I have 2 eufyCam 2 Pros and a Battery Doorbell, all connected to a HomeBase 2. We are an entirely Apple household with Macs, iPhones, iPads and an Apple TV. I have been using the Eufy system for a month or so just using the Eufy app and all is good.
I am considering linking everything to HomeKit but based on the maxim of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, should I?
I would love to hear from other users about their HomeKit experience.
Thank you.
I’ve connected my Eufy Indoor Camera to homekit and honestly, it’s kind of 50/50.
The only benefit I’ve found with adding my camera to homekit is the better geofencing capabilities. Since the Geofencing within the Eufy app is still in Beta (and is a joke), Homekit does offer that option for geofencing actions.
The downside to homekit though is that it does limit some of the capabilities of the cameras. Homekit does record video to your iCloud account but it restricts/disables some of the settings of the camera to make it compatible with homekit. If youre ok with using the activity zones in homekit, then I say go for it.
Honestly, it comes down to what you want your Eufy setup to do. Like I said, the only reason I added homekit was because of the geofencing but you might just have to add all of your hardware to homekit to see what you like or dont like about it.
Thank you for your insight
I use both. I prefer the eufy app for most things (including storing recordings on cards locally), but still find having the cameras in HomeKit useful. For example, live-streaming cameras on AppleTV and using the motion sensors to trigger other HomeKit accessories.
Thank you. Does HomeKit have any big impact on camera battery life?
Not for me. But I don’t use HomeKit secure video. I only livestream the cameras in HomeKit.
Thanks for your help
I have a question regarding use of app and HomeKit.
I have a Homebase 2 with 4 cams 2 pro.
Everything works fine with app on iPhone and Samsung phone.
Now i saw I could use HomeKit to display a camera on an ipad.
When I scan the qr code on the back of the Homebase it tells me to reset the system.
How can I use both and can I display 1 camera on an ipad? I want to,display the camera on the front door to that ipad.
@M_T20 I’m not sure why it asked to reset the system. I go through the Eufy app to add my home bases and cameras without any issues. I have several cameras connected to Homekit. I think their AI is way better, and being able to access the cameras on Apple TV all at one time is a big benefit.
Ok, I got it working.
Now, is it possible to show a camera on an iPad as soon as it gets triggered by a motion?
@M_T20 Yes. I have mine set for Steaming and Recording. Make sure to turn on Notifications in the Homekit app as well and select what type of alerts you want to get.
The Home app does not pan and tilt, but I prefer it since I have many other types of devices in my home app and it’s nice to go to one place. I can look in on my cameras on any of my families Mac’s, iPhones, Apple Watches, Apple TVs without downloading or setting anything up more than once. Also where my cameras are their normal field of view covers everything so I don’t need to pan and tilt. If I do I just find the app in my phone library. But the biggest thing for me is apple support the in-camera encryption and iCloud storage. So if you have iCloud upgraded you get a certain amount of storage and number of cameras provided that do no count towards your iCloud storage use. I have iCloud+ so not sure what the lower tiers are exactly. iCloud+ gives me unlimited number of cameras and unlimited storage. Although I suspect this is clever accounting/marketing. Each cameras storage is limited to 1080p at the moment and probably a limited amount of time per camera is stored which doesn’t make it unlimited. But since I already have full access to all Apple cloud services it’s a no brainer. Apart from pan and tilt I don’t recall anything missing. If there is it’s not effecting my use of them. I know this all sound Apple wanky but I asure you it’s just my choice and reasoning. It will be different for others and I value choice, so do what works for you. The Eufy app is actually very good compared to apps for other things I’ve seen. I would be happy with it if that was my only access to the cameras. But as covered I purchased these specifically because of homeKit support.
Hi,
I just bought the eufycam 2 as well, and I have been using it with the eufy app and homekit.
My main gaol is to stick just with homekit, but there is something important you loose in my opinion, Alarm sound from the homebase and cameras.
I would like my cameras to trigger the alarm at night if they pick HUMAN movement. The problem is that you can´t set the cameras to ONLY pick HUMAN in teh eufy app movement if you are using homekit secure video.
You can set the cameras to only set human movement in the Homekit app, but you want be able to trigger the alarm.
Hope this helps, cheers.