Overview

New to Watchpost? Follow Get started. Mac commands and their availability are listed in Menus and shortcuts.

Use Live to watch cameras, Archive to play recordings, Events to review alarms, and Devices to manage saved connections. Builds with a Watchpost account also offer Inbox for invitations and received devices.

Task	On Mac	On iPhone, iPad and Android	Read more
Watch cameras	Live, ⌘1	Cameras tab	Live view
Play recordings	Archive, ⌘2	Archive tab	Archive
Review alarms	Events, ⌘3	Events tab	Events
Manage connections	Devices, ⌘4	Devices tab	Device list
Receive invitations and devices	Inbox, when available	Inbox tab, when available	Inbox

A tab’s presence does not mean every device supports its features. Archive and events depend on the connection protocol; some tools also depend on the license of your build. See device compatibility.

Find your devices

On Mac, switch modes in the toolbar or the View menu. The Live sidebar groups devices by site. Devices mode shows the registry: every saved device, including devices that are not in Live.

Saving a device and showing it in Live are separate actions. A device kept only in the registry is not polled automatically. You can still check its connection or open its settings. Network equipment stays in the registry and has no camera tile.

Start with Add a device, then use the device list to organize connections. On Mac, camera sets let you switch between groups of channels.

In the Apple apps, maps show where cameras are installed. On Mac, you can also create site plans and place devices on floor drawings.

Desktop and mobile differences

On phones and tablets, navigation uses tabs. Tap a camera tile to open it; use its menu for the actions that the platform offers. The mobile apps stop receiving device events when they leave the foreground.

Android includes archive playback and export, events, snapshots, and camera control for supported devices. Its settings screens differ from Apple’s: Xiongmai has selected forms, while Hikvision and ONVIF use the advanced editor. Hik-Connect connections are not yet available on Android, and HTTP cameras are not yet offered there. See device settings.

Settings and local data

App settings control language, save folders and notifications. Device settings change parameters stored by a camera or recorder.

The device list, sites, event history and configuration backups are stored locally. Check encryption, recovery and app lock in Storage. On Apple devices, credentials use the Keychain. Video comes from the device, through your hub when configured, or through the manufacturer’s cloud for cloud connections. A Watchpost account does not store a copy of your video archive.

Use Hik-Connect accounts for vendor-cloud connections on Apple devices and Share access to devices to choose a handover method. On Mac, open a local video file to review a saved recording. Direct Mac and Android builds have an update checker.

If a connection, video or recording fails, start with Troubleshooting.