{"id":6491,"date":"2020-10-29T08:17:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T15:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/?p=6491"},"modified":"2023-01-11T13:42:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T21:42:05","slug":"turn-an-old-smartphone-into-a-home-security-camera-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/turn-an-old-smartphone-into-a-home-security-camera-heres-how\/","title":{"rendered":"TURN AN OLD SMARTPHONE INTO A HOME SECURITY CAMERA. HERE\u2019S HOW!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ever wondered what to do with that old smartphone you tossed into the junk drawer after getting a new one? Here\u2019s an idea that will give that old phone new life\u2014and protect your home!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most useful ways to reuse an old phone is to make it into a&nbsp;home security camera. Once you&#8217;re set up, you will be able to monitor your living space and control your security camera from anywhere, right from your new phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin, you will need to choose a security-camera app for your phone. Most apps offer standard features like local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and motion detection and alerts. There are a number of impressive, free choices available for both <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store?&amp;utm_source=na_Med&amp;utm_medium=hasem&amp;utm_content=Jul0119&amp;utm_campaign=Evergreen&amp;pcampaignid=MKT-DR-na-us-1000189-Med-hasem-py-Evergreen-Jul0119-Text_Search_BKWS-id_100740_%7cEXA%7cONSEM_kwid_43700045371544913&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIh9DjnrqW7AIVTr7ACh0utgSgEAAYASAAEgLE5vD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Android smartphones<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/apple-store\/id375380948\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iPhones<\/a>\u2014including highly recommended apps like <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.ivuu&amp;referrer=utm_source%3Dlandingpage%26utm_campaign%3Dlanding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alfred<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.manything.manythingviewer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Manything<\/a> (short for \u201cmonitor anything\u201d), <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.appsfromthebox.HomeEye\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Home Eye<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.peoplepowerco.presencepro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Presence<\/a>, all of which will work on either platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally, you\u2019ll need to download the app on both your old and new phone, and follow a few simple installation and setup steps to get started. Once both phones are signed in to the app, the old phone serves as your security camera. You\u2019ll need to set it up at a point you most want to monitor, like the main entry of your home, backyard, or a place where you store valuables. &nbsp;Mounting it on a smartphone tripod, or a car mount, will help stabilize it in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your security app will provide a live-feed from the old phone\u2019s camera to your new phone using streaming video. Keep in mind that streaming video uses a lot of battery power, so you\u2019ll also want to keep the older \u201ccamera\u201d phone charged regularly. If possible, position it near a power source and leave it plugged in\u2014that way, you can have it monitoring 24\/7 without worry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve got an older smartphone gathering dust, put it to work for you! Explore home security apps at the <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/search?q=home%20security%20apps&amp;c=apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Play<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/app-store\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple App<\/a> store. You\u2019re sure to find one that\u2019s just right for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever wondered what to do with that old smartphone you tossed into the junk drawer after getting a new one? Here\u2019s an idea that will give that old phone new life\u2014and protect your home! One of the most useful ways to reuse an old phone is to make it into a&nbsp;home security camera. Once you&#8217;re [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":6492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>TURN AN OLD SMARTPHONE INTO A HOME SECURITY CAMERA. HERE\u2019S HOW!<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Turning an old smartphone into a home security camera is as easy as installing an app on your phone.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/turn-an-old-smartphone-into-a-home-security-camera-heres-how\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TURN AN OLD SMARTPHONE INTO A HOME SECURITY CAMERA. 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HERE\u2019S HOW!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/","name":"Our Blog","description":"Consumer Cellular Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ae811ea927a57cdfa8f2807cea3dca95","name":"Susan Thomas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3b402ab9417c4dd647da1a8dc1b85e2f84e29f06fa8d366a203f01362f4fc6d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3b402ab9417c4dd647da1a8dc1b85e2f84e29f06fa8d366a203f01362f4fc6d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Susan Thomas"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.consumercellular.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/author\/susan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6493,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6491\/revisions\/6493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}