How Local Camera Monitoring Works
When you use LocalNanny, your camera streams video directly to your iPhone over your home network. No cloud servers, no internet connection needed, no third-party company watching your feed.
Here’s the simple version: your camera, router, and iPhone are all connected to the same local network. The camera sends its video stream to the router, and the router delivers it to your iPhone. Everything stays inside your home.
The red X shows that your camera stream never leaves your local network. The internet connection on your router is completely separate from the camera-to-phone connection.
What Is a “Local Network”?
Your local network is the private network inside your home created by your router. Every device that connects to your router — phones, laptops, smart TVs, cameras — is on this local network.
Devices on your local network can talk to each other directly without going through the internet. When your iPhone requests a video stream from your camera, that data travels through your router but never leaves your home.
Think of it like this: your router is like a post office inside your house. Devices can send “mail” to each other through this post office without it ever going outside. The internet is a separate door that leads to the outside world — and your camera stream never uses that door.
Why Local Means Private
Cloud-based baby monitors (like Nanit, Owlet, or Wyze) work differently. They send your video to the company’s servers on the internet, then back down to your phone. This means:
- The company can see your video feed
- A data breach could expose your nursery footage
- If their servers go down, your monitor stops working
- You may need a subscription to keep it running
With LocalNanny, your video stream goes directly from camera to phone on your local network. No company ever sees it. No servers to breach. No subscription needed.
What Happens If Your Internet Goes Out?
Nothing — your camera keeps working. Because the stream stays on your local network, your internet connection is irrelevant. Your router continues routing local traffic even without internet access.
This is one of the biggest advantages of local monitoring. Cloud monitors stop working when your internet drops. LocalNanny doesn’t.
RTSP and ONVIF: What Are They?
These are two protocols (communication standards) that make IP camera monitoring work:
RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) is how the camera sends video. Think of it as the camera’s video channel. Every compatible camera has an RTSP address — a URL like rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/stream — that LocalNanny connects to for the video feed.
ONVIF is a discovery protocol. It lets LocalNanny automatically find cameras on your network without you needing to know IP addresses or RTSP paths. When you tap “Add Camera” in LocalNanny, it uses ONVIF to scan your network and find compatible cameras.
You don’t need to understand these protocols to use LocalNanny — the app handles everything. But knowing they exist helps if you ever need to troubleshoot or manually configure a camera.
Connecting a New Camera
For most home networks, setup is simpler than it sounds. When you plug a PoE camera into your router or switch, your router automatically assigns it an IP address using DHCP — the same way it handles your phone or laptop. You don’t need to configure anything manually.
Once the camera is powered on and connected:
- Open LocalNanny and tap Add Camera
- Tap Scan for Cameras — LocalNanny will use ONVIF to search your network
- Your camera will appear in the list, usually within a few seconds
- Tap it to connect — LocalNanny finds its IP address for you automatically
From there you can set a camera name and enter the login credentials. If your camera is brand new and you haven’t set a password yet, you may need to do that first through the camera’s own app or web interface — most cameras ship with a default username of admin and either a blank password or one printed on the label.
If your camera is brand new and you haven’t set a password yet, you may need to do that first through the camera’s own app or web interface. LocalNanny shows the camera’s IP address in the discovery list — type that into a web browser on your phone or laptop to access the camera’s settings page, where you can set a password. Most cameras ship with a default username of admin and a default password of admin, a blank password, or one printed on the label.
Once connected, you’re monitoring. You never need to know the camera’s IP address — LocalNanny handles it.
Your Network, Your Rules
The bottom line: LocalNanny works entirely on your home network. Your camera footage stays in your home, on your devices, under your control. No cloud, no subscriptions, no company watching your baby.
Ready to get started? Choose your setup:
- PoE Camera Setup Guide — Wired, most reliable
- WiFi Camera Setup Guide — Wireless, easiest install
- RTSP UDP vs TCP — How camera streaming works under the hood
- Compatible Cameras — Tested cameras that work with LocalNanny