Very nice. I'm desperately trying to get rid of my Ring cameras. This looks like a viable option.
this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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okay this is actually a cool project to work on
Ideally the thing should be broken into a "Camera captures images and makes it available in an open format" side and an "Application for Linux/Windows/Mac/iOS/Android/whatever reads said open format data and shows it to the use/records it in local hardware", so that if one's chosen provider for one of the sides enshittifies you can easily replace it, but I can understand the tendency to make and launch the whole thing fully integrated as one non-interoperable big bundle from a single provider given that in practice "do it and they'll come" projects that just provide data in an open format in the expectation that other people will make the software that uses it, almost always fail.
Amazing work guys! Looks very promising. If I needed cameras I would use this.
But does it do frigate? Can it be used applessly?
Hi muusemuuse, this is meant to be a drop-in replacement to WiFi cameras (and therefore accessible to non-technical users, easy to use and easy to setup). Frigate is great, and we definitely recommend it if you have the time to get it up and running.
In regard to being able to use it without the app, that's not possible unfortunately due to the end-to-end encryption that takes place. An application needs to be on the other end to decrypt things.
Our app is available through Obtainium if you do not like the Play Store. It is also reproducible, so you can verify to make sure it was derived from our mobile_client codebase.
Are only VPS relay's supported at the moment? Presumably so the feed is accessible over the web?
I get that the project seems to be going for replicating a ring/wyze/etc style experience but being able to self-host a relay somehow seems like a logical addition. Would probably have to disavow connecting outside of the home network and leave that the responsibility of the user.
If you're technical, you could probably put together a locally hosted server on your Linux machine and use Tailscale or something like that, it should work fine with the code as-is. Our server binary is in the runtime-binaries zip in the core GitHub release.
I think the point is to be easier than frigate. Eg a full image like home assistant, not needing to fiddle with docker.
Podman quadlets or I’m out
I will keep pushing for my alternative : buy some out-of-order cameras and stick them in highly visible places.
0 maintenance, 0 infrastructure, 100% of the deterring effect working cameras would have had.
That works well enough to deter thieves from stealing your packages. But not so useful when you wake up to find a hit and run driver clipped your parked car over night.
Eh ! If the car still works, who cares ? Besides, if you can afford security cameras and a house, you probably have a garage. Use it.
Yeah. Your can even but replica cameras with leds for like 10 bucks
This is interesting. Can you give me a ballpark on your hardware cost for an 8 camera system? What does integration for NAS look like?
You can also flash a Wyze Doorbell v1 with Thingino
https://github.com/themactep/thingino-firmware/wiki/Camera:-Wyze-Doorbell-%28V1%29
Lots of ways self hosting ways of doing bidirectional rtsp doorbell.
Any good open-source nvrs that support bidirectional rtsp? I know zoneminder didn't last time I checked.
I've done a thing with Kamailio and Baresip and MQTT and Linphone on my phone so when someone presses the door bell button, I get a video SIP call from "doorbell". But other I think are doing things with HomeAssistant, go2rtc and Frigate. I just didn't like it so went my own way. Would love to have done my own Signal client that wrapped RTSP, but it wouldn't be allowed on the Signal network, but Linphone is ok. Video SIP is standard at least.
Frigate has support for bidir audio
But it requires SSL to work, and WiFi cameras are not the greatest option for that kind of bandwidth.
I know, I tried it. It never worked right.
oh, didn't know what tech it uses for that. that's sad
These comments are why privacy products will always be behind. Why open-source is full of dead projects. These people are just trying to make a living off making privacy-focused products. And all the comments are like "They're a for-profit company? They had marketing material prepped to reply to people's comments?!".
The code is open-source, self-hostable, built using commodity hardware (raspi), and they're just trying to make it sustainable by providing an optional paid service. This is not the enemy.
No good deed goes unpunished. The sense of self entitlement some people display is staggering. FOSS project? Well, you should have done x y or z.
Also, I gave you $3 via Ko-fi, so you need to provide customer support in perpetuity and come to my house and install it. And heaven forbid you try to recoup costs!
Projects don't just die out - a lot of them are killed (one way or another). For example, I had a fully specced out FPGA design that would capture the signal from Wii GPU and do internal upscaled resolution (think: like what dolphin emulator does but with actual hardware) not just post process sharpening. Total cost under $100 and some know how.
The amount of flack I copped for it made me shut down the github and work on it for myself. Once it's perfected, I may post about it again but I sure as shit am not compelled to deal with the fucking peanut gallery anymore.
I used to think Reddit users were too negative. Then I joined Lemmy.
Loud people are negative. Doesn't matter the website.
Yeah, free, open source is fun, but we should also just support companies that have good ethics and want to make enough money to earn a living and keep making good products that respect people.
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Nice! I've been wondering lately if there was an open-source solution for this
iirc pine64 so has a camera in their store
Yes they do! Theirs is an IP camera.
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