Amazon packed its Echo Show devices with a bunch of cool features, but one of the most useful is its ability to double as a security camera. Once enabled, this allows you to watch a live view of your home remotely and keep tabs on your property. You can even tune into the feeds of other cameras in your network — turning the Echo Show into a bona fide security center.
Need help figuring out how to get your Echo Show working as a security camera? Here’s a quick look at how it all works.
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How to use your Echo Show as a security camera
Turning your Echo Show into a security camera should take no more than a few seconds. Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Unlock your Echo Show and enter the Settings menu.
Step 2: Scroll to the Camera option.
Step 3: You’ll now see an option called Home Monitoring. Enable this feature.
Step 4: Wrap up the process by verifying your identity, entering your password, and confirming your decision.
Step 5: Now that you’ve activated the Home Monitoring feature on Echo Show, you’ll be able to view its video feed remotely.
Step 6: To drop into the Echo Show’s video feed, open the Alexa app on your smartphone or other device.
Step 7: Select the Devices menu at the bottom of the screen.
Step 8: Select the Echo Show device you just enabled. That will pull up the video feed for you to view.
Step 9: Alternatively, you can say “Show me [Echo Show Device]”. This will instantly open the feed.
Step 10: During the stream, you’ll be able to modify the camera by double-tapping to zoom in and pinching to zoom out. If you have an Echo Show 10, you can swipe your screen to slowly rotate the camera.
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How to access camera feeds from your Echo Show
Along with using your Echo Show as a camera, you can use it as a hub to view other security cameras in the network. Most Echo Show devices will let you view up to four cameras at once – turning it into a great central hub to keep tabs on your home. But before viewing your cameras on your Echo Show, you’ll first want to place them all into a group. This streamlines the viewing process and makes it easy to pull up all your security cameras with a single voice command. Here’s everything you need to know.
Step 1: First, you’ll need to group together your cameras. This can be done in the Alexa app.
Step 2: Open the Devices tab, then select the Plus button, followed by Add Group.
Step 3: From here, you can either create a room or combine rooms and device groups.
Step 4: Set a name for your group, then click on the cameras you want in the group. Remember, most Echo Show devices will let you view up to four cameras at once.
Step 5: Once you’ve created a group, simply say “Show me my [Group Name] cameras. This will pull up a four-way panel with all your feeds. Clicking on a camera feed will let you zoom in or activate two-way audio.
Step 6: To close the feeds, simply say “Alexa, stop”.
Step 7: That’s it! Remember, you can always change the devices in your group if you decide you want to swap out different feeds.
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