Share access to devices

Choose the method that matches the connection. Hik-Connect sharing changes permissions in the manufacturer’s service. Watchpost invitations grant access through your hub. A protected file or QR code transfers saved connections and can carry separate hub tokens.

These methods have separate controls. Revoking one does not revoke the others or erase credentials already received.

Share through Hik-Connect

On Mac, iPhone or iPad, open Cloud Accounts, then Shared With Others for the owner’s online account. This list contains devices the account owns; devices received from another account cannot be shared onwards here. Android does not offer these screens.

1. Choose Give Access… and enter the email address or phone number the recipient uses for Hik-Connect. You can add your own note about the recipient.
2. Select devices and choose Live view or Live view and playback for each. A newly selected device starts with Live view.
3. For a recorder with several channels, expand its channels and leave only the required ones selected. Each selected device must retain at least one channel.
4. Choose Give. The recipient must accept the invitation in Hik-Connect. In Watchpost, they can accept it in the account’s Add Device form and then add the device locally.

The recipients list shows rights and whether acceptance is still pending. Change rights or channel switches there; each change sends a request immediately and reloads the list. There is no final Save step. Watchpost leaves rights it does not recognize read-only.

Take Away Access… acts on the whole recipient, including all their devices in that share. This screen cannot revoke just one device. Check the confirmation before proceeding. Giving access again requires acceptance again.

Invite someone through a Watchpost hub

On Mac, open the hub’s People section. The hub needs administrator access, and the build needs Watchpost accounts. See People and invitations for the full sender workflow and term rules.

The handover has separate steps:

1. The sender invites an email address and chooses sites and a term.
2. The recipient signs in to Watchpost, opens Inbox → Received, and accepts the invitation.
3. On Mac, the sender opens the accepted invitation and chooses Give Access…. Review the sites still available and whether to include device passwords. Passwords start off; including them requires an owner check.
4. Watchpost prepares hub access and sends a protected device package to the recipient’s registered installations. If preparation or sending fails, follow the reported retry or take-back action.
5. The recipient opens the new package in Inbox and chooses the add action. Review matching devices, sites and password handling, then confirm the import.

Accepting the first invitation does not add devices. A package’s Received or Added state also does not confirm that video works. After import, check the intended device, credentials and route.

Receiving on phones and tablets

iPhone, iPad and Android can accept invitations and review received packages. Issuing access after acceptance requires Mac.

For hub access managed through the Watchpost center, use Mac to receive and connect in the current implementation. Mac obtains and refreshes the installation’s hub token after importing the package. The mobile apps do not currently perform that step; importing the device cards there can leave the hub connection unusable. A previously working direct connection or another route can hide this problem, so check the intended hub route specifically.

If the sender’s package uses a separate legacy hub token, its connection still depends on the token, credentials and reachable hub. Mobile package import alone is no guarantee of a working path.

When sending fails or access ends

If Mac has prepared access but cannot send the package, Send Again retries that prepared package. Handle this state before restarting: the pending send does not survive a restart. Closing the form does not itself take access back.

Terms and early revocation depend on how access was issued. A hub that cannot receive a revocation may continue accepting an existing center token until that token expires. Read the term and revocation limits before relying on an immediate cutoff. Revocation leaves local device entries and previously shared passwords on the recipient’s installation; direct LAN access may still work.

Hand over a file or QR code

In the Apple export form, choose For another person, enter a name and select the devices. Review warnings about routes whose hubs cannot issue a personal token. This export excludes hub administrator tokens and router private keys. The form can request the recipient’s own hub tokens; file transfer does not use the Inbox invitation workflow.

Choose whether to include device passwords: the recipient will use those device credentials. Personal hub tokens go with this handover even when device passwords are off. The other-person export excludes cloud-account passwords; the recipient needs their own working cloud access. Protect the file or code with a password and pass that password separately. Use Hik-Connect’s sharing controls to grant limited rights to its devices.

Follow Transfer devices for export and import choices, including platform differences. A full copy For me can contain your own route tokens and router keys, so review the audience before sending it. To revoke personal hub tokens from a file handover, use the hub’s site/user controls described in Manage hubs.