Help
Camera
Monitor
Knowledge base
2021
2020
2019
I'm practicing with all the options, but I can't understand one thing.... When camera detects a movement, it sends a low resolution photo to the master app, and it sends a high resolution photo to a based Google platform...
But I can download the high resolution photo... I go on the master to select the right photo, then I click the download icon, and the high resolution photo is downloaded. I can't no more download the same photo. But I cannot find the downloaded photo anywhere in the monitor phone!
I looked at first in the camera folder. No results. Then all over the phone memory and an SD memory, always no results. Can you help me to find the unknown photos in the unknown folder?
The high resolution photo is saved to the standard "Pictures" folder on your "master" phone. May be that the images browser on your master phone doesn't refresh photos? But the image should be definitely there. Try another images browser, or file browser.
I changed phone from Android to Apple and I cannot monitor my cameras anymore. Do you plane to support iOS?
At this moment I don't plan iOS version, I have no capacity (and no sources to hire iOS developer) to implement it. But you can try the web version at address https://securitycamera.cz (please use Google Chrome), the tab "Web viewer (beta)". Only basic functionality is implemented at this moment, but the plan is to have the same functionality in the web version as in the Android app.
What is it possible with this application?
The app is intended to be installed on some older or unused phone, which will then serve as a remote camera. The camera can detect movements and send you notifications, you can remotely connect to the camera to see live feed, there are much more options. You monitor this camera using your regular phone, where you also install the same application. So you need two phones - one serves as a camera and one serves as a monitor.
How can I change the notification settings?
On the monitor device, you can find the Notifications settings in the main menu (three dashes in the top left corner). On modern Android, you then tap on "Set up notifications" which will take you to the notification settings in the phone itself. There you can enable or disable sounds and much more.
My app is recording the live feed only 15 seconds or so.
If the live feed is unstable or you face other issues, there will be most probably some problem with internet connection of the camera or monitor device. Try to restart both devices (camera and monitor) and also the Wi-Fi router. The app works fine for thousands of users, so we will have to identify the problem on your specific devices.
Is it possible to find out the position of the camera?
Yes, it is possible - go to the camera settings and choose the very last item "About camera". When there, check the last item "Location" - you can see coordinates of the camera (when you click on them, you will be taken to the Google Maps app to see position of your camera in map).
If the "Location" item is not visible, then you didn't allow location permissions on your camera device.
How come when I first downloaded this app the camera quality was good for about 3 days, now it's very grainy and poor?
There is a limit for HD video, which is 120 minutes per week in normal version and 240 minutes per week in the paid version. I have just reset the counter for you, so now you should have HD quality again.
I would like to change notification sound. Is it possible to to add a new sound or upload sounds: an example could be a cat or a dog barking.
It is possible directly in notifications settings in your phone settings: in the dialog where you choose the sound, the last option is "Add a sound". Can you find it?
The best!
I think it would be useful if I could make the flash light "when dark" and "always on" options depend on the schedule for motion detection. Or is this already possible somehow?
Actually, the option is already there - Turn on flash light "when dark", it is the last option in the flash light dialog. Right now I don't know if the flash light is turned on only when the motion detection is on, or it is turned on even when the motion detection is scheduled to be off. Do you have an experience with it?
I'm trying to know if there is a way to play and watch the video outside the app? Like a public link?
Did you try the web version of the app? It is available at address https://securitycamera.cz
Also, you can switch your camera to store images to the Google Drive and then operate these pictures using standard Google techniques (sharing etc.).
Dear Friends in can’t see an option for record videos on Google drive, how is view more options?
This app records detected movements as a series of high resolution still images. These images are saved in the camera device or Google Drive (based on camera settings) and can be downloaded to your monitor device.
In addition to that, you can connect to your camera and watch a live feed. When you record this stream, it is saved directly to your monitor device from which are you watching. This stream cannot be saved to Google Drive.
Can you customize the app so that parts of the program and images can be moved to the SD card? At the moment this is not possible. Samsung Duos GT-S7582, Android 4.2.
Android version 4.3 and lower doesn't support writing to SD cards at all. Writing to SD card is supported starting from Android 4.4. As far as I know, there isn't any easy and universal workaround.
The correct answer to your question/request is, that Android 4.3 and lower doesn't offer any official way to store files in SD card. But you are right, that there are "unofficial" ways to store to SD card. When I wrote this app, I have decided to follow only the official capabilities of Android and to avoid unofficial ones.
But based on your request, I will look around if there is some reliable "unofficial" library for writing to SD card even on Android 4.3 and lower.
I have installed the app on my android phones and it works great but as i keep watching the livestream, the resolution of the transmitted video keeps dropping. I want the resolution to remain full HD or least 720p. My camera phone was plugged in and the power saving setting was off. Below I’ll give you some details of my setup:
Camera phone: Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-i9500), 2GB RAM, 16GB ROM (maximum 60% CPU usage during livestream with power saving off + plugged in at 100% battery)
Monitoring phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x, 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM
Internet connection: stable 10 mega bits per second (upload and download)
I just want to maintain a stable resolution.
The reason for dropping of the resolution can be low performance of the camera device (which is not your case) or low light conditions. In both cases, if frames per second (FPS) cannot be kept at 20 FPS, the resolution automatically slowly drops. You can test it, if you put the camera very close to some light source (bulb etc.). The frame rate should be steady then and the resolution as well.
In which directory on Android 8.0 are the movements saved? Is it possible to add a function so that night mode is only activated at night, e.g. according to astro time?
