Any two devices — two phones, or a phone and a laptop, or a tablet and a phone. Prop one by the crib as the Cam device (a laptop webcam works fine here); keep the other with you as the View device — a phone or a laptop both watch happily. One shows a short number, you type it into the other, and the picture then travels straight device-to-device through your router. A tiny matchmaker introduces the pair by that number; it never sees the video or sound.
Open babycamly on both devices. Make sure they share the same wifi — that's the only thing they need in common.
On the one by the crib, tap Cam device. On the one you hold, tap View device. That's it — each now knows its part.
One device shows a short code — type it into the other. That's it. Nothing to aim a camera at, nothing to paste.
The picture appears on your View device. Leave the Cam device propped up and plugged in, and you're set for the night.
This needs a camera and microphone — allow access on a phone or laptop browser.
Your room code
On your other device: open babycamly.com, tap View device, and type this code —
preparing your camera link…
your camera is on — point it at the crib
leave this device propped at the crib, plugged in. the screen stays awake; the View device does the alerting. when its talk button is held there, that voice plays here.
enter the room code shown on the Cam device
Read the code off the Cam device and tap connect. Letters and numbers; spaces are fine.
connecting…
looking for the Cam device…
the video appears here by itself the moment the two devices meet.
Couldn’t connect
We had a drawer full of old phones and bought a baby monitor anyway — a plasticky thing with an app that wanted our email and, we later realised, streamed our nursery to someone's cloud. So we built the honest version: one phone by the crib, watching and alerting, nothing uploaded. Then a reader asked the obvious question — "can't the second old phone in the drawer be the parent unit?" — and it nagged at us, because the answer was almost yes. The phones only needed a way to find each other first. We tried making you scan codes between screens; parents told us plainly it was fiddly. So now one phone shows a short number, you type it into the other, and a featherweight go-between introduces the two by that number — the picture itself still crosses only your router, and the plasticky monitor is still in its box.
— for the drawer of old phones, both of them
Setting it up
- Cam device: prop it so it sees the crib, plugged in, tap Cam device, allow camera + mic. A phone, tablet, or a laptop with a webcam all work. It puts a short code on screen.
- View device: tap View device and type that number into the box, then tap connect. Spaces are fine, and the keypad is numbers-only.
- Let them meet: the two devices trade their connection details by that number and link up on their own — usually within a couple of seconds. No reply to carry back this time.
- Watch: tap 🔊 to unmute (browser rule), ⛶ for full screen, set your alert thresholds, and pocket the View device — it beeps, flashes and vibrates when the room stirs. Hold 🎙 to shush from afar.
Why babycamly
- a real parent unit — live video + audio on your View device, phone or laptop, over your own wifi
- type a number, not scan a code — the matchmaker only introduces the pair; the footage crosses your router, not its wires
- alerts where you are — the View device meters sound and motion itself and logs every stir
- talk-back — hold a button, your voice plays at the crib
- solo mode still here — one device that watches, alerts, plays a synthesized lullaby, and charts the night
- free, no account — reuse the devices you already have
Monitor questions
Where does the video actually travel?
From one phone to the other through your router, encrypted (WebRTC is always DTLS-encrypted). Only the setup handshake — the short room code and the connection details behind it — passes through the little matchmaker; the picture and sound never do.
The devices won't connect.
Same wifi? Guest networks often isolate clients from each other — that's the #1 cause. Move both to the main wifi. Full walkthrough: pairing help.
Can I watch from a different network?
Flip on the different networks switch before pairing: it uses a public STUN server to discover addresses (revealing your IP to it). Works for many home-to-office pairs; strict mobile carriers may still block it, and without a relay server that's the honest end of the road.
It keeps false-alarming.
Raise the thresholds just above the room's resting bars — on the View device in two-device mode, on the Cam device in solo mode. A fridge hum or headlights need about a minute of tuning to ignore.
Battery?
Camera, mic and a live stream are hungry on both ends. Keep both devices on chargers; the wake-lock keeps their screens from dozing.