Studio News · OffgridCam
Introducing OffgridCam: A Home Camera That Never Touches a Server
August 2026
Update: OffgridCam is now available on the App Store — it's no longer in TestFlight. The post below is left as originally published.
Most home and baby cameras work the same way: your camera streams to a company's cloud, and your phone streams from that same cloud. It's convenient, but it means a third party's servers sit between you and a live feed of your own home — and every one of those companies has had a security incident at some point.
OffgridCam, our fourth app, skips the cloud entirely. It's in TestFlight now, and we're looking for early testers.
Two iPhones, one app
OffgridCam turns one iPhone into a Camera and another into a Viewer. They connect directly over your home WiFi — no relay server, no company account, no cloud in between. Pairing is a QR code scan between the two devices, and the Viewer reconnects automatically after that.
What it can do
- Live video and audio, with multiple Viewers able to watch the same Camera independently
- Pinch-to-zoom that controls the Camera's real optical/digital zoom
- Push-to-talk for up to 4 people through the Camera at once
- Local recording only — continuous or motion/sound-triggered, stored on the Camera device
- Sound detection tuned to specific events like crying, screaming, or barking, using Apple's on-device sound classifier
The one feature that touches the internet
Away-from-home alerts are opt-in and off by default. Turn them on, and a short clip uploads when something's detected so you can get notified while you're out — capped in size, tied to a regenerable home code, with no separate access path for us to view any of it. Everything else about the app works without an internet connection at all.
Get OffgridCam
OffgridCam is available now on the App Store.
Download on the App StoreFrequently asked questions
Does OffgridCam need a cloud account?
No. The Camera and Viewer iPhones pair directly over your home WiFi via a QR code scan — there's no relay server and no company account involved.
Can I check on OffgridCam while I'm away from home?
Only if you turn on Away-from-home alerts, which are opt-in and off by default. When enabled, a short capped clip uploads when something's detected, tied to a regenerable home code with no separate access path for us to view it.
Do I need to buy special hardware?
No — OffgridCam turns two of your own iPhones into a Camera and a Viewer; no new hardware is required.
Where are recordings stored?
Locally, on the Camera device only — continuous or motion/sound-triggered recording is stored on-device, not in the cloud.
Related reading
More from Offgrid Studio
OffgridCam joins OffgridStem, OffgridScribe, and OffgridVox — same principle across all four: your data stays on your own devices by default.