Support & FAQ
Still stuck? Email homeglance [at] defg.uk with your app version, the model and iOS version of both devices, and roughly when the problem happened.
Keeping the camera phone running
Camera mode needs the app to stay in the foreground; the screen goes black, but the app has not quit. Set the old phone up like this:
- Turn off auto-lock: Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never.
- Keep it plugged in. Continuous detection and streaming drain the battery quickly, so leave it on a charger.
- Do not quit the app. Avoid swiping up to the Home Screen or pressing the Home button. To prevent accidental exits, enable Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access and triple-click the side button once camera mode is running.
- Grant the permissions: camera, microphone, local network and notifications. Without them detection, talk or alerts will not work.
- Turn off Low Power Mode, keep the phone somewhere ventilated, and remove a thick case if needed. When the device gets hot the app automatically lowers the detection frame rate and stream quality to protect it.
- If the app is closed by the system or sent to the background, you get an alert on the viewer — go back to the old phone and bring it to the foreground again.
- After Wi-Fi drops and comes back, the camera rejoins the network on its own, usually within a minute.
Pairing problems
- The QR or pairing code does not work. Pairing information expires after 10 minutes. Return to the pairing screen on the camera to generate a fresh one and scan again.
- Typing the six-character code. It is case-insensitive; the digit 0 is read as the letter O and the digit 1 as the letter I. After eight consecutive wrong attempts the current code is invalidated and you need a new one.
- "Already paired to another account". This camera is still bound to a different account. Sign in with that account and delete it, or unpair on the camera itself, then pair again.
- The scanner will not open. The viewer needs camera permission (Settings → HomeGlance → Camera). You can always enter the pairing code by hand instead.
- Sign in first. The viewer must be signed in with your Apple ID before a camera can be attached to your account. The camera itself never signs in.
- Both devices need internet access while pairing.
What "direct" and "relayed" mean
The live screen shows which one you are on:
- Direct — the two devices have an encrypted connection straight to each other (same Wi-Fi, or NAT traversal succeeded). Lowest latency, smoothest picture, and no server in the path.
- Relayed — when the network will not allow a direct path, encrypted packets are forwarded through our relay server. Latency is higher, but the traffic is still encrypted: the relay cannot decrypt your video or audio.
To make a direct connection more likely, put both devices on Wi-Fi, avoid restrictive corporate or public networks, and consider enabling UPnP on your home router. Features work identically either way; only quality and latency differ.
No picture, or a stuttering picture
- Check the status on the grid card first. If it says offline, the problem is on the camera side (app quit, no network, no power).
- To save power the camera does not encode video while nobody is watching, so it takes a keyframe — usually a second or two — before the picture appears.
- On a weak network, switch the live screen to low quality.
- Just after a network change (Wi-Fi to cellular, say), give the connection a moment to recover, or leave the live screen and come back.
- If the camera phone is hot it deliberately lowers resolution and frame rate. That is expected protective behaviour.
Notification problems
- Check that Settings → Notifications → HomeGlance allows notifications.
- The three alert types (person appeared, person left, camera offline) can be switched on or off per camera in that camera's settings.
- "Offline" is declared when the server has had no heartbeat from that camera for 3 minutes. No notification is sent when it comes back online.
- Thumbnails live on the server for 7 days, so images in older notifications may no longer load.
Detection, clips and the timeline
- Someone entering the frame is marked present within about 5 seconds; after they leave, the state clears after about 30 seconds. The delay is deliberate debouncing so the state does not flap.
- Detection only decides whether a person is in frame. It does not do face recognition.
- A clip is recorded automatically when a person is detected, including a few seconds of pre-roll from before the event.
- Clips and the timeline are stored on the camera phone and never uploaded. When the storage quota is reached the oldest clips are removed automatically; the quota and current usage are visible and adjustable in the camera's settings.
- From the timeline screen in the viewer you can play, delete or share a clip. Playback downloads it to a local cache first.
- In dim light the camera can briefly switch on the torch to help detection. You can turn this off in settings.
Deleting a camera or your account
- Delete a camera: viewer → select the camera → settings → unpair. The server removes the camera record, its network node and its tokens; the old phone returns to the unpaired state and can be paired to another account.
- Delete your account: viewer → account screen → Delete account. This removes your account, every device record under it, push tokens and unexpired event thumbnails. It cannot be undone.
- Clear data on the old phone: clips and the timeline are local — clear them from the camera's settings screen or delete the app.
Requirements
- Camera mode: iPhone 6s or newer, iOS 15.0 or later.
- Viewer mode: iOS 17.0 or later. Devices on iOS 15 or 16 can only be cameras; the viewer-mode button is greyed out there.
- You pick a role at first launch and can switch in settings. Switching disconnects the current session, but each role keeps its own pairing and sign-in data.