I talk a lot about digital thieves stealing your data, but it's important to remember that regular old burglars can still break into your home and clean you out. That's why I'm a big fan of home security systems, especially ones that let you watch your home from a distance and alert you automatically when someone breaks in.
Of course, you don't always need a security system that covers an entire house. Maybe you want to watch a specific drawer or jewelry box, your cubicle at work, the door to your room if you have roommates, or what's happening in your hotel room while you're out. In those and similar cases, you might be able to set up a quick security system for free.
The only thing you really need is a smartphone (a tablet can work, too) and a monitoring app. Set up your smartphone on a stand, such as this one I sell in my store, and point the camera in the direction you want to watch. When the app detects movement, it can alert you, take pictures of the thief and even sound an alarm to scare them off.
If you already have an old smartphone lying around, you can be up and running in no time. You can also use your main smartphone if you want to guard something overnight. So, let's take a look at the apps that turn your smartphone into a security camera.
At the moment, few monitoring apps work for both Android and Apple, so I'll tell you about one for each.
SALIENT EYE
Android users can grab the free Salient Eye app. The name is little odd, but the features are top notch.
It uses your phone's camera to sense motion, and alerts you via email or text. Then it starts capturing photos of the thief and uploads them online to a free cloud storage account. A few seconds later, it triggers an audible alarm that, hopefully, scares the thief away. To shut off the alarm requires a password.
Here's a demonstration.
For the notification and uploading features, you will need to have your gadget connected to a cellular or Wi-Fi network. It can still capture images and sound the alarm without a connection, but if the thief steals the phone, then it doesn't do as much good.
In situations where you know someone is coming in, like a cleaning person, you can turn off the alarm so you can see what they're doing but not alert them. You can also turn off notifications if you just want to use it as a motion-activated alarm.
The developer claims Salient Eye can work up to 10 hours on battery alone, so it will even work in places you can't access to an outlet, like a drawer or jewelry box, or on a camping trip. There's also a paid remote-control app that lets you turn it on and off from a distance.
Apple users will want to download the free Manything app to their old iPhone and new iPhone. Like Salient Eye, Manything uses your gadget's camera to detect motion and trigger an alert. Unlike Salient Eye, it can capture video in addition to still photos and stream video live to the gadget you have with you. It also stores up to 12 hours of video in a free cloud account.
Manything has other fancy features like adjustable motion sensitivity, programmable motion zones so it can watch very specific areas, easy time-lapse and a built-in remote control. You can also set up multiple gadgets and view them in the app on your main phone. If you're really feeling adventurous Manything has IFTTT support for triggering updates to social media or even triggering Internet-connected home appliances like some LED lightbulbs.
Your only limit is your imagination. Use it to record activity around a bird feeder or know when a child leaves their room at night. You can also just stick with using it for security.
As I said it is free, but there are paid options that let you use it with more than one camera or get more than 12 hours of cloud recording storage. Of course, these apps are meant to monitor a very specific area. If you want to increase your home security, I have a few more options you should look at.
If you need to keep an eye on the outside of your house, like the porch or side gate, you want our Wireless IP Weatherproof Camera with IR. It's weatherproof, has infrared night vision and is wireless so you don't have to worry about running as many wires. Plus, like the indoor camera you can view it remotely from anywhere with a computer or mobile gadget, and get motion alerts with images.
Finally, if you need to cover an entire house or small business, Our Camera DVR Indoor/Outdoor Surveillance System does the trick. It comes with four indoor/outdoor cameras similar to the outdoor camera above, but adds a digital video recorder with a 500 gigabyte hard drive.
In addition to getting alerts and images when motion is detected, the system records video non-stop so you can see exactly what that repairman or your kids got up to when you weren't looking. Finding the video segment you want is a breeze with the simple computer interface.
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