If you've ever wished you could check up on your house while you're away, wish no more because we have a simple solution. We are going to configure a Mac as a home security camera that will open a live video stream on demand which can be watched remotely from anywhere via an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or another Mac. If this sounds potentially complicated, it's actually not at all, and everything is achieved through a little FaceTime hackery. Read along.
Requirements for the Mac Security Cam
Here's what you'll need before getting started:
- FaceTime app installed on the home Mac (comes with Lion or later, earlier Macs can get it from Mac App Store)
- A valid Apple ID to use as a FaceTime Login – you may want to create an additional unique Apple ID for this purpose
- An iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or another Mac with FaceTime
Setting Up the Camera & Accepting Remote Video Connections
This is easier to set up than you might think. We're going to assume you already have FaceTime on the Mac installed, if not do that first. Next you'll want to position the Mac so that the front-facing iSight (FaceTime) camera is pointing in the direction you want to watch. With that done, here's the most technical aspect of this set up:
- Launch Terminal found in /Applications/Utilities/ and enter the following command to automatically accept incoming FaceTime calls:
defaults write com.apple.FaceTime AutoAcceptInvites -bool YES
- Still in Terminal, enter the next command, changing the email address on the end with the Apple ID you wish to automatically accept a video connection from:
defaults write com.apple.FaceTime AutoAcceptInvitesFrom -array-add change@me.com
If you want to add other Apple ID's or even a phone number to automatically accept FaceTime video calls from, feel free to do so by running the above command again with additional email addresses. Phone numbers must be prefixed with a + like so: +14085551212
Opening the Live Video Feed
Now for the fun part. Grab an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac that is setup to use FaceTime with the Apple ID you chose to autoaccept invites from, and initiate a FaceTime call with the home Mac's Apple ID. It will automatically accept the call, giving you a live video feed of what's going on at the location of the recipient Mac. Hang up the FaceTime call at any time to close the video feed.
As mentioned earlier, it may be best to create a unique Apple ID specifically for the recipient Mac. That Apple ID could then be added as a contact to the iOS Address Book as "Mac Home Camera" and added to favorites for quick access.
The only downside to FaceTime is the feed requires a wi-fi connection or to use Personal Hotspot to circumvent the FaceTime wi-fi limitation. You could probably use Skype to get around that limitation as well, but that'd be another article. Enjoy!
