Your old phone. Your new security camera.
One old phone films, the phone in your hand watches — iPhone, Android, or one of each. The AI runs on the phone, and not even we can watch.
Free · No account · One QR scan, live in 3 minutes · iPhone 8 or later, iPad or Android
RECAM at a glance.
Your old phone is the camera.
Not just motion.
Glass breaking.
25
Sound patterns in Home Security mode
Streams with the screen off.
Live HD from the camera phone, display dark.
£0
Hardware
1
QR scan.
No account.
End-to-end
encrypted
≤30 s
Push to talk
Remote siren
No cloud video
On-device AI
Detection never leaves the phone.
iOS + Android
Any two phones. Mix them.
Camera on
Wi-Fi or mobile data.
Direct when your network allows it. Otherwise through a blind relay that can’t read the stream.
AI detection
Signal,
not noise.
Traditional cameras record everything — shadows, leaves, passing cars — and upload it all to the cloud. AI detection is different. Higher signal. Fewer false alarms. Dramatically lower privacy risk.
Everything, all the time.
Every leaf. Every shadow. All stored on someone else's server.
One alert. When it matters.
Only real events. Analysed on-device. Never uploaded.
Human detection only
Filter noise. Trigger alerts only when it matters.
Face & shape detection
More context. More accurate event understanding.
No useless notifications
Less interruption. More confidence in every alert.
Security without cloud risk
Local AI means fewer attack surfaces and zero data exposure.
Spare phone
You already own the camera. It just needs the app.
The phone in your drawer has the lens, the mic and the chip that runs the AI. RECAM is the missing piece — and it’s free.
-
01
Install
Free, on both phones: the old one and the one in your hand.
-
02
Prop, scan, plug in
Old phone at the door or the cot. One QR scan. Plug it in.
-
03
Get the alert
Someone shows up. The phone in your hand gets one line: “Human detected”.
From drawer to door in three minutes.
Step-by-step guides: Spare iPhone as a security camera Old Android phone as a security camera
Vs. Ring · Nest · Arlo
Same features.
Without the surveillance economy.
Ring, Nest, and Arlo charge around £40–100 upfront plus £50–220 a year to keep your footage on their servers. Over three years, that’s roughly £190–760 per camera — and a permanent record outside your home. With RECAM, the core stays free and your footage belongs to you.
Free core. No mandatory subscription.
- £0 hardware — reuse a phone you own
- On-device AI, no mandatory cloud
- Recorded clips stay on your phone
- End-to-end encrypted
- No account required
Over 3 years, per camera.
- £40–100 hardware upfront
- £50–220 a year, forever
- Footage stored on their servers
- Account and vendor lock-in
Use cases
Where would you put yours?
Five places an old phone earns its keep.
Front door
Know before they knock.
Driveway & garage
The car, the bikes, and whoever’s near them.
Living room
You’re away. Glass breaks. Your phone tells you.
Baby monitor
Nap down the hall. A cry finds you.
Pet cam
Barking at noon? Look in from your desk.
On-device AI
Every frame, judged on the phone. Not in a data centre.
The neural networks run on the camera phone itself. They read every frame right there — and what reaches the phone in your hand is a verdict, not a video.
- Human detectionKnows a person from a shadow, a pet, a car.
- Pose estimationReads posture, not just presence.
- Face directionKnows which way a face is turned.
- Eye & nose visibilityChecked on a sleeping baby’s face, frame by frame.
- Sound patternsGlass breaking, cries, barks — sorted on the phone, by mode.
What running locally buys you
The verdict leaves the phone. The footage never has to.
Privacy
No footage to leak. No footage to hand over. No one watching but you.
Ring, Nest and Arlo keep your footage on their servers — a copy outside your home that you don’t control. RECAM keeps no copy at all. Your video is encrypted on the camera phone and readable only on the phones you paired.
“No Data Collected” is Apple’s privacy label for the RECAM iOS app on the App Store; the Android app’s data safety details are listed on Google Play. On either, your video is never readable by RECAM.
End-to-end encrypted
Encrypted on the camera phone, decrypted on yours. Nothing in between can read a frame.
Blind relay
When no direct path exists, a relay forwards encrypted packets it cannot read, store or watch.
Clips stay on the camera
Clips live only on the camera phone. Replay uses the same encryption, unseen by us.
Direct on your Wi-Fi
Same Wi-Fi: the two phones connect directly. No internet? Recording carries on regardless.
| Ring · Nest · Arlo | RECAM |
|---|---|
| Your footage sits on their servers — Ring hands it over on a valid legal request. | Nothing readable exists outside your phones — so there is nothing to hand over. |
| An account and a password for every camera you own. | No account. One QR scan pairs your two phones — no password to steal. |
We can’t watch your video.