In the camera device, images are stored in the location
(Internal memory or SD card) \ Android \ data \ cz.scamera.securitycamera \ files \ Pictures
Concerning the night mode - it is an interesting idea. On the other hand, I want to keep the user interface as simple as possible, so I have to think about it first... By astronomic time you mean a local time? Or real time of dark/dust in some specific geographical location?
I get a warning that the image sensor cannot be accessed. How can it be solved?
This error appears on devices whose electronics is already a little bit "tired" and it freezes time by time. When the electronics "freezes", the camera shows an error "Cannot access image sensor". Unfortunately, only hard restart of the device helps. After a restart, it will work again, but I am afraid that you will get the same error sooner or later again. For a future, think about a change of the camera device for another one.
Why I cannot access the live camera?
If you have problems to start a live feed, there will be most probably some problem in internet connection of one of the devices - monitor or camera. Please check the connection, I would recommend to restart all devices and also the Wi-Fi router, just to be sure.
Is it possible to create two accounts on the same cell phone that is being used as a monitor?
Yes, you can create more accounts on your monitor device and change between them by log in / log out. But truly said - I don't know how it will work. I would be glad if you try and let me know!
May it be possible to add a button that triggers the update of the „life image" of the camera? I am using a phone with a super slow Internet Connection (the SIM-card is free...) and often the most current Image has been taken more than one hour ago and I only can wait until it updates. I am sure that is no issue with Wi-Fi or other fast Internet Connections but a button to force the phone to take a new Image would be nice!
When you open the app on your monitor device, the monitor sends a request "refresh preview" to the camera each 15 seconds. So the button wouldn't have much sense, because the camera should obtain (if it is connected to internet) such a "refresh" request automatically each 15 seconds.
Please tell me from which phone you need to pay for cameras or a monitor?
If you want to get rid of ads, you can pay for the app from the monitor phone. After paying, all ads will disappear from all your devices (all monitors and cameras).
Any reason why my photo capture turns off on its own?
The most common reason is that the camera reaches the limit of 3000 images per day. When the camera reaches 2000 images per day, it sends you a warning. After 3000 images the motion detection stops.
I have two of your systems. One is at my home and I have another in Spain. Both stopped working a few weeks ago. I have messed about with the one at home and noticed that when I put the camera into preview mode a screen lock was requested. Initially I ignored this. I then found that it would work for a short period of time. The camera would then indicate it was off on the monitor and would not turn on again remotely. After setting up the screen lock the home device send to work perfectly. Unfortunately, I can't access unit in Spain due to Covid restrictions. Is it possible that screen lock requirement has resulted in the unit in Spain not working?
I would strongly doubt that screen lock (resp. lack of screen lock) would cause that the camera turns off. Generally, a camera is declared as offline when there isn't any response from it for a period of one minute. So the fact that your camera is shown as offline doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't work, it is just currently unavailable for some reason. The most obvious reason is drop-out of internet connection. Unfortunately, without connection to the camera we cannot do much.
When the camera will be back online, you can check a log from the camera (go to camera settings - Event logs) to see what happened.
I would like to install external USB cameras.
This application does not support external cameras at this moment. This is mostly because Android system doesn't support them neither. But I would like to add a support for external camera in a future.
How can I change the language of the app?
The app is translated to 7 languages (EN, ES, PT, DE, CZ, RU, FR) and it reflects the language of the phone. If the language of the phone isn't supported, English is shown instead. Unfortunately, the app isn't translated to Italian language yet.
How do switch time displayed in image from am/pm to 24 hour setting?
The time format depends on your phone settings. So if your phone is set to use "am/pm", the app will also show time as "am/pm". To change it, please change the time format in your phone settings.
The "Turn off when nearby" function doesn't work at all. This means I have to turn detection on manually every time I leave home. There is a schedule but if I turn detection off when I come home, it doesn't turn on next day!
I would like the detection to turn on every day, as scheduled, even if I have turned it off manually the day before. I might come before the scheduled turn off time!
Why does the camera turn itself off at short power failures, bad connection or similar? If I work somewhere with bad connection, I would like the camera detection to still be able to detect movements at home!
Concerning "nearby" function. Yes, I know about it, but unfortunately this cannot be fixed by myself. The app uses native function provided by Android "Geofence". On Android 8.0 and higher, the function isn't reliable due to strong power management. I hope that Google guys will fix it soon. But mostly it works fine, just leave the nearby function turned on and it will start to work sooner or later.
Concerning the scheduler - there was a bug in the previous version. It was fixed in the last version 2.3.1. So please update your cameras and it should work.
Actually, the camera shouldn't turn itself off on connectivity failure of the monitor. Are you sure about it? May be it is some coincidence?
Does the camera work without being connected to Wi-Fi?
The camera works even without internet connection. In this mode, it detects movement and internally stores the images of detected motion. As soon as it connects to internet, it sends everything to your monitor device.
Ok so does internet need to be on both phones? Does it need to be connected to the same e mail or same Wi-Fi?
When you want to receive online notification about detected motions etc., both phones should be connected to Internet.
The camera also works when it is not connected to Internet, it detects motions etc., but it sends recordings (images) as soon as it connects to Internet. Also the monitor works offline - you can browse images and history, but you'll not receive new notifications until you connect to Internet.
Battery level and charge notifications as well as motion detection notifications arrive a few seconds late.
For notifications, the application uses standard Android notification system. If you face some delay issues, I would recommend to restart your monitor phone, may be the problem is there. Anyway, I think that the problem will disappear by itself...