Any two devices, one wifi, zero cloud — 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. Pair them with a QR or a pasted code, and the picture travels device-to-device through your router, never the internet.
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.
The Cam device shows a code. On the View device tap its scan step and point it at that code — or tap copy code text and paste it across. Don't use your phone's normal camera app; it only opens a web search.
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.
show this code to the View device
this code came out too dense to scan reliably — use the text below with copy & paste (any messenger on the same wifi, or type it) instead.
Don't scan this with your phone's normal camera — it won't understand the code, it just opens a web search. On the View device, either use its scan step, or tap copy code text below and paste it there (message it to yourself, or type it). Copy-paste is the easy, no-aiming path — especially when one device is a laptop.
point this camera at the View device's reply code
hold the View device up to the camera above — or paste the reply text:
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.
use this in-app scanner (not your phone's camera app) — aim at the QR on the Cam device, turn its brightness up. Or paste its code text:
now show this reply to the Cam device
this reply is too dense for a reliable scan — copy the text below onto the Cam device instead.
The Cam device reads this from inside babycamly (its read their reply step) — not with a normal camera app. Rather not aim a camera at a screen? Tap copy reply text and paste it over there instead.
waiting for the Cam device to scan… the video appears here by itself the moment it does.
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 be introduced without a matchmaking server. It turned out the introduction fits in a QR code. Two phones now shake hands across the kitchen table, the video crosses the router and nothing else, 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 shows a QR code.
- View device: tap View device and read that code — with the in-app scan step, not your phone's camera app, or by pasting the copied text. It thinks for a second, then shows a reply code of its own.
- Close the loop: let the Cam device read the View device's reply (its read their reply step, or paste it). That's the whole handshake — the two now know each other and connect on their own.
- Watch: tap the video once to unmute (browser rule), 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
- zero cloud — the QR handshake replaces the signaling server; footage crosses your router, not the internet
- 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). With the STUN switch off, nothing — not even a byte of setup — leaves your network.
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.