IP Camera Pro is a free Android app that turns any Android phone or tablet into a live network IP camera. It serves a MJPEG video stream over your Wi-Fi network that can be viewed in any web browser, VLC, Home Assistant, or NVR software. The app requires no account, uses no cloud servers, and runs entirely on your local network. It supports HTTPS encryption, motion detection with push notifications, QR code sharing, local video recording, and is compatible with Home Assistant, Blue Iris, and Synology Surveillance Station.

Yes. Add it to Home Assistant using the generic MJPEG camera integration in configuration.yaml:

camera:
  - platform: mjpeg
    name: My Camera
    mjpeg_url: http://PHONE_IP:8080/video
    still_image_url: http://PHONE_IP:8080/snapshot

The app is also compatible with Blue Iris, Synology Surveillance Station, AgentDVR, and iSpy — any NVR that accepts a MJPEG or generic HTTP stream URL.

Yes — and this is the key difference from IP Webcam. This app has HTTPS built-in. Chrome and Firefox block mixed-content MJPEG streams served over plain HTTP, which is why IP Webcam stopped working in modern browsers. Enable HTTPS in this app’s Settings screen, accept the self-signed certificate once in the browser, and the stream works perfectly in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge going forward.

Yes. The app requires Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher, which covers virtually every Android phone made after 2014. This is specifically the most common use case — plugging in an old phone, enabling the app, and using it as a permanent 24/7 IP camera at zero cost. The app is optimised to pause camera processing when the phone screen turns off, reducing battery draw during continuous operation.

Yes, the app is completely free. There are no advertisements, no account required, no cloud subscription, and no feature paywalls. HTTPS encryption, motion detection, QR sharing, local recording, and NVR compatibility are all included at no cost.

Tap START STREAM on the camera phone. The app displays a QR code and a URL such as http://192.168.1.5:8080/. On any other device on the same Wi-Fi: scan the QR code or open the URL in a browser. No app installation is needed on the viewing device. You can also use VLC (any platform) or any camera viewer that accepts a MJPEG URL.

No. The app runs as an Android Foreground Service with a WakeLock and Wi-Fi lock, which means it continues serving the stream even when the screen is locked, the app is minimised, or the phone enters standby. A persistent notification is shown while streaming is active, as required by Android for foreground services. The camera preview is paused (but not the stream) when the screen is off, reducing CPU and battery usage.

By default the stream is local Wi-Fi only, which is the most private and secure option. For remote access, the recommended approach is to use a VPN (Tailscale is free and easy to set up). Alternatively, you can forward port 8080 on your router to the phone’s local IP address — enable HTTPS and password protection if you do this. A tunnel service such as ngrok also works for temporary remote access.

Multiple simultaneous viewers are supported — each connected device gets its own independent MJPEG stream. In practice, the limiting factor is the phone’s CPU and Wi-Fi bandwidth. At 75% JPEG quality the stream uses approximately 300–500 KB/s. A typical 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi connection supports 4–8 simultaneous viewers comfortably at 15 FPS.

The app requests three permissions: Camera (required to capture and stream video), Notifications (required for the Foreground Service notification and motion detection alerts), and Storage (required only if the recording feature is enabled). The app does not request location, microphone, contacts, SMS, or any other sensitive permission. No data is transmitted to any server — all video stays on your local network.

Yes, enable Auto-record in Settings. Recordings are saved to /IPCamera/Recordings/ on your device’s external storage as MJPEG AVI files. They are playable in VLC immediately. To convert to H.264 MP4, run: ffmpeg -i recording.avi output.mp4. The app’s hardware encoder path (optional) records directly to MP4 with no conversion needed.

The app compares consecutive video frames using a luminance-weighted pixel difference algorithm on a downsampled 160×120 thumbnail. When the fraction of changed pixels exceeds the sensitivity threshold (adjustable in Settings from 0.5% to 15%), a push notification is sent. A 3-second cooldown prevents notification flooding. Motion detection works with the screen off and does not require cloud processing — it runs entirely on the device.