HomeKit Secure Video

Summary

We once received a delivery notification on our phones, but when my wife went outside five minutes later, the package was gone. After several emails with the company, the answer was essentially that the driver's delivery photo showed the package had arrived, so there was nothing more they could do.

Once the frustration had passed, I decided it was time to install security cameras. We live in a townhouse, and installing anything outside requires a lengthy permit process. That limited me to an indoor camera. Fortunately, there is a small glass window beside the front door that gives an indoor camera a useful view of the front yard.

Before buying a dedicated camera, I wanted to see what I could do with an old iPhone 6S that had been sitting in a drawer. Homebridge gave me a practical way to test the idea. This is how I configured the Homebridge Camera UI plugin to bring the old phone into the Apple Home app.

Set up iPhone

I found an App Store app called LiveReporter that supports RTSP, a protocol commonly used by IP cameras. That made it a good fit because the Homebridge Camera UI plugin supports RTSP as well.

After installing the app, I configured it with a local IP address and gave the camera a name. I also reserved that IP address in my router so the phone would keep the same address.

Set up Homebridge

Download and install Homebridge for your platform from https://homebridge.io. I run it on my Synology NAS. Once it is installed, the Homebridge interface should be available at http://localhost:8581/.

Open the Plugins page, search for “Homebridge Camera UI,” install it, and restart Homebridge.

Configure Homebridge Camera UI

I did not change anything in the Interface section. That section is where you can change the plugin's port or enable debug logging if you need to troubleshoot it.

In the Cameras section, select Add New Camera. I named mine iPhoneCamera and enabled the following options:

Unbridged Camera
HomeKit Secure Video
Prebuffering

I also had another camera named Tapo_C110 in the plugin, but it is not part of this iPhone setup.

The Branding section controls the camera information shown in the Apple Home app. You can use the details that make sense for your device.

The Stream Configuration area within the camera settings is where I entered the connection details for the RTSP stream provided by LiveReporter.

In the "Branding", you can give you can put anything you want, this is the camera details that will show in Apple Home App.

In the Cameras section, I entered the connection details under Stream Configuration

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