Review: Eve Cam Gets USB-C and Better Night Vision, But Still Has 1080p Resolution

If you're looking for an indoor information camera that takes vantage of Apple's HomeKit Secure Video functionality, the Eve Cam from astute location shaper Eve is worthy taking a look at.


Priced astatine $150, the Eve Cam has been updated implicit the years with a fistful of features that marque it amended than the archetypal 2020 model. The Eve Cam features 1080p video recording, which hasn't changed, but the camera's built-in nighttime imaginativeness functionality has improved somewhat.

When you're watching footage captured astatine night, it's a small clearer with much detail, though it has the aforesaid 16 ft range. The first mentation of the Eve Cam that came retired successful 2020 offered decent nighttime vision, but I'm capable to spot tiny details amended than earlier with the newer model. It's decidedly not perfect, but astir affordable location information cameras person questionable nighttime function.

Daytime video remains the same, and though it's 1080p, it's decent video prime adjacent successful debased lighting conditions. I bash privation that Eve had updated it to astatine slightest 2K with the refresh since it's been 1080p since 2020, and determination are different ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ Cameras that grounds astatine 2K. It's an oversight that I deliberation puts it astatine a competitory disadvantage.


The Eve Cam has a 150 grade tract of view, which is wide capable to seizure a sizable information of my office. I've been utilizing it to support an oculus connected my feline erstwhile I'm away, and it's capable scope to spot astir of his favourite spots. If mounted up high, it would connection a bully bird's oculus presumption of a room, truthful it is perfect for indoor information arsenic good arsenic favored monitoring.


You tin lone get the Eve Cam successful black, and it has a elemental design. There's nary mistaking it for thing different than a camera, but it does benignant of blend into the inheritance of wherever it's placed. The magnetic basal has a 360 grade swivel and it is capable to tilt, truthful it tin beryllium maneuvered into antithetic positions.

Eve revamped question detection with the updated model, and it uses representation processing now, a antithetic detection mechanics than before. With the change, you tin instrumentality it successful a model to ticker outdoors, and it is capable to prime up motion. With the anterior model, if you enactment it successful a window, it wouldn't observe question outside. Using it successful a model is simply a bully usage lawsuit if you're successful a concern wherever you can't person a existent outdoor camera, similar successful an apartment.


Eve Cam has a built-in microphone and speaker, truthful it records audio, positive you tin speech to idiosyncratic done it if you want. Just property the Talk fastener successful the Home app erstwhile viewing the provender to bash so.

There is simply a chiseled payment to cameras that usage HomeKit, and that's privacy. If you're acrophobic with cameras signaling you portion you're location oregon uploading information to a unreality server somewhere, ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ is what you privation to beryllium using. Video from the cameras is stored successful iCloud, and it's not accessible to the institution that made the camera. So Eve has nary entree to immoderate footage recorded with an Eve Cam, nor does Apple, due to the fact that it's fundamentally stored successful your ‌iCloud‌ account. At immoderate time, you tin spell to the camera's settings to erase each recordings.


‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ is end-to-end encrypted, and question investigation is done on-device utilizing a location hub. Video is accessed done the Home app, and you tin spot the past 10 days of footage. While the Home app isn't the astir feature-rich interface for viewing camera footage, it's functional capable for astir needs. There's a timeline, and you tin spot footage organized by time and time. Footage is recorded erstwhile question is detected, truthful determination isn't an enactment for continuous recording.

You bash person the enactment to acceptable antithetic camera statuses for erstwhile radical are location and for erstwhile nary 1 is home. You can, for example, opt to person the camera disconnected wholly erstwhile radical are successful the house, and person it watercourse and grounds erstwhile everyone is gone. Options see Off, Detect Activity (sends notifications, but thing is recorded and nary 1 tin watercourse the video), Stream (no recording), oregon Stream and Allow Recording (records and saves footage erstwhile question is detected).

The Eve Cam tin beryllium acceptable to grounds and nonstop alerts erstwhile immoderate question is detected, oregon erstwhile circumstantial question is detected, and that includes people, animals, vehicles, and packages.

What I don't similar astir Eve Cam and ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ successful wide is that I can't alteration entree based connected each idiosyncratic successful the house. Anyone that has entree to a location has entree to the camera feed, truthful if I person a camera successful my bureau to ticker my cat, my spouse is besides capable to spot the feed. There's nary mode for maine to tweak the camera settings truthful that lone I tin spot the footage from the camera successful my idiosyncratic space.


Other ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ features see the enactment to prime circumstantial enactment zones for question detection, facial designation based connected radical successful your contacts, and options to toggle connected oregon disconnected notifications for movement. You tin opt to person a notification whenever question is detected, implicit with a snapshot.

What's besides bully astir Eve Cam and different ‌HomeKit‌ enabled cameras is the enactment to necktie them successful to automations and nexus them with different ‌HomeKit‌ devices. I tin acceptable up an automation that turns my ‌HomeKit‌ lights connected erstwhile the camera detects motion, oregon person the lights spell disconnected erstwhile there's nary question successful the room.

You request an ‌iCloud‌+ relationship to usage ‌HomeKit‌ Secure video. The $0.99 program with 50GB of retention lets you acceptable up 1 camera, portion the 200GB program supports up to five. If you privation much than 5 cameras with ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, you request the 2TB plan.

The Eve Cam does not enactment implicit battery, and it needs a changeless connection. The anterior exemplary was microUSB, but the much caller exemplary has USB-C, truthful it connects to powerfulness with a USB-C cable. It's a tiny change, but it's ever bully to get escaped of different microUSB cable.

When the Eve Cam is recording, determination is simply a presumption light, but you tin crook it off. You tin besides crook disconnected the reddish nighttime imaginativeness airy erstwhile it's acheronian if it's successful a country wherever the airy is distracting.

Since Eve Cam is simply a ‌HomeKit‌ camera and footage is viewed successful the Home app, you tin entree it connected immoderate of your Apple devices. That includes the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

Bottom Line

If you privation the privateness and bid of caput of ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, the Eve Cam is worthy checking out. It's a bully camera, but it's constricted to 1080p footage and it is much costly than immoderate of the different ‌HomeKit‌ Secure Camera options connected the market.

There's a batch much contention present than determination was erstwhile Eve Cam archetypal came out, and portion it's bully to spot features added implicit time, I'd similar to spot adjacent much from Eve.

How to Buy

Eve Cam tin beryllium purchased from the Eve Website oregon from Apple for $150. Amazon also has the Eve Cam for a flimsy discount.

Note: Eve provided MacRumors with an Eve Cam for the intent of this review. No different compensation was received.
This article, "Review: Eve Cam Gets USB-C and Better Night Vision, But Still Has 1080p Resolution" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

Discuss this article successful our forums