Images & live video
A camera tile has two pictures and, on a Homey Pro or Self-Hosted Server, live video.
The two pictures
| Event image | Snapshot image | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | the thumbnail eufy sends with a detection | a fresh frame, grabbed from the camera |
| When it updates | on every detection | only when you press Take a snapshot (tile or Flow) |
| Wakes the camera? | no, it arrives by push | yes |
| Homey Cloud | ✅ | ❌ |
Prefer the Event image for notifications: it costs nothing and it's the picture of what actually happened. Use the Snapshot when you want to know what the camera sees right now.
The first snapshot is slow
Turning a video frame into a picture needs ffmpeg, a video tool. The app downloads it once (about 57 MB) onto your Homey the first time you take a snapshot. That first one can take a minute; the ones after it are quick.
Never a broken picture
If a picture can't be made, the tile keeps showing the last good one. If there has never been one, it shows a "No image" placeholder.
Live video
Open a camera's tile and tap the video. Where the picture comes from is the Live video setting, under Advanced in the device settings:
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| The camera's own RTSP only (default) | Homey pulls the stream straight from your HomeBase or camera. No video passes through the app, so it costs no app memory. |
| RTSP, or relay through this app if it fails | As above. If the station refuses RTSP, the app relays the stream itself. |
| Off | No live video. The camera is never woken for it. Snapshots and detections still work. |
The Live video status row underneath tells you what actually happened for this camera, and why.
You don't need to switch RTSP on yourself
eufy cameras can serve a standard video stream (RTSP). The app switches it on when someone opens the tile and off again about a minute after they stop watching, so a battery camera isn't left streaming. It leaves alone any RTSP stream you switched on yourself, for a NAS for example, and never changes its password.
A HomeBase serves one camera's RTSP at a time. Opening a second camera takes over from the first.
After you've opened live video once, the RTSP address appears in the device settings. You can use it in VLC or a recorder. It contains the stream's password, so don't share it.
The relay, for cameras without RTSP
A HomeBase 3 refuses RTSP, and so do some cameras. For those, choose RTSP, or relay through this app if it fails. The app then receives the video over eufy's direct connection and hands it to Homey itself.
The catch is memory. A Homey Pro gives an app 150 MB and this one already uses about 120 MB, so one relayed stream uses most of what's left. That's why the relay is opt-in, per camera.
Battery cameras
A live stream from a battery camera is kept short (under a minute) and extended while someone is watching. Every view wakes the camera, so expect more battery use if you watch a lot. Setting Live video to Off guarantees Homey never wakes it for video.
Which Homeys can show video
Live video needs a Homey Pro (2023 or newer), a Homey Pro mini or a Homey Self-Hosted Server. An older Homey Pro has no video support at all, and the Live video status says so. Homey Cloud has no route into your home network to reach the camera, so it has no live video. See Homey Pro, Self-Hosted Server and Cloud.
Not there yet
- Recording
- Two-way talk