Use an IP Camera as a Baby Monitor on iPhone or iPad

What you need

• A camera that speaks RTSP or ONVIF. Most indoor cameras from Tapo, Reolink, Hikvision, Dahua and Amcrest qualify. Ring, Nest, Arlo and Blink do not; they only work in their own apps.
• Infrared night vision and a microphone. Nearly every indoor camera has both. Cameras with 940 nm infrared give no visible glow, which some babies notice less than the faint red of 850 nm LEDs.
• Mains power. A battery camera sleeps between events and cannot stream all night.
• An iPhone or iPad on iOS or iPadOS 17 or later on the same Wi-Fi as the camera.

The free version of IP Camera Viewer & Monitor plays one camera live with sound, which is enough for a single nursery.

Setting it up

1. Set the camera up in its own app first: give it a password and join it to your home Wi-Fi.
2. Switch on RTSP or ONVIF if the camera needs it (a Camera Account on Tapo, Port Settings on Reolink).
3. In IP Camera Viewer on your iPhone or iPad, tap Scan and pick the camera, or add it by its RTSP address.
4. Open the camera, turn its volume up, and rename it, for example to Nursery.
5. Check the picture with the lights off before the first night, and adjust the angle so the whole cot is in view.

Brand-specific settings are in the guides for Tapo, Reolink and Hikvision, and the general steps are in how to view an IP camera on iPhone.

Night vision and sound

Cameras switch between colour and infrared on their own as the light changes. A dim nightlight can leave a camera hovering at the threshold, flicking between modes with an audible click each time. On cameras that expose the ONVIF imaging service, Pro lets you set night mode to Auto, On or Off from the app; fixing it to On for the night stops the flicker.

The app plays the camera's own audio and remembers a volume level for each camera, so the nursery can be loud while other cameras stay muted. A camera microphone in a quiet room picks up crying clearly. The app cannot talk back through the camera's speaker.

Keeping watch while you use your phone

With Picture in Picture (Pro), the nursery camera keeps playing in a small window, with sound, while you read, message or browse in other apps. Drag it to a corner or pinch it bigger.

An old iPad makes a good bedside screen. Keep it on its charger, set Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock to Never, and lower the brightness for the night. Guided Access (Settings → Accessibility) keeps it on the camera view if someone else picks it up.

Delay, Wi-Fi and reliability

The video goes straight from the camera to your iPhone over your Wi-Fi, typically a second or two behind real time. It keeps working when your internet connection is down, because nothing passes through a server. If the picture stutters in a room far from the router, add the camera by its sub-stream address: the smaller stream is steadier and still sharp on a phone. Watching from outside your home needs a VPN to your network; around the house and garden on the same Wi-Fi, nothing extra is needed.

What a viewer app does not do

• No alerts. It does not detect crying, motion, temperature or breathing, and it will not wake you. If you rely on notifications, keep the camera's own app or a dedicated monitor running for that.
• Keep it on screen. Sound plays while the app is open or in Picture in Picture; do not count on hearing it with the phone locked.
• No automatic recording. You can save a snapshot or record a clip by hand while watching.
• Not a medical device. A camera is a convenience, not a safety system. Follow safe-sleep guidance, and keep the camera and every cable at least a metre (about 3 feet) from the cot, out of reach.

Keeping the nursery private

IP Camera Viewer needs no account and sends no video anywhere: the stream travels from the camera to your device and stops there. To keep it that way, change the camera's default password, update its firmware, and switch off the manufacturer's cloud features in its own app if you do not use them. Forwarding the camera's ports to the internet is the one setup to avoid.