HomeKit "HomeKit Secure Video" Reviews? Is that worth anything?

[Quotenfrau]

Hi

Does anyone use "HomeKit Secure Video"? Are there any experiences or reviews? Would you set up and purchase "HomeKit Secure Video" again? I can find relatively little information about "HomeKit Secure Video" in the community.

HomeKit Secure Video on MacRumors

HomeKit Secure Video articles on MacRumors.com

www.macrumors.com

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[mk313]

I realize this reply is several months too late, but I just saw the post & figured I'd offer my thoughts. We moved from a nest camera to a Logitech Circle View camera using Home Kit.

We stuck with the nest cam for a long time because we were on an old plan that offered continuous coverage for the last 5 days vs HomeKit only offering video when something happens. But nest kept trying to move us to a newer plan that had the same 'only saves recordings when something happens' as HomeKit.

nest kept raisin the price of the storage. I think it got close to $100/year for the service. At that point, I figured it was worth exploring HomeKit, so we got the Logitech and ran them for several months next to each other. The Logitech/HomeKit works almost exactly the same as the nest one, which is good enough for our needs.

The Nest camera was definitely slightly better resolution at night, but they are both close & I'd imagine there are better HomeKit cameras out there now than the Logitech we have.

There is one weird glitch with HomeKit cameras that I've run into. If I scroll back & play some video from earlier today. Wherever I start, the first clip will play, but then the next clips just shows up as a totally black screen. If I let it go on, eventually the next video or the one after that works. I can then go back & review the clips that showed as black originally & they will now show up regularly.

I did work around the only works when it detects action by creating a video section to keep an eye on that includes the entire screen, which includes a portion of the street & gives me a lot more recording time than just focusing on the front yard of our house.

Overall, happy with HomeKit Secure Video, especially since it's basically free for us & were were paying almost $100/year for the nest version.

 

[Genelec8341]

I also have a Logitech Circle View camera using Home Kit since 2021. It's worked fine and the only gripe I have is Apple's mandatory 50GB iCloud plan ($.99/month) if one wants to record. One can stream and watch video in realtime without the plan, but no recording and no local storage. It's the cloud or nothing.

 

[mk313]

I also have a Logitech Circle View camera using Home Kit since 2021. It's worked fine and the only gripe I have is Apple's mandatory 50GB iCloud plan ($.99/month) if one wants to record. One can stream and watch video in realtime without the plan, but no recording and no local storage. It's the cloud or nothing.

I'm not certain this is still the case, but I read on here about a guy who opened an Apple Card & put his 50GB iCloud plan on it. But he doesn't make any other purchases with the card. His $0.99/month total charge is less than the apparent $1 minimum, so it gets credited back to him every month, and he never has to pay a bill.

 

[Genelec8341]

Thants a cool trick. I use AC for a lot of contactless payments every month so I'm SOL on that one. 🙂

 

[erihp]

I think HKSV is great. I have multiple cams and it works well. I like that I can rely on Apples encrypted backend and first party app to access the cams and smart home devices via Home app.

To take it to the next level I think the best option is a Ubiquiti NVR doing local recording + integration into Home via Homebridge.

GitHub - hjdhjd/homebridge-unifi-protect: :video_camera: Complete HomeKit integration for all UniFi Protect device types with full support for most features including HomeKit Secure Video, and more. https://homebridge.io

:video_camera: Complete HomeKit integration for all UniFi Protect device types with full support for most features including HomeKit Secure Video, and more. https://homebridge.io - hjdhjd/homebrid...

github.com

 

[Itinj24]

Check YouTube. There is countless content on HKSV.

 

[Quotenfrau]

Thank you for the reviews and answers.

I've heard rumors that Apple is also going to release a CCTV camera. Hopefully an outdoor camera too, not just an indoor one. That would be my wish for 2026 (along with a new Apple TV).

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I like HKSV on my 4 cameras because (a) I already have 2TB iCloud, so incremental cost is $0 and (b) I trust Apple’s privacy policy more than most. I’ve been using it for about 5 years.

Functionally it works well. Some occasional minor glitches but no more than I’d expect from any other service.

 

[mk313]

Thank you for the reviews and answers.

I've heard rumors that Apple is also going to release a CCTV camera. Hopefully an outdoor camera too, not just an indoor one. That would be my wish for 2026 (along with a new Apple TV).

I would be interested to see what they can offer in the space. I do find it a bit hard to believe they are going to do it, as it seems like such a small market. But hopefully they do.

Also, FWIW, I don't know that I'd recommend the Logitech Circle View specifically. It seems like it's been around for a long time & I'd have to imagine that there have been improvements in other cameras since it came out, though I don't have any specific suggestions (should Apple not come out with one this year).

 

[erihp]

I would be interested to see what they can offer in the space. I do find it a bit hard to believe they are going to do it, as it seems like such a small market. But hopefully they do.

Also, FWIW, I don't know that I'd recommend the Logitech Circle View specifically. It seems like it's been around for a long time & I'd have to imagine that there have been improvements in other cameras since it came out, though I don't have any specific suggestions (should Apple not come out with one this year).

My Aqara doorbell has been rock solid.

If starting fresh I would go all Ubiquiti.

 

[pcd213]

It’s nice to not have to pay a monthly fee (outside of iCloud) like you need to with non HKSV options, but the Home app is often buggy and I am growing tired of lack of support for 4K video resolution. Having said that, I have been very impressed with iOS 23.3’s impact on speed in the Home app. Camera video now loads with only a half second of a progress wheel (whereas before it was a very noticeable 5-6 second lag).

 

[cynics]

It’s nice to not have to pay a monthly fee (outside of iCloud) like you need to with non HKSV options, but the Home app is often buggy and I am growing tired of lack of support for 4K video resolution. Having said that, I have been very impressed with iOS 23.3’s impact on speed in the Home app. Camera video now loads with only a half second of a progress wheel (whereas before it was a very noticeable 5-6 second lag).

There are technical challenges security managing the volume of data from multiple 4k streams on a wifi network to a cloud.

Newer wifi 4k cameras are really coming into their own but they still need to deal with 4x the amount of data in real time. They use a less efficient and higher compression ratio compared to 1080p to get the bitrate to 5-20mbps. Not exactly the best thing for quality. And then you're still dealing videos that are 1-2+ gigabyte per 10 minutes clip per camera. Nicer cameras are "systems" that manage this, storing 4k locally, streaming 720-1080p to your devices for reviewing, etc.

Apple will eventually get there but they will likely require whatever next gen codec they plan on making mainstream to reduce bandwidth and storage while maintaining quality.

 

[BlankStar]

The video storage used on your iCloud doesn't count towards your iCloud Storage. That alone is a reason for me to use HKSV since we already have a 2TB family plan anyway.