Wireless Baby Monitor: Wi-Fi or Non-Wi-Fi? What Parents Should Know
Updated
"Wireless" on a baby monitor box can mean two different things: a camera that joins your home Wi-Fi and streams to an app, or a closed system where the camera talks to a parent unit by radio. The Wi-Fi kind lets you watch from anywhere but is more exposed to hacking; the radio kind is a safer bet overall but has more limited features.
Wi-Fi monitor vs. non-Wi-Fi monitor
- Wi-Fi monitors connect to your router and usually to an app. You can check on the baby from the grocery store, and you get alerts and extras.
- Non-Wi-Fi (radio) monitors pair a camera with a parent unit. Nothing goes through your router or an account.
Security firm ESET puts it this way: radio monitors require an eavesdropper to be within range of the signal and know the frequency it is using, and most leading products of this type use encrypted communications, which makes them "a safer bet overall, albeit with more limited functionality." Wi-Fi monitors, by contrast, "are more exposed to hacking because they connect to the home router" (ESET, Dec. 2022).
Is a Wi-Fi baby monitor risky?
It can be, depending on how it is built. In 2015 the security firm Rapid7 tested nine baby monitors from eight companies and gave eight of them an "F" and one a "D." The researchers found serious security problems in all of them, and a hacked camera could open the door to other Wi-Fi devices in the home (Claims Journal on the Rapid7 report). That test is old, and products have changed, but it shows why the design matters more than the word "wireless."
For real incidents, see Baby Monitor Hacked? Real Camera Leaks.
If you choose Wi-Fi, lock it down
ESET's advice, which is worth following tonight:
- Install every software and firmware update.
- Use a strong, unique password and turn on two-factor authentication if the app offers it.
- Turn off remote access when you don't need it.
- Secure your router: strong password, firmware updates, and remote access, port forwarding and UPnP turned off.
More in 8 checks to do tonight.
Which one should you pick?
- Choose a non-Wi-Fi monitor if you only need to watch the baby from elsewhere in the house and want fewer moving parts.
- Choose a Wi-Fi camera if you want to check in away from home, get alerts on your phone, or share with a partner or grandparent, and you're willing to keep it updated.
Where Momseye fits
Momseye is the Wi-Fi/app kind: you turn an old phone into the camera, so there's no new hardware to buy (how to set it up). Video isn't stored on our servers, and transmission is encrypted. The free plan gives you live Full HD, motion and sound alerts, one camera and two viewers at once; it has ads. PRO adds 4K, AI cry detection, up to five cameras and blackbox recording that is saved on the camera phone itself. Plans are monthly or yearly, with prices shown in the App Store and Google Play, and you can cancel any time.