On Camera

ComputingPersonal

The latest purchase for my “smart home” is the doorbell from NetAtmo (sorry guys picked it up as a bargain on eBay).

I wanted a video doorbell that both worked with HomeKit and did not have the level of security concerns other brands seem to have (backdoors into my network, sharing footage with Police for face detection, etc.).

NetAtmo seemed to tick all of the boxes, plus I have other equipment of theirs and have come to trust it.

As their kit goes though, this is probably the least impressive. It’s mainly just slow. Typically you do not receive an alert (that someone approached) until after they left.

Answering the door on my phone is possible, I have managed to do this remotely a few times which is handy … but the whole process feels a bit clunky and often I have missed them.

One of the reasons I was keen to get this was getting sick of answering the door to the huge number of religious proselytisers we seem to have around here, but I reckon the pandemic scared them off, hardly get any now 😅.

By far the best and most unexpected benefit of the video doorbell is seeing how many people venture up to the front of the house to stroke Tigger the cat who lives with me, it’s so sweet 😻.