Are you ever wondering about what your dog is doing when you’re not at home? Or do you travel a lot and just need to keep an eye on things at home? You’re in luck you can use an iOS app called iCam along with its companion application, iCamSource, to resolve both of these issues.
What is it?
iCam uses your Macs built-in iSight camera and mic as a security camera. This is accomplished by downloading the free iCamSource application and installing it on your Mac. Once it is installed iCam can stream video from up to four source cameras to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The app secures access to the video stream using a user name and password and the stream can be viewed over Wi-Fi, Edge, and 3G. The app performs best over a Wi-Fi connection, but it wasn’t unpleasant to use over a cellular connection.
Constant monitoring isn’t required since iCam supports Push Notifications. If there is any motion sensed by any of the cameras an alert gets pushed out to your iOS device. You are immediately notified and given an opportunity to view the camera. If you determine that the camera is being over sensitive you can make adjustments in iCamSource. This is particularly useful if you are monitoring an area containing pets.
Once you’ve setup the app you launch it and you are presented with a screen split into four views one for each camera. You can zoom into a camera view by tapping that view to see it full screen. You can also refresh fresh the views if needed using a convenient refresh button on the screen. That button is especially important if you get disconnected from your cameras and reconnect to them afterward.
Is it any good?
I found the app to be easy to use and it was brought to my attention by a lucky man in Dallas, Texas that used it to monitor his home. The app actually alerted him to two thieves breaking into his home as it was happening. He immediately called the police and the thieves were scared off when they arrived. Based on that story if you are interested in home monitoring then $4.99 isn’t a lot to spend for an app like iCam and therefore it is definitely worth considering. I’ll definitely be watching things a lot more closely at home from now on using iCam, my iPhone 4, or iPad.
[xrr rating=75%]
Company: SKJM, LLC.
Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; iOS 3.0 or later
List Price: $4.99
Buy Now: iCam is available from the iTunes App Store.
