A lightweight baby monitor that turns your Mac (or iPhone via Continuity Camera) into a motion-detecting video feed with real-time alerts and a web UI you can check from any device on your Wi-Fi. Also supports RTSP/IP cameras.
No cloud. No accounts. No app install. Just python babyping.py and open the URL on your phone.
- Live video stream via a local web page — check from your phone, tablet, or another computer
- RTSP/IP camera support — connect any network camera (Reolink, TP-Link Tapo, Hikvision, etc.)
- Motion detection with adjustable sensitivity and cooldown between alerts
- Audio monitoring — detects baby sounds with auto-calibrating threshold
- macOS notifications with sound when motion or sound is detected
- HTTP Basic Auth — password-protect the web UI with
--password - Night mode — enhances brightness for dark rooms using adaptive histogram equalization
- Region of interest — limit detection to a specific area (interactive, CLI, or from the web UI)
- Snapshot history — optionally save JPEGs of motion events
- Event log — scrollable history of motion and sound events in an iOS-style bottom sheet
- Web UI controls — adjust sensitivity, FPS, and toggle motion/sound alerts live from the browser
- Fullscreen mode — toggle fullscreen stream with a button or double-tap
- Feed health indicator — the web UI shows Live / Delayed / Offline so you know the stream isn't frozen
- FPS throttle — reduce CPU/energy usage by capping frame rate
- Tailscale support — access BabyPing remotely with a green "Secure" indicator
- Camera auto-reconnect — exponential backoff reconnection on disconnect
- Mobile-friendly — add to your iPhone home screen for a full-screen app experience
pip install .
babypingOr without installing:
pip install -r requirements.txt
python babyping.pyOpen the URL printed in the terminal (e.g. http://192.168.1.x:8080) on any device on the same Wi-Fi.
Option A: Mac's built-in camera
Just run python babyping.py. The Mac webcam is camera index 0 by default.
Option B: iPhone as camera (Continuity Camera)
- Mount your iPhone pointing at the crib
- Connect iPhone to Mac via USB, or ensure both are on the same Wi-Fi and signed into the same Apple ID
- Run with
--camera 1(or try 2, 3 if needed):
python babyping.py --camera 1Requires macOS 13+ (Ventura) and iOS 16+.
Option C: RTSP/IP camera
Pass the RTSP URL directly to --camera:
python babyping.py --camera "rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.100:554/stream1"Works with any camera that supports RTSP (Reolink, TP-Link Tapo, Hikvision, Amcrest, Dahua, etc.). Check your camera's admin page for the RTSP URL.
Use --rtsp-transport udp on wired networks for lower latency, or keep the default tcp for reliability over Wi-Fi.
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--camera |
0 |
Camera index or RTSP/HTTP URL |
--rtsp-transport |
tcp |
RTSP transport: tcp or udp |
--sensitivity |
medium |
low / medium / high |
--cooldown |
30 |
Seconds between notifications |
--no-preview |
off | Run without the desktop preview window |
--night-mode |
off | Enhance brightness for dark rooms |
--roi |
none | Region of interest as x,y,w,h (interactive if omitted) |
--snapshots |
off | Save a JPEG on each motion event |
--snapshot-dir |
~/.babyping/events |
Directory for snapshots |
--max-snapshots |
100 |
Max snapshots to keep (0 = unlimited) |
--host |
127.0.0.1 |
Web UI bind address (0.0.0.0 for network access) |
--port |
8080 |
Web UI port |
--password |
none | Web UI password (enables HTTP Basic Auth) |
--fps |
10 |
Max frames per second (0 = unlimited) |
--no-audio |
off | Disable audio monitoring |
--audio-device |
system default | Audio input device index |
--audio-threshold |
auto | Audio threshold (0-1), omit for auto-calibration |
--max-events |
1000 |
Max events to keep in log (0 = unlimited) |
# iPhone camera, high sensitivity
python babyping.py --camera 1 --sensitivity high
# RTSP IP camera
python babyping.py --camera "rtsp://admin:pass@192.168.1.100/stream" --no-preview
# Night mode + snapshots enabled
python babyping.py --night-mode --snapshots
# Headless (web UI only, no desktop window)
python babyping.py --no-preview
# Expose on network with password protection
python babyping.py --host 0.0.0.0 --password mysecret
# Fixed ROI (skip interactive selection)
python babyping.py --roi 100,80,400,300
# Custom port
python babyping.py --port 9090
# Lower FPS for less CPU usage
python babyping.py --fps 5
# Disable audio monitoring
python babyping.py --no-audioThe web UI starts automatically on 127.0.0.1:8080 (localhost only by default). Use --host 0.0.0.0 to make it accessible from other devices on the network.
