Running a camera on battery

A camera is best plugged in. If an iPhone or iPad camera is running on its battery, OdinCam tells you how long it should last and warns your iPhones and iPads before it runs out.

To see how long it will last:

1. Look at the yellow notice on the camera's screen. It says "Running on battery".
2. Under it, OdinCam says "Estimating time left…" for the first ten minutes or so, while it measures how fast the battery is falling.
3. Then it says, for example, "About 3 h 40 min left at this rate". The same line shows on the dark screen when it has dimmed.

To check a camera's battery from another iPhone or iPad:

1. Open OdinCam.
2. A camera on battery shows "On battery · 64%" in the corner of its picture. It turns orange at 20% or less.
3. Open the camera to read more, for example "On battery at 64%. About 3 h 40 min left at this rate."

Your household's iPhones and iPads get an alert when a camera is unplugged, when it falls to 20%, and again at 10%. Each alert is sent once: plugging it back in for a moment doesn't send another, and neither does hovering around 20%. A MacBook used as a camera alerts the same way while it's monitoring. The battery level is encrypted for your household; the server only knows that there's a battery alert.

To make the battery last longer:

1. Leave the camera alone for half a minute. The screen turns black and goes to its lowest brightness.
2. Tap the screen to wake it. Your brightness comes back, and also when you tap Done or leave the app.
3. Use one camera rather than two, and turn off Record sound in clips if you don't need it.

iOS doesn't let an app keep the camera running with the screen off or the device locked, so a black screen at the lowest brightness is the most it can save.