Not won’t — can’t.
Monitoring modes
Baby monitor. Pet cam. Security cam.
Same phone, one tap apart.
Nap time: tap Baby Phone — the camera listens for cries, giggles too, and keeps its light off in the nursery. School run: Pet Watcher, tuned to barks, whimpers and meows. Lights out: Home Security, listening for 25 sound patterns you hope it never hears, glass breaking included.
Switching is free, on an iPhone or Android camera alike · Every mode is a preset — each detection toggle stays adjustable in settings · Whichever you pick, human and animal detection, alerts and motion recording stay on
Baby face monitoring
Knows when their face is covered.
Alerts you instantly.
On-device AI helps alert you when your baby’s nose or eyes appear covered during sleep — without uploading a single frame. No cloud watching your nursery. Just you.
RECAM is not a medical or certified safety device. It complements but does not replace direct supervision.
Recording & playback
You missed it live.
Your camera didn’t.
Your phone buzzes at 3 p.m. — motion in the hallway. Over coffee you open the live view, tap the clock, and the camera plays back what it saved: newest clip first, at real speed. Nothing was uploaded for you to watch it — the clip never left the phone at home.
RECAM Pro to start a replay — recording, and watching on the camera phone itself, stay free · The camera phone records on motion or sound detection, or when you tap REC
Push to talk
Say it out loud at home.
From wherever you are.
Tap the mic, say a few words, and your voice plays out loud on the phone you left at home — screen off, app closed, it doesn’t matter. Comfort the dog, tell the kids dinner’s ready, or answer the delivery driver.
RECAM Pro · Up to 30 seconds a message · Recorded and delivered · Encrypted with your camera’s own key
Remote siren
One tap from anywhere.
The room gets very loud.
There’s an intruder in your home. Tap the siren: the phone you left at home starts wailing — a rising alarm sweep that silent mode does not stop — whether you’re in the next room or another country. No monitoring centre, no operator, no call-back about a false alarm. Simple, effective deterrence.
RECAM Pro · Stops itself after 5 minutes, or the moment you tap again · On an Android camera phone RECAM sets the alarm volume to maximum; on an iPhone camera it plays at the volume that phone is set to · Not a monitored alarm service — nobody is dispatched
Your spare phone watches your home — and now speaks for you. Free to start.
Start today
Protect your home in three minutes.
Download RECAM — the AI security camera app for iPhone and Android. Turn a spare phone into a private security camera, then watch it live from your phone. No account required. No mandatory cloud. No surveillance economy.
Mix any two — iPhone 8 or later, iPad on iPadOS 16+, Android 7.0+.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is this really a security camera using an iPhone?
Yes. RECAM turns any iPhone — or any Android phone — into a private, AI-powered security camera with human detection.
Can an Android phone be the camera, or only watch?
Yes — an Android phone can be the camera, and it does everything an iPhone camera does: live HD video and sound, AI detection running on the phone itself, and it keeps streaming with the screen off, so it can sit on a charger all day. It can just as easily be the viewer instead — you decide, device by device. Best part: the two phones don’t have to match. An old Android can watch the cot while you check in from the iPhone in your pocket, or the other way round — so any two phones in the house are enough to start. Either way the stream is end-to-end encrypted: direct when your network allows, via an encrypted blind relay otherwise.
Is my old phone too old for RECAM?
Probably not. RECAM runs on iPhone 8 and later (on iOS 16.3+), any iPad on iPadOS 16 or later, and any Android phone or tablet on Android 7.0 or later — Android 7.0 shipped back in 2016. To check: on iPhone or iPad, Settings → General → About; on Android, Settings → About phone → Android version. Learn more
Does RECAM store video in the cloud?
No cloud video storage. All AI analysis runs on the camera phone itself. Live streams are end-to-end encrypted — direct when your network allows, via an encrypted relay otherwise. Recorded clips stay on the camera phone — replaying them from your other phone travels over that same encrypted stream, and we never see them. Apple’s App Store privacy label for RECAM lists “No Data Collected.”
Can I use multiple iPhones as cameras?
Yes — add as many cameras as you need and switch between them in a tap. You can mix iPhone, iPad and Android devices in the same system.
Does the app work if my internet goes down?
Yes. RECAM runs even offline. Notifications and video streaming need internet access, but the actual video recording is stored locally on the camera phone.
Can I use RECAM as a doorbell or garage camera?
Absolutely. RECAM was engineered for entrances and outdoor monitoring too.
