Android IP Camera

An Android H.264 / MJPEG IP Camera app

📲 Install

Features

• 🌎 Built in server, just open the video stream in a web browser, video app or even set it as a camera for Frigate or a Home Assistant MJPEG IP Camera (using https://[ip_address]:4444/video/mjpeg)
• 📴 Option to turn the display off while streaming
• 🤳 Switch between the main or selfie camera
• 🎛️ Remote web interface with controls for camera section, image rotation, video recording, audio/video sync, flash light toggle, resolution, zoom, exposure and contrast
• 🖼️ Choose between different image quality settings and frame rates (to help reduce phone over heating)
• 🛂 Username and password protection
• 🔐 Automatic TLS certificate support to protect stream and login details via HTTPS
• 🥾 Optional start on boot

⚠️ Warning

If you are planning to run this 24/7, please make sure that your phone does not stay at 100% charge. Doing so may damage the battery and cause it to swell up, which could cause it to explode.

Some models include an option to only charge to 80%, make sure this is enabled where possible.

Note: running at a higher image quality may cause some phones to over heat, which can also damage the battery.

🎥 Frigate config

Use the example config below to add your phones camera to Frigate, optionally uncommenting the audio lines (if required) & update the rtsp stream:

go2rtc:
  streams:
    android-cam-video:
      - "https://[ip_address]:4444/video/h264"
    # android-cam-audio:
    #   - "https://[ip_address]:4444/audio"
    # android-cam:
    #  - ffmpeg:android-cam-video#video=copy
    #  - ffmpeg:android-cam-audio#audio=copy

cameras:
  android-cam:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/android-cam-video # or android-cam
          input_args: preset-rtsp-restream
          roles:
            - detect
            - record
    #        - audio

Server URL Paths & Remote Control API

When the streaming server is running (default port 4444, via https:// or http:// depending on TLS configuration), you can access the following endpoints:

