News

28 Dec 2019: Release v3.0 is here

It is here as promised :-) ... The Android version was uploaded to the major Android app stores and the Windows / Mac versions are available on our website, now.

21 Dec 2019: Release v3.0 approaching :-)

Great News! Our new main release of the app (v3.0) will be available soon (we are targeting a rollout between 27 Dec and 29 Dec 2019)

Highlights include

• QuickStart: Start app quickly as transmitter or receiver (according to last use)
• Possibility to add QuickStart icon to home screen (Android, see three-dots-icon on upper right)
• Added to preferences: Possibility to set maximum video resolution
• Added to preferences: Possibility to mirror video image horizontally
• Compatibility fixes for Android 8 and Android 9
• Windows PC and macOS versions of the app now scale its size according to the system settings

Please note that this new release requires Android 4.1 or higher. If one of your devices runs an older Android version, please refer to https://www.babyphonemobile.com/eng/version-mismatch for further information on how you can still install the last v2.x release on your devices.

30 Jul 2017: Doze Mode + Split-Screen support

Android 6+: Added the ability to disable the Android battery optimization for a better connectivity

Android 7: Added support for split-screen mode. Thus, you can use our app side-by-side with other apps on Android 7 and above, now.

A new options was added to the preferences: It is now possible to disable the recording of a new camera image after the camera light has been switched off. Furthermore, this version includes bug fixes for Android 7.

14 Aug 2016: Works with Amazon Fire TV and Android TV

You can now install and run our baby monitor apps on the Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Thus, your smart TV can now also act as parents unit (receiver).

31 Mar 2016: Desktop Version Improvements

We improved our desktop versions (Win/Mac) of the app. The new release is available for download. Main changes are: Stability on Mac OS X was improved; New webcam backend that provides a faster webcam capture and requires less CPU power; Improved compatibility with Windows tablets; New screen off button.

04 Nov 2015: WiFi Baby Monitor: Free & Lite - Released!

You asked for it and here it is: A free (ad-supported) lite version of our "WiFi Baby Monitor" app. This app has just been released to Google Play and the Amazon App-Store.

The "Free & Lite" version is free to download but shows ads. With this new version of the app, we can offer a free and reliable audio baby monitor app. When buying the full version, you can also use the following additional features: camera, talkback, end-to-end encryption, support for Android 2.2, and ad-free.

Download: WiFi Baby Monitor: Free & Lite (at Google Play Store)

24 Jul 2015: BlackBerry 10.3 and higher: Now supported!

Our apps "BabyPhone Mobile" and "WiFi Baby Monitor" are now also compatible with devices running BlackBerry OS 10.3 or higher. Although BlackBerry runs Android apps, there were a number of problems that we dealt with. Especially, the camera preview and camera LED control caused problems and required compatibility fixes. We tested the apps on an BlackBerry Q10 and both apps worked nice and smooth. However, there might still be further issues hidden that need to be fixed. So if you run our apps on an BlackBerry device and encounter any issues, then please let us know!

Update (30 Jul 2015): Our apps were approved for the BlackBerry World app store and should show up within the app store very soon.

13 Dec 2014: Version 2.0 - New Features and New Icon

We are happy to announce our next major release: BabyPhone Mobile 2.0 and WiFi Baby Monitor 2.0!

Besides a new icon and color scheme, we are very proud of the new end-to-end encryption using AES. This will help you to protect your privacy even better. By setting your own encryption password on your monitoring devices, you can ensure that nobody can spy your monitoring session. And best: The secure AES 256 key generated from your encryption password is only stored locally on your devices. It is never transmitted over the network or internet. Therefore, you can be sure that nobody else (not even us!) can decrypt your transmitted audio and video data. Of course, it is essential that you choose a secure password because even the best encryption does not help if your passwort is as weak as '11111111' or '12345678'.

