New App Sets Up Home Monitoring System Using Old Smartphones

Presence is an app for Apple devices which puts spare Internet-connected iPhones, iPads or an iPod Touches to better use by converting it into a remote security camera to watch your home while you are away.

People Power recently launched Presence, an app which helps keep an eye on your home or office during your absence. The app can be installed from the Apple App store at no charge and can set up a live time video and audio streaming along with motion detection and notifications.

"Essentially we give you an inexpensive security system that you can use to monitor your house, or help you watch your kids, cats, elderly relatives or act as a baby or nanny cam," said Gene Wang, chief executive of the Palo Alto, California-based company, People Power.

People Power Presence offers a home security system, which is light on the pocket and easy-to-use. Presence alerts users if any motion is detected and sends a video clip of what triggered the alert to avoid hassles of false alarms. The app must be installed on two devices to monitor anything by starting the camera within the app on one of the devices and viewed from another.

"With these high-end security systems, you have a lot of false positives and then the security company and police come out and it turns out it was your cat knocking over a broom or something like that," Wang explained.

Wang noted that 50 million iPhones were upgraded in the last year and converting the spare iPhones "into powerful Wi-Fi video cameras with face-to-face video and audio conversations, motion detection, video clip alerts, and an in-app market where consumers can shop for complementary products" is the best option.

AirBeam is just another app with similar functions of home monitoring from an Apple device. Users can access news feeds from Web portals with the help of AirBeam. Similarly, Izon is an app which is available for both iOS and Android devices, which streams real-time audio and video from iZon cameras and is sent to iPhone and Android devices.