📺 Streams and Interfaces

• Web Control Panel (/)
  • Usage: Open https://[ip_address]:[port]/ (or http://...) in any web browser.
  • Description: Serves the built-in control panel, which plays the rear or front camera video stream and allows muting/unmuting audio. Remote controls include: camera section, image rotation, flash light toggle, resolution, zoom, exposure and contrast.
• Motion JPEG Video Stream (/video/mjpeg)
  • Usage: Open directly in a web browser or configure in external home automation tools (e.g. Home Assistant MJPEG IP Camera).
  • Format: multipart/x-mixed-replace; boundary=frame
• Raw H.264 Video Stream (/video/h264)
  • Usage: Play in media players that support raw Annex-B H.264 stream demuxing.
    • VLC: Run vlc https://[ip_address]:[port]/video/h264 (may require ignoring TLS validation if self-signed).
    • MPV: Run mpv https://[ip_address]:[port]/video/h264 --demuxer-lavf-format=h264
• Live Audio Stream (/audio)
  • Usage: Listen to the live microphone audio.
  • Format: audio/wav chunked transfer-encoding (WAV container, 16-bit PCM mono, 44.1kHz).
    • VLC/MPV: Run vlc https://[ip_address]:[port]/audio or mpv https://[ip_address]:[port]/audio.
• Raw Audio Stream (/audio/raw)
  • Usage: Listen to the raw (unprocessed) microphone source, bypassing any system audio processing (e.g. noise suppression, echo cancellation, AGC). On Android 7.0+ (API 24+) this uses the UNPROCESSED audio source; on older devices it falls back to the standard microphone.
  • Format: audio/wav chunked transfer-encoding (WAV container, 16-bit PCM mono, 44.1kHz).
    • VLC/MPV: Run vlc https://[ip_address]:[port]/audio/raw or mpv https://[ip_address]:[port]/audio/raw.
• Still Snapshot (/video/snapshot)
  • Usage: Fetch a single high-resolution image.
  • Format: image/jpeg
  • Query Parameter: ?camera=<id|front|back|toggle> to query a specific camera sensor.
    • Example: https://[ip_address]:[port]/video/snapshot?camera=back
• Device Info and Capabilities JSON (/info.json)
  • Usage: Query available camera sensors, their supported resolutions, device battery percentage, Wi-Fi signal strength and individual camera len settings.
  • Format: application/json
• Start Recording (/record/start, POST)
  • Usage: Start recording the live camera feed to a local MP4 file. The camera and H.264 encoder are started on demand if not already running.
  • Responses:
    • 201 Created: Recording started; returns the recording status JSON.
    • 409 Conflict: {"error":"already_recording", ...} — a recording is already in progress.
    • 503 Service Unavailable: {"error":"no_encoder", ...} — failed to initialize the H.264 encoder.
    • 500 Internal Server Error: {"error":"start_failed", ...} — recording failed to start.
• Stop Recording (/record/stop, POST)
  • Usage: Stop the in-progress local MP4 recording and finalize the file.
  • Responses:
    • 200 OK: Recording stopped; returns the final recording status JSON.
    • 409 Conflict: {"error":"not_recording", ...} — no recording is in progress.
    • 500 Internal Server Error: {"error":"stop_failed", ...} — failed to finalize the recording.
• Recording Status (/record/status)
  • Usage: Query whether a local MP4 recording is currently active.
  • Format: application/json — {"recording":<bool>, "uri":<string>, "durationMs":<long>, "width":<int>, "height":<int>} (or {"recording":false} when idle).
• Enable Streaming (/control/start)
  • Usage: Re-enable streaming of the media routes after it has been disabled (e.g. by a home-automation system).
  • Format: application/json — {"streaming":true}
• Disable Streaming (/control/stop)
  • Usage: Stop serving the media routes (/video/*, /audio*) without closing the listening port, and disconnect any viewers that are currently connected. The /control/* endpoints remain reachable so streaming can be turned back on remotely. When disabled, media routes return 503 Service Unavailable with a hint to POST /control/start.
  • Format: application/json — {"streaming":false}
• Streaming Status (/control/status)
  • Usage: Query whether streaming is currently enabled.
  • Format: application/json — {"streaming":<bool>}

🎛️ Remote Control Commands

Settings can be changed dynamically by passing query parameters in HTTP GET requests (e.g., to the root path / or any control endpoint).

• Parameters:
  • camera=<id|front|back|toggle>: Switches the active camera sensor (supports logical:physical ids).
  • resolution=<low|medium|high|auto|max|WxH>: Change capture/stream resolution. Use low|medium|high for presets; auto/max or explicit WxH may be used to control the negotiated stream size.
  • zoom=<value>: Adjusts digital zoom (e.g., 1.0, 2.5).
  • scale=<value>: Adjusts preview stream scale (per-camera; e.g., 0.5, 1.0).
  • exposure=<value>: Adjusts exposure value (per-camera).
  • contrast=<value>: Adjusts contrast (software; per-camera, integer).
  • torch=<on|off|toggle>: Controls the flashlight.
  • audio_gain=<value>: Changes microphone gain multiplier (e.g., 1.0, 2.0).
  • focus_distance=<0..1|-1>: Set manual focus distance (0..1). Use -1 to restore autofocus.
  • snapshot_res=<max|stream>: Choose snapshot resolution for the selected camera (max for full sensor, stream to match current stream resolution).
  • rotate=<degrees>: Rotate preview/snapshot (persisted per-camera).
  • mirror=<true|false>: Mirror the video.
  • api=<auto|camerax|camera1>: Prefer capture API implementation.
• Example command: https://[ip_address]:[port]/?torch=on&zoom=2.0

🔐 HTTPS/TLS certificates

To protect the stream and the password from being sent in plain-text over HTTP, a certificate can be used to start the stream over HTTPS.

The app will automatically generate a self-signed certificate on first launch, but if you have your own domain you can use Let's Encrypt to generate a trusted certificate and skip the self-signed security warning message, by changing the TLS certificate in the settings.