Even more good news for our "WiFi Baby Monitor" users: We have often been asked to implement Bluetooth to allow direct connections between the sender and receiver device when no WiFi router is available or one does not want to open a tethering network on the receiver. Therefore, we implemented Wi-Fi Direct which has an even better range than Bluetooth. Because this is only available on Android 4.1 and above, you need to use two Android 4.1 or higher devices to use this new function. Unfortunately, many phones have a bad implementation of the Wi-Fi Direct API which caused some problems during development. Therefore, we added an additional connection mode which does not connect using Wi-Fi Direct but by opening a Wi-Fi hotspot on the sender and the receiver connecting with this hotspot. So if Wi-Fi Direct does not work when trying to connect your receiver with your sender, then connect to the WiFi hotspot opened by the sender (Sender with Android 4.1 or above required).

We also added a new timer that allows you to quickly see how long the sender and receiver devices have been running. This helps you to know how long the baby has been in bed for.

And finally, you have certainly noticed our new icon and color scheme. We love it! You too? Send us feedback to info@babyphonemobile.com

24 May 2014: New Features: Sensors (Temperature / Relative Humidity), Listen-Button, ...

We just released a new version with many interesting new features. The main changes are as follows:

1.) Sender measures temperature and relative humidity if sensor is available. Supported Sensors: Android: build-in sensors, e.g. Galaxy S4; Windows and Mac: Experimental support for TEMPer1, TEMPer2, and some TEMPerHum sensors (These sensors will not work on Android because Android detects them as mouse or keyboard and prevents direct communication with apps.)

2.) We added a new button on the receiver for listening into the baby room even if the noise is below the threshold (button with ear icon)

3.) Changing the volume on the receiver will unmute the receiver in case that the mute button is currently active

4.) New expert setting in preferences: Ability to disable connectivity check on sender/receiver start. This is especially useful if you use a special network configuration that is not correctly identified by the app.

UPDATE: We released another update (1.11.1) just 12 hours later that fixes a bug introduced with our latest version that caused app crashes on some devices. We are very sorry for this issue!

15 Mar 2014: New Feature: Mute Button (Receiver-Mode)

We added a mute button that temporarily mutes the receiver device. This is particularly useful when one takes the receiver along into the sleeping room of the baby because muting the receiver prevents an echo (loud noise) that might otherwise occur.

14 Feb 2014: WiFi Baby Monitor for Windows + Mac OS X available (Beta Test)

WiFi Baby Monitor is now available for devices running Windows XP or higher and Mac OS X 10.8 or higher. This version is temporarily available for free. Please, report any bugs you may encounter at bugs@babyphonemobile.com - Thank you!

04 Feb 2014: Amazon Kindle Fire Devices without Microphone supported (Android)

A new version of WiFi Baby Monitor is now available on the Amazon App-Store. It supports Android devices without microphone, in particular the Amazon Kindle Fire devices.

27 Jan 2014: New languages: Japanese + Korean

A new version (1.10.1) was just released for all platforms. It is now also localized to Japanese and Korean. Furthermore, the automatic Sender-Search in the WiFi Baby Monitor app has been updated such that it also works with Android 4.x devices.

13 Dec 2013: Video duration adjustable + Access to new servers

A new version (1.10.0) was just released for all platforms. The main new features are:

1.) The duration of video transmission can now be changed in the preferences. In the old versions, it was fixed at 15 seconds. Now, one choose between five different values ranging from 15 seconds to 2 hours. The preferences can be accessed by the menu button of the phone, the 3-dots button in the upper right corner (if phone has no menu button), or by the settings button on the left in the Windows and Mac versions. In addition, one can set a pause between successive video frames in the preferences. This allows for setting up an automatic snapshot mode, e.g. for the continuous monitoring of a thermometer in the sleeping room with reasonable amounts of transmitted data (suggested settings: video duration: 2 hours, pause between frames: 60 seconds). These settings need to be changed on the receiver and not the sender. This allows to change the video settings also while the baby is sleeping without waking the baby.

2.) This version has full access to our new server cluster. This should provide an even better stability of connections because the app can connect to another server whenever one server is not available, e.g. due to maintenance or a fatal system errror. Furthermore, this helps us to provide more server resources whenever needed in order to account for the constantly increasing amount of users.

