Homeye: Old Phone Security Cam

That old Android phone in your drawer becomes a camera as soon as you plug it in. No hardware to buy, no account to create.

■ It doesn't lie to you
• You'll know when it goes down — you don't have to notice the frozen picture yourself.
• When it lowers video quality because the phone is hot or low on battery, it tells you why. It never just gets blurry.
• A "Stability check" lists the system switches that quietly kill background apps, and walks you to each one.
• If something breaks, you can export a diagnostic log and send it to the developer. The log is never uploaded anywhere on its own.

■ How it works
1. Install Homeye on both phones.
2. On the old phone, pick "Use as camera". Plug it in and point it where you want.
3. On your everyday phone, pick "View the camera", enter the code shown in the old phone's settings (or scan its QR code), then tap "Allow" on the old phone.
Pair once; after that just open the app. At home it connects over your Wi-Fi; away from home it connects remotely.

■ What it does
• Live video and audio, with four quality levels that follow temperature and battery
• Push to talk
• Motion detection, with an alert and a thumbnail on the viewer
• Motion recordings: a clip is saved on the camera phone when something moves; play it back from the viewer or save it to your gallery
• Motion notifications: get an alert even when the app is closed, and tap straight into the live view
• The camera phone can blank its screen and keep working
• Low-battery and overheating alerts from the camera phone
• Zoom from the viewer, as far as that phone's lenses allow
• 15 languages, following your system setting

■ Free and Homeye Plus
Free: up to 2 phones can watch a camera, at home and away. Away-from-home viewing is 5 minutes a day in total, one phone at a time; video up to Standard; motion recordings kept for up to 24 hours. Watching at home is not timed, motion alerts and saving frames are free, and there are no ads.
Homeye Plus (one Plus covers up to 5 cameras in your home):
• Up to 8 hours of away-from-home viewing a day
• One Plus for up to 5 cameras; save up to 5 cameras on one phone
• Up to 5 phones can watch the same camera, 3 away at the same time
• Motion recordings kept for up to 7 days (stored on the camera phone; the oldest go first when space runs low)
• HD: 25 fps with a higher bitrate for smoother video
The first time you watch from away, the camera gets 7 days of Plus free. No payment method needed; it goes back to Free on its own.
Pricing: monthly or yearly, in your local price on Google Play. Cancel anytime in Google Play. New phone or another camera? Use “Homeye Plus → Add or restore” in the app to put it on your Plus.

■ Privacy (every line is something you can verify)
• At home, video and audio go directly over your Wi-Fi.
• Away from home, they stay end-to-end encrypted between your two phones. Our Cloudflare-hosted service only helps them connect and may relay encrypted data it cannot view.
• No account needed. Feedback may include your optional reply email and any phone number you choose to enter; see our privacy policy.
• No ads. Google Analytics provides basic connection and usage analytics; see our privacy policy.
• No cloud recording.

■ Said up front
• Remote viewing needs both phones online, with Homeye kept running on the camera phone. If the system stops it, remote viewing cannot wake it.
• Remote viewing has a daily time allowance per camera and may use mobile data.
• It cannot promise "never offline". Android limits background work for everyone. What we do promise is that you will know when it stops.
• It is not a medical device and does not replace adult supervision.

■ What you need
Two Android phones (7.0 or newer) with internet access. Keep the camera phone plugged in and on Wi-Fi.