sign in with Google (a Google account is required) and sign in with your Google business relationship credentials.
On the old telephone, echo the same 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, yous tin can merely enable motion detection, choose between the front and rear cameras and enable or disable audio. If you're using an Android device, yous have those options and you can also enable continuous focus, have Alfred automatically reopen if the phone reboots, set a resolution and enable a passcode lock.

From your new telephone, yous tin change a few more settings, such equally turning notifications on or off, setting a camera or viewer name, adding other people to your Trust Circumvolve (granting other people admission to your video feeds), removing a camera, checking how many times a photographic camera has asunder, setting motion detection sensitivity and enabling a low-light filter on cameras.

While Alfred is a solid choice, keep in mind it'southward non the only pick. Far from it, in fact. Manything, Salient Eye and Presence are all solid gratis choices with an affordable subscription model if you need more features. And IP Webcam is one of the more popular Android-simply options.

Step ii: Choose a spot for your telephone security camera

Afterwards you have the stream up and running, you lot volition need to set up and position the camera. Yous may want it focused on the master entry point to your home, your backyard, the place where you store valuables or a indicate you think might be particularly vulnerable. You tin also set up an IP camera as a baby monitor.

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

Step 3: Mount and power your new security camera

To mount or position the camera, a modest smartphone tripod or suction-loving cup machine mount can work wonders and help you lot position the camera in an camouflaged place. To broaden the field of view, consider buying a broad-angle lens for your phone, something that can be purchased for between $5 and $twenty online.

Streaming video is very power-intensive, and the phone will be on 24/vii. To continue the phone from dying in the first few hours, y'all volition demand to position it shut to a power source. A 10-human foot Micro-USB or Lightning cable will give you lot more flexibility in where you put it.

And that'southward it! Now you lot can use the security cam app on your new phone to view the feed from your old telephone'southward camera, and you lot've made your domicile more than secure without spending much.

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