To generate a new self-signed certificate, clear the app settings and restart or clone this repo and run ./scripts/generate-certificate.sh then use the certificate personal_certificate.p12 file it generates.

🛂 Permissions

The app uses the following permissions to function:

• Camera (android.permission.CAMERA): Required to capture and stream the video feed.
• Microphone (android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO): Required to record and stream audio. (Requested optionally at runtime; streaming works without audio if denied).
• Notifications (android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS): Required on Android 13+ to post a persistent foreground service notification, keeping the background streaming server running reliably.
• Network (android.permission.INTERNET, android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE): Required to host the server and stream data to your browser/connected clients.
• Storage (android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE): Required on older Android versions to load custom TLS/HTTPS certificates from file storage and to save locally recorded MP4 files (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE only applies to Android 9 / API 28 and below; on newer versions recordings are saved to app-specific storage without extra permissions).
• Wi-Fi & Location (android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, android.permission.NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES): Used optionally to read the current Wi-Fi network's connection signal strength so it can be displayed in the web control panel overlay. If not granted, the Wi-Fi icon will be hidden. (Location permissions only apply to Android 12L / API 32 and below.)
• Start on boot (android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED): Allows the app to optionally start streaming automatically when the device boots. This feature is off by default and must be enabled in the app settings.

🤖 AI generated code disclaimer

Some of the code in this repository may be generated with the assistance of AI tools. All changes are reviewed and tested on a real device with a human in the loop before being released.

Reproducible builds

This project uses reproducible builds. Release APKs should be built from a clean tree at the tagged commit using Gradle directly:

./gradlew clean assembleRelease

The release variant will automatically sign the APK build. Build-tools 35+ is known to produce signatures that fail reproducibility verification.

Build Variants

By default, release builds generate architecture-specific APK splits (armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a) in addition to a universal APK. For F-Droid and other scenarios where a single universal APK is preferred, you can disable ABI splits:

F-Droid builds (single universal APK):

./gradlew clean assembleRelease -PenableAbiSplits=false

Release builds with architecture-specific APKs (default):

./gradlew clean assembleRelease

The enableAbiSplits property defaults to true. Set it to false to generate only the universal APK, which is the recommended approach for F-Droid to avoid unnecessary complexity in the build pipeline.

To verify that two unsigned builds from the same source are identical:

mkdir -p build/unsigned
./gradlew clean assembleRelease -PskipSigning --no-daemon --max-workers=1 -Dorg.gradle.parallel=false
cp app/build/outputs/apk/release/*universal-release.apk build/unsigned/build1.apk
./gradlew clean assembleRelease -PskipSigning --no-daemon --max-workers=1 -Dorg.gradle.parallel=false
cp app/build/outputs/apk/release/*universal-release.apk build/unsigned/build2.apk
cmp -s build/unsigned/build1.apk build/unsigned/build2.apk && echo OK
# or: shasum -a 256 build/unsigned/build1.apk build/unsigned/build2.apk

If they differ, inspect with diffoscope build/unsigned/build1.apk build/unsigned/build2.apk.

To verify your signed release APK matches an unsigned rebuild use apksigcopier - the first APK must be signed:

./gradlew clean assembleRelease
apksigcopier compare app/build/outputs/apk/release/*universal-release.apk --unsigned build/unsigned/build1.apk && echo OK

CI runs this check automatically via the Reproducible Build workflow.

Builds downloaded from the official repository should match the following signing certificate:

apksigner verify --print-certs app/build/outputs/apk/release/*universal-release.apk
Signer #1 certificate DN: CN=DigitallyRefined
Signer #1 certificate SHA-256 digest: 1111be81c861e199c6485d367c37680c4b778fba301980d2f0f9a2800f77f70a
Signer #1 certificate SHA-1 digest: 1560ceccdd719b2b97d431ad9a4c877abf5c2f32
Signer #1 certificate MD5 digest: 5fdf04f5b6bab9fdacbe28aa6dc85abb