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Comment by pfexec | Hacker News Reader

This is DOA not because there is anything wrong with the app, but because iDevices make objectively poor baby monitors.

Babies sleep a lot. A LOT. Any halfway decent baby monitor needs the ability to see in the dark (IR illumination) which iDevices don't have, so unless it's relegated to monitoring play areas during the day, its usefulness is limited. That doesn't mean the software isn't well designed, the hardware is simply not fit for purpose.

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I think video is not really required in a baby monitor. A nice to have, perhaps.

As I said in another thread, I used a audio-only baby monitor with 3 kids and didn't feel the need for video.

We just wanted to know if the baby started crying or woke up. And in our case, if it stopped breathing (we were afraid of SIDS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIDS).

Being able to use the microphone only is more than enough

LiDAR could be an option

For a couple of years, we used a baby monitor on an iPad in the baby room. We never used IR illumination, instead we just waited until we got a notification on our phone, then watched the video. It was never utterly dark in the baby's room, but you can also remotely turn on the iPad LED light.

Thats really interesting, yeah I think that audio alone can be helpful. The notification though is actually really important now that you mention it I will see if I can add that in the next update!

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