HomeKit HomeKit Secure Video: Aqara cameras won’t live stream on cellular (4G/5G) — recordings work, local live works

[mbiaso]

Hi everyone — I’m stuck with a weird HomeKit Secure Video issue and I’m looking for ideas.

Problem​

• Aqara cameras (2x G2H Pro + 2 G100) show live video perfectly on local Wi-Fi.
• On cellular (4G/5G), Live View fails: Home app shows the last frame / spinner, no live stream.
• HKSV recordings/clips DO work on cellular (I can open recorded clips remotely), so iCloud+ / recording pipeline seems OK.
• Other accessories (lights/sensors) respond normally over cellular via Home.
• Wyze cameras (not in HomeKit) stream fine over cellular on the same IoT network, so internet connectivity is not generally broken.

Network / setup​

• UniFi (Ubiquiti) network with VLANs / security zones:
  
  • Apple TV Home Hub on Internal
  • Cameras/IoT on Untrusted
  • Internal → Untrusted is Allow All with Allowed Return Traffic
• Everything works inside the house (Apple TV ↔ cameras reach each other fine).
• ISP changes happened during troubleshooting, but issue persists across providers, so I’m not convinced it’s ISP-related.

What I’ve tried (no success)​

Home / Apple side

• Confirmed Apple TV is Home Hub = Connected.
• Tested with only one Apple TV powered (to avoid hub switching). Same result.
• Removed Apple TV from iCloud, set it up from scratch, re-added as hub. It syncs and shows connected. Still no live on cellular.
• Created a brand-new “Home” (new House), moved Apple TV to that home as hub, moved one Aqara camera to that new home → still no live on cellular.
• Confirmed iCloud+ plan supports my number of cameras (200GB, 5 cameras).
• Toggled camera recording modes:
  
  • Per-camera “Stream & Record” ↔ “Stream only”
  • Also tested switching all cameras to “Stream only” for a while and back
  • No change.
• Restarted / power-cycled Apple TV(s), router, cameras in controlled order. No change.
• Disabled Apple TV Peer-to-peer setting (AirPlay & HomeKit) for testing. No change.
• Tested iPhone settings:
  
  • Cellular data permissions for Home app
  • Location services (Always + Precise) for Home
  • Focus / automations (no Home automations that change camera state)
  • No change.

UniFi / network side

• Disabled firewall rules broadly for testing.
• Verified inter-VLAN is not the issue:
  
  • Internal → Untrusted is allow all.
  • Also tested moving a camera temporarily into Internal (same zone as Apple TV) → still no live on cellular.
• Tried VPN tests (split tunnel / full tunnel) — live still fails in Apple Home.
• ISP/ONT:
  
  • ONT in bridge mode, WAN IP public when needed; traceroute confirms router is first hop, ONT not interfering.

Clue that confuses me​

A third-party HomeKit viewer app sometimes reports something like:

“This camera is in ‘Detect Activity’ mode and cannot stream or record.”

But in Apple Home, cameras are set to Stream & Record when away. Still fails as soon as I’m not on local Wi-Fi.

What I’m asking​

• Has anyone seen HKSV recordings work remotely but Live View fails only on cellular (Aqara cameras)?
• Any known iOS/tvOS/Home architecture bugs or settings that specifically break remote Live View while recordings remain accessible?
• Anything Aqara-specific (G2H Pro acting as hub for G100, etc.) that could cause remote live to fail even after moving a camera to a brand-new Home?

Any pointers appreciated — I’m out of rational steps short of nuking everything.

 

[brewc99]

Have you tried the Aqara app live view? I know some don't like to install it, but it might be worth a try.

I have 3 Aqara cams all set to Stream and Record, and don't have this issue. Seems like you have tried many things

 

[srl7741]

Hi everyone — I’m stuck with a weird HomeKit Secure Video issue and I’m looking for ideas.

Problem​

• Aqara cameras (2x G2H Pro + 2 G100) show live video perfectly on local Wi-Fi.
• On cellular (4G/5G), Live View fails: Home app shows the last frame / spinner, no live stream.
• HKSV recordings/clips DO work on cellular (I can open recorded clips remotely), so iCloud+ / recording pipeline seems OK.
• Other accessories (lights/sensors) respond normally over cellular via Home.
• Wyze cameras (not in HomeKit) stream fine over cellular on the same IoT network, so internet connectivity is not generally broken.

Network / setup​

• UniFi (Ubiquiti) network with VLANs / security zones:
  • Apple TV Home Hub on Internal
  • Cameras/IoT on Untrusted
  • Internal → Untrusted is Allow All with Allowed Return Traffic
• Everything works inside the house (Apple TV ↔ cameras reach each other fine).
• ISP changes happened during troubleshooting, but issue persists across providers, so I’m not convinced it’s ISP-related.

What I’ve tried (no success)​

Home / Apple side

• Confirmed Apple TV is Home Hub = Connected.
• Tested with only one Apple TV powered (to avoid hub switching). Same result.
• Removed Apple TV from iCloud, set it up from scratch, re-added as hub. It syncs and shows connected. Still no live on cellular.
• Created a brand-new “Home” (new House), moved Apple TV to that home as hub, moved one Aqara camera to that new home → still no live on cellular.
• Confirmed iCloud+ plan supports my number of cameras (200GB, 5 cameras).
• Toggled camera recording modes:
  • Per-camera “Stream & Record” ↔ “Stream only”
  • Also tested switching all cameras to “Stream only” for a while and back
  • No change.
• Restarted / power-cycled Apple TV(s), router, cameras in controlled order. No change.
• Disabled Apple TV Peer-to-peer setting (AirPlay & HomeKit) for testing. No change.
• Tested iPhone settings:
  • Cellular data permissions for Home app
  • Location services (Always + Precise) for Home
  • Focus / automations (no Home automations that change camera state)
  • No change.

UniFi / network side

• Disabled firewall rules broadly for testing.
• Verified inter-VLAN is not the issue:
  • Internal → Untrusted is allow all.
  • Also tested moving a camera temporarily into Internal (same zone as Apple TV) → still no live on cellular.
• Tried VPN tests (split tunnel / full tunnel) — live still fails in Apple Home.
• ISP/ONT:
  • ONT in bridge mode, WAN IP public when needed; traceroute confirms router is first hop, ONT not interfering.

Clue that confuses me​

A third-party HomeKit viewer app sometimes reports something like:


But in Apple Home, cameras are set to Stream & Record when away. Still fails as soon as I’m not on local Wi-Fi.

What I’m asking​

• Has anyone seen HKSV recordings work remotely but Live View fails only on cellular (Aqara cameras)?
• Any known iOS/tvOS/Home architecture bugs or settings that specifically break remote Live View while recordings remain accessible?
• Anything Aqara-specific (G2H Pro acting as hub for G100, etc.) that could cause remote live to fail even after moving a camera to a brand-new Home?

Any pointers appreciated — I’m out of rational steps short of nuking everything.

Yes, I think you have reached the limit of devices that are live polling the cameras and when you're away from home on cellular there is no lane for you to view live video (so to speak). I think the Apple limits are two feeds? I forget exactly but my point is look into it.

Leave your network alone it read like it's pretty solid and simply disable anything displaying a live feed at home on the network and see what happens when you are away on cellular signal only.

Interesting problem for sure.