OdinCam

Help Check in from your iPhone or iPad

Talking through a camera

Hold to Talk in Live View speaks through the camera's speaker: calm a pet, or warn someone off.

While you watch a camera live on your iPhone or iPad, you can speak through the speaker of the Mac, iPhone or iPad that camera belongs to. Use it to calm a pet that's getting too excited, or to tell someone who shouldn't be there that they're being watched.

To talk:

  1. Open the camera and tap Live View.
  2. Wait for the picture to appear.
  3. Press and hold Hold to Talk, and speak.
  4. Let go to stop. What you said finishes playing, then the camera goes quiet.

The first time, your iPhone or iPad asks to use its microphone; choose Allow. The button turns red while you're talking, and says Talking on and the camera's name once your voice is coming out of it. Talking stops by itself after a minute; hold again to keep going. With VoiceOver, double-tap the button to start and again to stop.

On the camera, Someone is talking shows on the screen while your voice plays. Its sound detection pauses while it speaks, and Live View's own sound leaves your voice out, so you don't hear yourself back. Clips still record the room.

If you're in the same room as the camera, you'll hear an echo: your voice as you say it, then again from the camera a moment later, and your iPhone or iPad can pick up the camera's speaker and send it back. Talk from another room, or keep your iPhone or iPad away from the camera.

Only devices in your household can talk through a camera, and your voice is encrypted the same way Live View's picture is, whether you're at home or away.

To change the volume, or stop people talking through a camera:

  1. On a Mac, open Settings, then Sound, and find Talking through this Mac.
  2. On an iPhone or iPad used as a camera, tap the settings button in camera mode and find Talking.
  3. Move the Volume slider, or switch talking off. The volume is a share of the device's own volume, so turn that up too.

If the button says Update OdinCam on a camera, that camera's device has a version from before talking; update OdinCam there. If it says talking is turned off, someone switched it off on that camera (step 3 above). If it says someone else is talking, wait for them to finish.