If you’re like most people, you will have eventually upgraded to a newer phone somewhere in your lifetime. And if you’re part of the crowd that doesn’t trade in or sell their old phone after getting a new one, you might have a few phones lying around at home.
And seeing that you’ve found your way to this article, you’ve probably thought about using an old phone as a security camera. Is it possible and easy to set up?
Yes and yes. It is indeed possible and easy to set up. However, phones have a lot of weaknesses that make them less than ideal as security cameras.
In this article, I’ll go over these weaknesses in detail, ways to workaround them, the practicality of it, and how to set it up.
For those of you that have already made up your mind on using an old phone as a security camera, you can simply skip to the last section for a quick guide on how to set it up.
Practicality and Cost-Effectiveness
Depending on how old your phone is and your use case, it may not be practical. If your phone is old and no longer receives software updates, you won’t be able to download the required surveillance app from the official app store.
There are ways to download older versions through unofficial channels, but it’ll involve jumping through hoops to get it up and running. And even then, with outdated software, you run the risk of getting your camera or phone hacked.
As far as cost-effectiveness go, it doesn’t get cheaper than “free”. You’ll be using something that has been collecting dust. If it’s a high-value phone that’s collecting dust, that’s another story. But for now, we will assume you’re planning to use an old phone that’s depreciated and isn’t worth much when selling.
Things To Consider
Using an old phone as a security camera has a lot of shortcomings. This is due to the fact that their original purpose was for texting, calling, and daily utility. However, many of these shortcomings may not apply to you if you’re using it for simple cases. Let’s go over them one by one.
No night vision
As great as phone cameras have advanced, they don’t have night vision. This means they’re useless in the dark. This isn’t an issue during the daytime because rooms get natural lighting from the sun, but you’d still need to have a light source for when the sun goes down.
To get around this, you can set your lamp to turn on at a certain time every day whenever it gets dark.
If you don’t have an outlet or light that can do that, you can use the built-in flash on your phone. These surveillance apps allow you to turn flash on remotely. It’s not as good as an external lamp, but seeing a little bit of something is infinitely better than complete darkness.
Wiring
The only wiring you’ll need is the charging cable, which will vary depending on the phone (micro USB, lightning cable, USB-C, etc.). Long charging cables aren’t commonly sold, so if you want to mount your phone somewhere that’s far from an electrical outlet, you would have to use an outlet extension cord + phone charging cable combination.
As a comparison, dedicated security cameras will also require using long cables for wiring, but their power cables are designed to travel through longer distances. This reduces or eliminates the need for an outlet extension cord.
The main downside I would say with outlet extension cords is that they’re thicker than the actual charging/power cables and can be awkward to run. However, I wouldn’t say it’s that big of a deal.
WiFi only
Related to wiring, phones can only connect to the network wirelessly. And as convenient as it sounds, it isn’t as reliable as having a wired connection. You CAN use an ethernet to phone adapter, but that would mean having to run yet another wire.
If it were me, I would just leave it on WiFi and have it monitor something less critical.
Not weatherproof
I HIGHLY recommend against installing your phone outside for many reasons. The primary reason being that there’s a high incentive for people to steal it even if it’s nothing fancy. The other big reason is because phones are not designed to withstand the constant weather conditions outside.
If you want to use the phone to monitor activity outside of your home, your best bet is to set it to capture footage behind a window. I would be careful with this because it poses the same problem of having people wanting to steal it, which brings me to the next point.
It can be a target for burglars
Phones can easily be pawned off for quick cash, and burglars know this. So if you place it by a window, burglars might target your home.
I’ve used phones for outside surveillance, but I’ve had to redneck engineer some contraptions so that it’s not noticeable. If you really want to monitor the outside using a phone, do your best to conceal it.
No local storage
Some of these surveillance apps lack the feature to view footage for free. You have to pay their monthly subscription fee if you ever want access to any of it. This is an especially important point to consider when choosing which app to use, because if your use case requires you to review footage leading up to a motion detecting event, you want to be able to view it without shelling out more money than necessary.
When I first set up my phone, this caught me by surprise because I used to use my phone to monitor my front porch so that I could keep tabs on delivered packages. I’d get a notification when it detected motion, and when I opened to view the live camera, I would see the package there (which is good). But sometimes my family members would arrive home before me and take that package in.
So the second time that I get the motion notification (from my family member’s coming home), I would open the app again to view the live camera, only to see the package gone. I couldn’t see what happened to the package since the recorded footage was locked behind a paywall.
Had it been an actual thief, I wouldn’t have had anything to reference who the thief was or how he/she looked.
Personally, I didn’t and wouldn’t pay for the subscription because the whole idea of using an old phone as a security camera is to save money. If I were to spend money, I would much rather buy a dedicated security camera that can record locally without having view restrictions.
Of course, not all apps are like this. In the “how to” section, I will be using “AtHome Surveillance”, an app that allows you to view footage without paying.
Bottom Line: Is Using An Old Phone As A Security Camera Effective?
If your full fleet of surveillance cameras are phones, you will have a lot of gaps security-wise. But if you already have some dedicated security cameras installed and want to add monitoring to another part of your home, old phones can be a very effective addition to your security setup without having to spend any extra money.
Or, if you don’t have any cameras set up around your home at all, I would say using an old phone is a great way to start. Seeing as you’re reading this article, you’re probably looking for the best ways to improve security in your home via surveillance cameras.
Dedicated security cameras are the way to go for the best security system, and when you’re just starting out, using an old phone as a security camera will allow you to have an up and running monitoring solution while you research your options. And of course, that is better than nothing.
So unless your phone is so old that it can’t download the surveillance app from the official Google Play Store or Apple App Store, go ahead and use it as a security camera!
How to Set Your Phone Up As A Security Camera
Before installing any software, what I like to do first is perform a clean factory reset on the phone. And then afterwards, turn these settings off to minimize feed interruptions:
- Auto lock
- Automatic software updates
- Notifications
Those aren’t necessary to do, but I like to do them so that there’s no personal information on the phone and so that automatic software updates don’t cause unpredictable downtime. You can always update manually.
Step 1: Download a surveillance app on both phones
As mentioned earlier, I like to use AtHome because it allows you the option to view recorded footage without having to pay. AlfredCamera is one of the most popular apps right now, but at the time of me writing this, they lock you out from viewing any footage unless you pay.
Step 2: Follow the setup instructions in the app
The setup will vary for each app but they’re all usually fairly straightforward.
Step 3: Plug your phone in and mount it
Setup should have been straightforward. Mounting your phone, on the other hand, could get tricky depending on where you want your camera. If there’s an outlet near the mounting spot, it’ll be a simple matter. If not, then you will need to run an extension cord.
Mounting is a little bit different than a traditional security camera due to the lack of mounting points on the phone and position of the charging cable, but it’s pretty straightforward with the right mounting hardware or a little bit of creativity.
You can use a phone tripod or dedicated phone holder similar to the car mounts people often use in their cars. If you don’t have any of those and don’t want to spend any extra money like me, you can lean or tape the phone onto something with weight. I’ve used water bottles and gummy bear containers before and, although it looks silly, it gets the job done.
Step 4: Done!
And that’s it! You’re all done. These apps have a lot of neat features like motion detection, two-way audio, on-demand siren, etc. Play around with it and set it up to meet your needs. If you have any questions or requests, feel free to drop me a message!