92
Are there any applications that can turn an old smart phone into a wildlife/security camera? (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Have been thinking about this for a couple years. I have old phones kicking around. Battery shot, hardware dated, but the camera(s) and mic and antennas still work. Would be cool if there were a way to set them up (powered) to stream audio/video or even take stills at intervals (or motion-activated) and then sync the content to the rest of the devices on my network.

I don't know how complex the programming for something like this would be. But I suspect it's trivial for those who do know.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

I’ve run it on an iPhone 5 or 6, I don’t recall… had it watching my living room for a month while I was away, and aside from a few false positives when light patterns changed due to the wind blowing tree branches around, it was excellent.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    I find it works better in my iOS devices than my Androids. The camera is better. Then again, my newest Android running Alfred is about 3 years old.

    I have 2 that run 24/7, for 6 months now, - an iPhone 6 and a Moto E5. They watch out the front window mostly to see UPS/Amazon drops.

    They're sensitive enough to trigger when tree leaf shadows move on the pavement.

    I could pay for it and I'd be able to block out regions or better adjust the sensitivity.

    Had one setup over the summer to watch a hummingbird feeder. Amazing video quality for such fast little birds. That one enabled me to catch the thief that was spilling the feeder ever day (squirrel), so I was able to use the notification to know he was there and scare him off. Worked out.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent