01 / Nursery
The baby monitor you already own.
Crystal-clear 2K video, two-way audio for soothing, and background streaming so you can keep an ear on the room while you make dinner on the same phone.
DIY home security camera
Your old iPhone deserves
a second act.
Phonitor turns the spare iPhone, iPad, or Mac sitting in your drawer into a private home monitoring camera. No new hardware, no cloud.
How it works
From dusty drawer to live camera in two minutes.
01
Install on both devices
Download Phonitor on the spare iPhone, iPad, or Mac you'll use as the camera, and on the everyday device you'll watch from. One free app, both ends.
02
Pair through iCloud
Phonitor uses the Apple Account already signed in on your devices, paired in the background through iCloud. No new sign-up. No new password.
03
Place. Mount. Watch.
Prop the camera device where you need eyes. Tap to view on your daily phone. The stream connects directly between the two — no servers in between.
What people use it for
Five rooms.
One spare phone each.
Anywhere you'd want a camera but don't want to pay every month, Phonitor fits. Mount the spare device, open the app on your daily one, and you're watching.
02 / Pets
Check on the dog from the office.
A wide-angle view of the living room. Talk through the speaker when she chews the rug.
03 / Front door
Watch the door.
Mount an old iPhone behind a window. Get a live feed any time, without a monthly subscription or a hub on the wall.
04 / Elderly care
A gentle check-in.
Quiet peace of mind for parents living alone — with talk-back when something looks off.
05 / Workshop & garage
See what's running.
Keep an eye on the 3D printer, kiln, or fermenter without standing next to it.
Everything inside
Built for the way Apple devices already work.
No proprietary protocols. No accessory hubs. Phonitor leans on what your devices can already do — and adds what they can't yet.
Real-time monitoring
Watch the live stream from any of your Apple devices, anywhere you have a connection.
Instant playback
Replay any moment from recordings stored on the camera device.
Export clips PRO
Trim and save the moments that matter — local or remote — and share them anywhere.
Two-way audio PRO
Hear what's happening, and talk back as if you were there.
Night vision
Cleaner low-light video with anti-flicker tuning that stays calm under dim bulbs.
Up to 2K · 60fps
Multiple resolutions and frame rates to match the scene and your bandwidth.
Low latency
Direct device-to-device connection keeps delay minimal, even at high quality.
Background play PRO
Keep monitoring while you use other apps, or even with the screen locked.
Built for long sessions
Smart battery use and reduced heat keep the camera device stable for stretches at a time.
Privacy
Your video doesn't go on
a field trip.
Most security cameras send your living room to a data center. Phonitor doesn't have a data center. Streams travel directly between your two devices.
Phonitor
Direct, between your devices.
Camera
P2P · end-to-end
Viewer
- Streams travel device-to-device, never through us
- Recordings stay on the camera device, locally
- No analytics, no ads, no data collection
- Your Apple Account is the only credential needed
Other cameras
Through someone else's servers.
Camera
Cloud
Viewer
- Streams pass through and are stored in the cloud
- Recordings sit on third-party servers
- Often paired with analytics, ads, and accounts
- Each vendor adds another login and policy
Pricing
Free to use. Pro when you need it.
Free
Phonitor
Real-time monitoring, instant playback. Free, forever.
Pro · 7-day free trial
Phonitor Pro
Everything in Free, plus unlimited real-time monitoring, and exclusive features like clip exports and background play.
Where is my video actually stored?
Recordings live locally on the camera device — never on a Phonitor server, never in iCloud Photos, never anywhere we can read. Live streams travel peer-to-peer between your two devices and aren't recorded by us in transit.
Do my videos go through any server?
No. Live streams travel directly between the camera device and the viewer device over an end-to-end encrypted P2P connection. We don't run a server that handles your video.
What's the oldest iPhone or iPad that works as a camera?
Anything that runs iOS 15 or newer — so iPhone 6s and up. Older iPads work too if they're on iPadOS 15+ (iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 and newer). The camera quality you get is the camera quality the device originally shipped with.
Can I really use it as a baby monitor?
Yes — it's one of the most common use cases. Two-way audio lets you soothe from the kitchen, low latency means the cry reaches you immediately, and Pro's background play keeps the audio coming through while you use other apps.
Will it drain the camera device's battery?
Streaming is power-hungry by nature. Smart battery use and reduced heat help, but for permanent installs, just leave the device plugged in — that's what most people do.
Does it work over cellular, or only Wi-Fi?
Both. Phonitor sets up a direct channel either way. Wi-Fi is recommended for higher-resolution streams; cellular works fine at lower resolutions and uses your data plan accordingly.
Can I share access with family members?
Today, both the camera and viewer need to be signed into the same Apple Account, which works well within a single household. Multi-user and Family Sharing support is on the roadmap.
Why no Android version?
Phonitor is built tightly on Apple frameworks — iCloud for pairing, AVFoundation for capture, Network.framework for P2P. A cross-platform version would compromise both performance and the privacy model. So: Apple-only, on purpose.
Take the next step
Old hardware.
New job.
Free to download. The phone is already in your drawer.