Category Blink Camera, Cameras, Security

Blink Camera Can Be a Baby Monitor (Learn why?)

Author Adam B Published on 5 min read
Blink camera
Blink camera

A baby is constantly on the move and needs his parents’ help to avoid injury, but mum and dad have a lot of responsibilities around the house, which makes things a bit tricky. Here comes the role of a baby monitor, it allows you to keep an eye on your baby when you are busy doing household chores.

Some people are asking if they can use a Blink camera as a baby monitor? Blink produces security cameras to increase home safety and catch intruders but all their models including Blink Mini, Indoor, Outdoor, and XT2 can be used as a baby monitor to keep your baby safe while you’re away.

Why use Blink cameras as a baby monitor?

Relying on Blink cams to watch and protect your baby has a lot of pros and we’re going to explore these advantages in the next sections of this article.

  • Price: If you want to buy a high-quality baby monitor camera you need to invest around 150 to 200 dollars which may be an obstacle for families with low income.

    While Blink Mini cost around 35 dollars and can handle this task perfectly due to its features such as high-quality video and two-way audio to talk to your child.

    Blink indoor can cost you 80$ and the outdoor version cost 99.99 dollars.
  • Field of use: Some baby monitor cameras will finish their job when the child grows up and will be useless, so they will have to be sold or put away.

    This is not the case for the Blink camera because you can continue to use it as a security device to monitor your home and deter unwanted visitors or catch potential intruders.
  • Battery life: Blink Mini needs to be plugged into an outlet to get the required power to work, while the indoor and outdoor models work with 2 AA lithium batteries that can last up to 2 years (depending on the usage) which makes it one of the most powerful batteries cam on the market.
  • Video quality: The video quality is important when your child is watching to see what they have in their hand and what they are trying to put in their mouth.

    All Blink cams give you the possibility to record and view in 1080p HD video during the day and with infrared HD night vision at night or in the dark.
  • Talk with your child: This feature allows you to hear, and speak to your baby in his room remotely from the Blink app on your smartphone or tablet with Blink Mini’s live view due to the built-in speaker and microphone.

    This option will make you feel like being home next to your child even when you’re not.
  • Cloud & local storage: Blink offers two storage methods the first one is on the cloud which allows you to store your live view sessions and motion clips on Blink’s servers. You view Cloud-based clips in the Blink app (this option requires you to be subscribed to the Blink Subscription Plan).

    There is also another function that requires no subscription fee to store your clips and watch them from your Blink app by storing the motion detected clips on a USB drive that can be plugged into the Sync Module 2.

    With the USB drive, you can save motion clips and photos captured by the Blink cam on your computer.
  • Alexa Compatibility: All Blink cams can be integrated with Alexa-enabled devices in order to control them through your voice using the voice assistant Alexa which may be useful for parents who are not comfortable with using the app.

    You can also watch the Live View and clips from devices like the Echo Show and control the cam from Amazon smart speakers, the Alexa integration allows you to arm and disarms the Blink cam via voice commands.
  • Easy set up: The installation process is very easy all that you need to do is to plug the camera, then connect it to your home Wifi network and add it to your Blink app, the outdoor and indoor models don’t require any wiring as they work with batteries.

    The installation of this cam doesn’t require you to spend additional money on hiring a professional.
  • Blink app alerts: When you activate the motion notification on the app you’ll receive alerts on your smartphone or Echo smart speaker & display (if the Alexa integration is activated) every time a motion is detected by the camera.

    The Blink app gives you the ability to customize motion detection zones so you are only alerted to the movement that matters to you and this feature will increase the efficiency of the notifications and avoid false alerts.
  • Blink work with IFTTT: Blink has announced that their cameras are now compatible with IFTTT a third-party app that allows you to connect Blink cam to other services Google Assistant, SmartThings Phillips Hue, and more.

    IFTTT can allow your Blink cam to be automated with other smart home devices in your house.

What can’t the Blink camera offer and the baby monitor do?

There are some features that baby monitor devices offer and the Blink cameras don’t, like the following:

  • Temperature Alert: measures room temperature, which is displayed on the parent unit’s screen to allow them to instantly make adjustments to your room’s heating or cooling system.
  • Track baby’s sleep trends: Some baby monitors give you the ability to track your baby’s sleep, including wakings, heart rate, sleep quality, and total hours slept.
  • Reminders: A baby monitor device can allow you to set up a clock to remind yourself to do something like feeding, diaper, or others.
  • Coverage: Some baby monitor cams use the remote pan and tilt, to oversee the entire room and zoom in on the baby to get a better view, an option that is not available in the Blink cam.

Blink camera requirements.

In order to benefit from this camera as a baby monitor you need to satisfy the following requirements:

  • 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network (name and password) and high-speed internet connection with a minimum 2 Mbit/sec upload speed.
  • A valid email address.
  • Blink Mini needs a standard electrical outlet to provide power (also the Sync module).
  • The Sync Module 2 requires a USB drive in order to use local storage.
  • A monthly or yearly subscription for cloud storage.
  • Android device, running software version 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher.
  • Fire OS device, running software version 5.1 or higher.
  • IOS device, software version 12.5 or higher.

Final words.

Blink cameras have their own benefits and you can rely on them to keep an eye on your child and keep him safe, but they don’t have the extra features to take care of your child like those available on baby monitors.

Adam B
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