What is the cheapest way to remotely monitor my dog?
November 6, 2018 12:55 PM   Subscribe

What is the cheapest solution for (temporarily--like just for a couple of days) remotely monitoring my dog? What I already possess: a MacBook, an iPad, and an iPhone. Can I use some combination of these to watch him? If not, what cheapo thing can I buy to make this happen?
posted by HotToddy to Technology (18 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well,

You could set up your macbook facing your dogs cage, set the display and hardware to never turn off, and set facetime to "Auto-Accept". Shouldn't be terribly difficult.

About any wifi camera will work for you with a companion app you could buy on Amazon. If you want some kind of video storage, you usually have to pay monthly.this one seems well-liked.
posted by bbqturtle at 1:02 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


For this purpose (cat monitoring via an old iPad) I use Presence app. You can set one device as a camera and another as a viewer, and it even offers two-way communications without needing input on the camera device. I think basic camera functionality is free and you pay extra for storage.
posted by brownpau at 1:09 PM on November 6, 2018


I asked a really similar question a while back and ended up setting up a system where I could Skype myself! I set it up so that my computer was always on and that Skype was running. I made a second Skype account (and named it after my dog) and I could call it using my original account whenever I wanted to peek at him.

You can see the question here.
posted by chatongriffes at 1:36 PM on November 6, 2018


Manything is what I use to monitor crap with old iphones/ipads. Multiple devices and more storage cost money but I think just looking at one camera is free.
posted by ftm at 1:38 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]


Skype!
posted by DarlingBri at 1:42 PM on November 6, 2018


My sister uses wyze ($30). A dedicated camera is much easier than using a computer or tablet (though I've done both) especially for catching a wider angle.
posted by Aranquis at 1:43 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


Buy an Amazon CloudCam and then return it after a few days? How much space do you need to cover?
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:51 PM on November 6, 2018


I use Cloud Baby Monitor on an old iPhone for this, which is handy if you need to put the camera in a weird place that might not be great for a laptop. You'd want to test it leaving the house, which is supposed to work but I haven't tried.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:53 PM on November 6, 2018


We used Skype set to auto-answer any call on an old laptop pointed at her favorite napping spot when we had to sequester our older cat in a room for two weeks after radioactive iodine treatments.
posted by telophase at 2:50 PM on November 6, 2018


Came in to say ManyThing! It’s super inexpensive and easy to start/end your subscription. Plus it’s easy to install and use.
posted by jbenben at 3:24 PM on November 6, 2018


Presence, an old ipad and an old iphone is exactly my dog-watching setup. You can set it to be motion activated and it works really well.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 6:52 PM on November 6, 2018


Is $6 cheap enough? I use the Dog Monitor app, which is pretty good. It records noise, etc, so you can check in and find out what's been going on even when you can't pay attention all the time. You just install the app on two devices, and it has one act as the monitor and one as the receiver.
posted by meese at 9:10 PM on November 6, 2018


2nding Presence. Free and easy to use. You can set it up to record movement or logon and check the video feed at any time of the day.
posted by lucy.jakobs at 6:22 AM on November 7, 2018


Also here to suggest a $29 Wyze camera setup.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:55 AM on November 7, 2018


When my friends' dog was having some health issues, they set up a laptop facing her crate with its own google account and Hangouts set to auto-accept calls. Then they could hangouts-call that account from their phone and see how she was doing, talk to her, etc.

Do you want to be able to check on your dog (video-call) or monitor it over time (recording)?
posted by bookdragoness at 7:53 AM on November 7, 2018


Response by poster: bookdragoness, I want to monitor him continuously in real time for a couple of hours at a time over a few days to find out if he can be trusted to be left uncrated. It needs to be in real time so I can come flying in the door to rescue either him or my possessions when the experiment goes south.
posted by HotToddy at 8:38 AM on November 7, 2018


I definitely left Skype running continuously and just had it open in another window or on my phone as I was working and if I heard noise, I'd pop over to that screen. Skype does not need to be a pop in situation if you don't want it to be. Hope you find a good solution to keep an eye on your little dude!
posted by chatongriffes at 12:51 PM on November 13, 2018


In the past I've used Dog Monitor, which is an inexpensive app you can run on one mac/iOS (or other) device and watch from another. Works great and has bark alerts, which are super helpful.
posted by mosst at 7:59 AM on November 21, 2018


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