Netatmo HomeKit Secure Video (HSV) support is now arriving for the company’s Smart Outdoor Cameras, following an update back in February for the Smart Indoor Cameras. The camera is designed to replace an existing outdoor light fitting, and is available with or without a siren.
As promised, existing Outdoor Cameras will get the update within the next few days …
The company made the announcement today.
HSV adds additional functionality to the cameras, in addition to free iCloud storage.
Users can view videos from their Cameras in the Apple Home app and securely store them in iCloud. This free and automatic software update, available since February 2020 for the Netatmo Smart Indoor Cameras, will be progressively available to all Outdoor Cameras in the upcoming days, including those already purchased […]
Users are particularly sensitive regarding the protection of their home security footage. They want to make sure that their videos remain confidential and that no one can access them. Our response to their concern was to design cameras with local storage.
Keeping their data privacy in mind and willing to give them further options, we decided to support Apple HomeKit Secure Video. This allows Netatmo users to securely store activity detected by the Smart Outdoor Cameras in iCloud. On top of local storage, Netatmo users can now choose between 3 back-up storage options to the cloud: Apple HomeKit Secure Video, their personal Dropbox account or their FTP server.” explains Fred Potter, Founder of Netatmo.
HSV was designed by Apple to combine cloud storage with privacy. All people and object recognition is done locally, and video footage is encrypted before it is uploaded to the cloud. Additionally, HSV footage doesn’t use any of your iCloud storage allocation. You do, however, need at least a 200GB iCloud account for a single camera, and a 2TB plan for up to five cameras.
Apple customers can now view live video as well as 10-days of recent activity detected by the Smart Outdoor Cameras in the Apple Home app on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. With Apple TV, HomePod, or iPad set up as the home hub, HomeKit Secure Video uses on-device intelligence to privately analyse activity captured from the Smart Outdoor Cameras to categorise them (person, animal, car, etc.). Videos are securely stored in iCloud, where only the customer can view them.
With HomeKit Secure Video, new features are also available for the Outdoor Cameras. Users can create HomeKit Secure Video automations via the Cameras so that, for example, when the Smart Outdoor Camera detects a person, the garden lights switch on immediately.
The company says that its Smart Video Doorbell (review) is next in line for HSV support, but no date has yet been given for this.
