Smart-home enthusiasts are often drawn to Apple’s HomeKit platform for its relative simplicity and enhanced security measures. Similarly, Apple HomeKit Secure Video (HSV) for security cameras looks absolutely terrific—on paper. The streamlined video cloud service is secured by end-to-end encryption, the gold standard for protecting your data on smart devices. (It also ensures that no one can access your content—not even Apple or law enforcement—without your permission.) HSV adds some smart features, such as face and object recognition, including people, animals, vehicles, and packages. It even allows you to mix and match camera brands and integrate them with other smart-home devices. All of those capabilities are included with your subscription to Apple’s iCloud service, which automatically backs up all your iOS, macOS, and iCloud for Windows devices.
Yet we continue to find that HomeKit Secure Video has problems—big ones. Since the service launched in 2019, we’ve tested just about every indoor camera, outdoor camera, and video doorbell that works with the service, and we’ve continuously experienced issues that cause us to recommend against relying on HSV for home security uses and against investing in any security camera that relies on this one particular cloud plan (even though we do recommend that you get some kind of plan). Here are the crucial areas in which HomeKit Secure Video has proven flawed or unreliable.
HSV forgets to record, often
We have continuously tested HSV-enabled cameras since the service launched, and we have yet to find a single one that doesn’t frequently miss motion triggers—including major events, like people walking in full view of the camera, which should absolutely trigger a recording.
Unless you were aware that something crossed your camera’s path, and you subsequently went looking for the footage, you would never know if your camera missed it. As part of our regular camera testing, we walk in front of each camera to gauge its detection sensitivity, its recording length, and the time it takes to reset and start a new clip. It’s through this testing that we became aware of the issue with HSV-enabled cameras, which regularly missed action that other cameras successfully captured. To confirm our results, we ran tests in which we set the EufyCam 2 Pro to record to both HSV and the Eufy cloud service; we also tried recording to HSV and local storage on the camera. We followed up by running the same tests with the Eufy Solo IndoorCam C24, plus tests using HSV and local storage simultaneously on the Aqara Camera Hub G3. Then, we tried placing non-HSV cameras that recorded to the cloud and local storage side by side with HSV cameras, which yielded the same results. In our testing, all the HSV cameras we tried were prone to missing motion triggers. (We reached out to Apple, and the company declined to comment.)
We aren’t the only people to experience this issue: We’ve seen rumblings on Apple Support Community forums and Reddit about similar problems. We could probably end this article here, because really, if a security camera fails to record the one time you truly need it, what’s the point? But there’s more.
It limits compatibility
Although we applaud HSV’s rigorous security standards, they come with a downside. By adopting HSV, you necessarily lose the ability to use Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands with your cameras. Similarly, HSV isn’t compatible with any smart displays, so you can’t view footage from your camera or manage its settings on your Echo or Google Nest smart display.
It reduces video quality
So far, HSV supports only 1080p-resolution video. So even if you have a camera that supports 2K-resolution video, once you set it up as an HSV device, you can’t view recordings in any resolution higher than 1080p. Although video resolution is just one factor in determining the potential quality of video recordings, generally a 2K resolution provides sharper video with more image detail and enables you to zoom in more without causing the image to become fuzzy or pixelated.
You can’t fine-tune its motion detection
You may also lose features that are available in the camera’s native app. For instance, the Eufy Security app includes the option to adjust motion-detection sensitivity, which is a crucial setting since it allows you to limit nuisance alerts. Using HSV disables this important feature. Instead, you have to create and configure Activity Zones, which are on-screen areas of your camera’s field of view that you designate to be trigger areas. In our tests, using those tweaks didn’t reliably resolve the problem.
It may limit your app’s features
Similarly, in the case of Eufy cameras, when enabling HSV you lose the ability to have two-way audio, a standard feature of DIY security cameras. When we tested the Eufy Solo IndoorCam C24 (our top indoor camera pick), we realized that the camera could capture audio, but we couldn’t communicate with the subjects in front of the camera when using Apple’s Home app (if you want that capability, you need to use the Eufy app). We also noticed, when testing the Aqara Camera Hub G3 with HSV, that we couldn’t pan or tilt the camera. We don’t recommend using a pan-and-tilt camera for capturing motion events, but the feature is a nice option to have if you want to scan a room remotely through the app.
HSV is plagued by wireless-range issues
We’ve tested countless dozens of Wi-Fi security cameras over the past six years, and for reasons still unclear, the HSV-specific cameras we’ve tested have suffered from poor wireless range compared with non-HSV cameras placed in the same location. The result is that HSV-enabled cameras often lose connection to the internet, which means you can’t access a live view of the camera and motion events aren’t recorded—unlike cameras that store recordings on a memory card, HSV-enabled ones stream the video to the cloud over the internet. (And as noted above, we also sometimes find that the camera is actually online but still fails to record motion events). We typically recommend using a mesh wireless network, which can prevent internet dark zones in a home, yet in our testing we’ve used top-of-the-line mesh setups from both Eero and Asus, in addition to a non-mesh network, on a high-speed FIOS connection, and though we’ve had no issues streaming content through an Apple TV, we’ve consistently encountered connectivity issues and missed recordings with HSV cameras.
It requires a hub to work (sold separately)
In order to view live streams from your cameras or recorded video when you’re outside your home, you need to have a HomeKit device that acts as an internet hub or gateway. The requirement for a hub isn’t exceptional, as several other cameras we’ve reviewed require the same, but those cameras are typically packaged with the necessary hub, whereas someone buying an HSV camera may be surprised to learn that they’ll also need to install a HomePod mini, an Apple TV 4K, an Apple TV HD, or an iPad that stays at home and powered on at all times. (Apple says that an iPad will continue to work as a hub after this fall’s software update, but that its capabilities may be limited in that regard.) We do think that you get more out of a HomeKit hub in comparison with the hubs for most other cameras, since you can use it for streaming music or video too, but this extra purchase means that you are in for at least $100 more than the cost of the camera.
Apple is planning to update its mobile operating system to iOS 16 this fall. Currently, the company has made no announcements regarding HomeKit Secure Video. We will keep testing the service as we receive cameras to review, and we will update this article as necessary.
This article was edited by Jon Chase and Grant Clauser.
