Camera operation mode

Introduction

Originally, the application was designed to work in the Service (background) mode. As new Android versions were introduced with their new security rules, Universal mode and Application mode were added. You can read more about these modes bellow. If you are not sure which mode to choose, pick the Universal mode, which is the most reliable mode and offers best possibilities to start the camera remotely. In all modes, it is highly recommended to keep the app running on the display. The app has a built-in screensaver which turns on automatically, lowers brightness of the display and reduces a power consumption.

Following paragraphs explain the differences between Universal, Service (background) and Application modes.

Universal mode

This is the recommended mode. The camera runs in a background process and the user interface is running on the display. This is the most reliable mode that works perfectly on all Android versions. If you don't have any special needs, choose this mode. Although the visible part of the app (user interface) can be minimized, later when you stop the camera remotely and start it again, the user interface appears on the display again. In this mode, the camera can be started remotely in almost all situations, even when the app was terminated. It is strongly recommended to choose this mode, all other modes are intended for special use cases.

Service (background) mode

This is the old mode in which the app was originally designed. The camera runs in background process and it doesn't need the visible part (user interface) running. This mode was deprecated due to the Android security rules that came with Android 8.0 and replaced with Universal mode. This mode still runs well on cameras with Androids 7 and lower if you need the camera to run almost invisibly. Although the camera runs in background process, it is still recommended to keep the app running on the display, because this signalizes to the Android system that this app is important and prevents the app to be killed by the system randomly.

Application mode

This mode is of special use cases only. In this mode, the application runs as an ordinary app and there is no background process. The camera runs only when the application is running on the top of the display. When you close the app, the camera is terminated, and cannot be started later remotely on.

How to switch between modes

Starting from the version 3.7.0, the app runs in the Universal mode by default. You can switch the app to the "old" Background mode or Application mode if you want. To do so, open the main menu on the camera (click on the three dashes in the top left corner on the main screen), select Operation mode and change it to the Service (background) or Application mode. You can go back to the Universal mode anytime by using the same steps. Please note, that the Universal mode is the most recommended mode.