Holidays are nice. You’ll be able to depart behind your each day worries, your obligations… your work. On the similar time, you allow behind your own home and your pets. Each time I depart for various days, I fear in regards to the safety of our home and miss our cats so badly that I take into consideration slicing the holiday brief.Â
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It isn’t nearly holidays. A 12 months in the past, one among our cats had a critical accident and wound up in a forged and collar. As a result of I wanted to maintain a relentless eye on him — and nonetheless meet my deadlines — I made a decision to repurpose one of many many Android telephones I had mendacity round. With the assistance of a simple-to-use utility known as DroidCam, I turned my telephone right into a webcam appropriate for a wide range of safety and monitoring purposes.Â
Since I first wrote this text, the developer has launched a extra highly effective model of the software program, known as DroidCam Webcam & OBS Camera, which provides OBS Studio integration. In case you solely want to make use of this as normal webcam, the unique software program will suffice.
Let me present you the way that is carried out. Â
How you can use an outdated Android telephone as a safety or pet digital camera
What you may want: An Android telephone (working model 5.0 and up), an influence twine for the telephone (you don’t need your battery to expire), the DroidCam app, and an online browser on the identical community because the telephone.
Open the Play Retailer in your Android machine.
Seek for DroidCam and, as soon as you’ve got discovered it, faucet Set up.
DroidCam is free to put in and use.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Be certain your Android machine is on the identical wi-fi community because the desktop or laptop computer you may be utilizing to view the digital camera, then begin the appliance. As soon as it begins, it can current you with the tackle you employ to attach out of your browser.
The DroidCam interface is a bit old-school however works like a attraction.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
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The output on the display screen shows the IP tackle and the port you have to use to entry the digital camera. In case you level an online browser to http://SERVER:4747/video (the place SERVER is the IP tackle displayed by DroidCam), you may see the video output from the digital camera.
My cat is being watched and he does not even realize it.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
The free model of the app solely affords 240p or 480p resolutions. To get 720p and 1080p resolutions you have to buy the professional model of the app (DroidCamX $5.49Â on the Google Play Retailer), which provides sound, HD mode, and SmoothFPS for extra steady video. Nonetheless, for very primary safety/child/cat cam utilization, the free model does simply fantastic.
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Bear in mind to plug that telephone into an outlet, as streaming video can eat away on the battery. The excellent news on that entrance is that the app will proceed streaming, even after your telephone is locked and asleep.Â
That is the gist of utilizing DroidCam as an online/safety cam. I’ve used this setup for just a few purposes, the place I wanted extra eyes than evolution gave me.