The interface shows:
- Full-screen live MJPEG stream with fullscreen toggle (button or double-tap)
- Live / Delayed / Offline indicator tied to actual frame delivery
- Clock with seconds so you can verify the feed isn't frozen
- Motion and sound status with time since last detection
- Audio VU meter showing live microphone levels
- Tappable controls to cycle sensitivity (Low/Medium/High) and FPS (5/10/15/30)
- Toggles to enable/disable motion and sound alerts
- ROI selection — draw a monitoring region directly on the stream
- Events bottom sheet with filterable motion/sound history and snapshot thumbnails
- Browser audio alerts (bell icon) with vibration on supported devices
On iPhone, tap Share > Add to Home Screen to run it as a full-screen app.
Protect the web UI with HTTP Basic Auth:
python babyping.py --host 0.0.0.0 --password mysecretAny username works — only the password is checked. All endpoints (stream, status, events, snapshots) are protected.
When binding to 0.0.0.0 without --password, a warning is printed at startup.
Access BabyPing from anywhere (not just your local Wi-Fi) using Tailscale:
- Install Tailscale on the Mac running BabyPing and on your phone/laptop
- Sign in on both devices with the same Tailscale account
- Run
babyping— if Tailscale is connected, the startup log will show a second URL likehttp://100.x.x.x:8080 (Tailscale) - Open that
100.x.x.xURL from any device on your Tailscale network
The web UI shows a green Secure pill in the header when accessed over Tailscale. No port forwarding or cloud setup required.
- Captures video from the camera (local, iPhone, or RTSP network camera)
- Converts each frame to grayscale
- Crops to ROI (if set), then applies Gaussian blur
- Computes the absolute difference between consecutive frames
- Thresholds and dilates the diff to find contours
- If total contour area exceeds the sensitivity threshold, triggers an alert
- Sends a macOS notification and optionally saves a snapshot
- Streams the processed frame (with contour overlays) to the web UI via MJPEG
- Camera not found: Try
--camera 0,--camera 1,--camera 2etc. For RTSP, verify the URL in VLC first. - RTSP stream laggy: Try
--rtsp-transport udpon wired connections, or reduce resolution in your camera's settings. - Too many false alerts: Use
--sensitivity low, increase--cooldown, or set a--roi - iPhone disconnects: Keep it plugged in via USB and unlocked during initial setup
- No notifications: Check macOS Settings > Notifications > Script Editor
- Web UI not loading: Make sure your phone is on the same network. Check
--hostis0.0.0.0if accessing from another device. - Web UI returns 401: Auth is enabled — provide the password set with
--password - Stream shows "Offline": The camera may have disconnected — BabyPing will auto-reconnect
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v290 tests covering unit, integration, and web endpoints. CI runs on pull requests via GitHub Actions.
Releases are tag-based. Push a version tag and GitHub Actions creates the release:
git tag v3.0.0
git push origin v3.0.0The workflow runs tests, extracts notes from CHANGELOG.md, and publishes a GitHub Release.
- macOS 13+ (Ventura or later)
- Python 3.9+
- For Continuity Camera: iPhone with iOS 16+ on the same Apple ID
- For RTSP cameras: any camera with RTSP support (most IP cameras)
MIT