How does RECAM stay private without the cloud?
RECAM runs its AI on-device and keeps no cloud video storage. Your live stream is end-to-end encrypted — direct device-to-device when your network allows, and when it can't, a blind relay forwards the encrypted stream without ever being able to read it. Learn more
Is the live stream encrypted?
Yes. RECAM streams in real time over UDP with AES encryption — end-to-end encrypted, direct device-to-device when your network allows, with an encrypted relay fallback that can never read your stream.
Can RECAM detect animals or outdoor activity?
Yes. RECAM can be used for outdoor monitoring (e.g., garden/pool/entrances) with smart alerts for meaningful activity.
Can I monitor a shop, office, or storage room with RECAM?
Yes. Many use RECAM to cover workspaces like home offices, garages, stock rooms, and delivery doors with instant alerts and privacy-first monitoring.
Can I view RECAM remotely from another network?
Yes — it just works on Wi-Fi or mobile data, on any router, with no setup. RECAM connects your devices directly when the network allows; otherwise an encrypted blind relay forwards the stream. UPnP or port forwarding is optional, only to favour a fully-direct path.
Does RECAM only detect motion, or can it analyse sound too?
RECAM can use on-device analysis for both motion and sound events to reduce false alerts and prioritise real situations. Learn more
Can I use RECAM as a baby monitor?
Yes — RECAM is one of the safest iPhone baby monitors available because nothing streams to the cloud. Your video is end-to-end encrypted the whole way; if your network can't make a direct connection, a blind relay forwards the encrypted stream but can never read it. On-device AI can alert you to crying, unusual stillness, or face coverage — without uploading a single frame of your baby. Learn more
Does RECAM work as a pet camera?
Yes. RECAM makes an excellent private pet camera. On-device AI listens for barks, meows, and distress vocalisations and detects animal movement, so you only get alerts when something actually happens. No mandatory cloud, no mandatory monthly fee, no strangers watching your living room. Learn more
Can RECAM be a baby monitor and a security camera?
Yes — the same camera phone switches jobs in one tap. The Monitoring picker in the live view offers three modes: Baby Phone, Pet Watcher, and Home Security. Each one retunes what the camera watches and listens for, and you can switch remotely from the phone in your hand, without touching the camera. Whichever mode you pick, human and animal detection, alerts, and motion recording stay on, so switching never leaves a room uncovered. Switching modes is free on iPhone and Android alike, and every detection stays adjustable in settings. See how the modes work
Can I use RECAM to protect an Airbnb, studio, or short-term rental?
Yes. RECAM records to your own device (not a cloud server) and uses on-device AI, so you can discreetly monitor common areas and exteriors while respecting guest privacy. Encrypted, with a free core (optional Pro at £4.99/month or £44.99/year), and well suited to short-term rentals. Learn more
Can RECAM watch my driveway and car?
Yes. Point a spare iPhone at a window facing your driveway and RECAM's human-detection AI triggers alerts only when someone approaches — not when a leaf blows by. You get encrypted, local video without paying a camera company £8 a month. Learn more
How much does RECAM cost compared to Ring, Nest, or Arlo?
RECAM is free for as many cameras as you own, each shared with one viewer — real-time streaming, on-device human detection, end-to-end encrypted. No hardware to buy, no account required. RECAM Pro is £4.99/month or £44.99/year for unlimited sharing, smart alerts, clip replay from anywhere, the remote siren and push to talk — cancel anytime, and the yearly plan starts with a 3-day free trial. Separately, new users get their first month of AI detection alerts free; that month covers alerts only, and the siren, push to talk, clip replay and extra viewers need Pro. Ring, Nest, and Arlo charge around £40–100 upfront plus £50–220 a year for their plans — that’s roughly £190–760 over three years per camera, depending on plan tier. Learn more
Where do I put the camera phone?
Anywhere an inexpensive mount can hold it: a gooseneck arm clamped by the cot, a suction cup on the window facing the driveway, a simple dock on the chest of drawers or a shelf. Pick a spot with power nearby — a camera phone stays plugged in. See our recommended mounts
What does the remote siren do?
From the live view, you tap once and the camera phone plays a loud alarm wail — even in silent mode — whether you’re in the next room or another country. It keeps sounding until you tap again, and stops on its own after five minutes per trigger. On an Android camera phone RECAM raises the alarm volume to maximum itself; on an iPhone camera phone it plays at the volume that phone is set to, so leave it turned up. The siren is always fired by you and never automatically by detection; it’s part of RECAM Pro (£4.99/month or £44.99/year), and RECAM is not a monitored alarm service, so nobody is dispatched.