06 Dec 2013: New Servers: Even better connectivity and stability!

We are proud that our server was very reliable and provided a very high availability over the last years. However, our constant growth requests the need for a new server architecture: We are soon passing 100.000 downloads on Google Play alone. Therefore, we upgraded our server architecture to a new multi-cluster system. This enables us to provide additional resources whenever needed. As before: All our servers are dedicated machines, located in Germany, and your privacy is most valuable to us. Therefore, we do not log any IPs, all traffic is encrypted, and we do never save or sell any of your data. This is what you pay for! A reliable server cluster and the highest respect for your privacy. A new app version that can take full benefit of this upgrade will be released within the next days.

25 Oct 2013: Happy Birthday: 2 years!

Thanks for all your support! It is great how far we got within the last 2 years with the continuous support of all our loyal users. Thanks for sharing your ideas that tremendously helped in improving the app over the last years. And stay tuned for further news to come. We are constantly working at the app in order to ensure that BabyPhone Mobile stays one of the best baby monitor apps available on the internet.

29 Jul 2013: Added new language: Spanish

BabyPhone Mobile is available in four languages, now: English, German, Spanish and Russian

03 Jul 2013: Landscape mode for Tablets

For the Android version, we added a landscape mode for devices with large screen. This allows to use Tablets in their natural landscape orientation.

11 Jun 2013: Tablet Compatibility Issue Resolved!

The compatibility problem for some tablet devices on Google Play is resolved, now. Tablet owners should be able to update to the newest version of our apps. If you continue to have problems, then please send us an E-Mail: software@papenmeier.com

04 Jun 2013: Tablet Compatibility Bug

Google Play has a bug causing our apps to be listed incompatible with some tablets. If you are having this problem, then you can install the current version by hand as a workaround. We are very sorry for this problem and work on a solution!

Download installation files:

- BabyPhone Mobile App: BabyPhoneMobile.apk (Important: Write down your license number (if applicable) before updating, so that you can restore the license if necessary. Within BabyPhone Mobile: License Manager -> License Number)

- WiFi Baby Monitor App (works only if purchased on Google Play): WiFi-Google-Play.apk

04 Jun 2013: New version available (all platforms)

We released a new version (1.09.0) of BabyPhone Mobile for all platforms. The major changes are as follows:

All platforms:
1.) Sender battery level is shown on receiver
2.) A second receiver can take over the current monitoring session by connecting to the sender.
3.) Minor bug fixes and improvements

Android only:
Added possibility to switch on camera flashlight/LED (Note: There are many reports on the internet that mention device specific problems with the camera flashlight on Android. If it does not work with your device then send us a bug report, please)

Windos / Mac OS X only:
Improved webcam support: Faster activation of webcam from camera energy saving mode (camera auto-standy).

20 May 2013: Webcam support for Mac OS X Version added

We applied major changes to the camera support for Windows and Mac OS X. Webcams are supported for both, Windows and Mac OS X, now. If you have any suggestions regarding the webcam support, then please send us an E-Mail: software@papenmeier.com

30 Apr 2013: Mac OS X Version (Beta Testing Release)

BabyPhone Mobile is available for a new platform: Mac OS X (10.8 or higher). Download: BabyPhoneMobile.pkg

This version is fully functional apart from camera support. Recording images on a sender device running Mac OS X will be added in the near future.

Help needed! Dear users with a Macbook, we developed this version on a desktop computer and were, therefore, not able to test the battery alarm. If you run the BabyPhone Mobile on a Macbook as sender device, then please connect it with a receiver and then let your Macbooks battery level go below 15%. Does a warning message notifying you of the low battery level pop up on the receiver? Please, write us an E-Mail: software@papenmeier.com Thank you!

If you have problems with the Mac OS X version or the Windows version (we made a lot of changes in the background), then please send us an E-Mail: software@papenmeier.com

02 Apr 2013: Price reduction

Thanks to an increasing number of users we are able to reduce our prices by approx. 46% as of now. New subscription price is 1,35 EUR per month (was 2,50 EUR per month). The validity of the 0,99 EUR license was extended from 10 to 15 days. Furthermore, we added a 365 days license for 15,- EUR.

NOTE for active BabyPhone Mobile subscribers: Because Google does not allow us to modify existing subsciptions, your action is required in order to benefit from the new price. Please, cancel your old subscription, wait until it expired and subscribe anew.

The price of the "WiFi Baby Monitor" app was also reduced from 6,95 EUR to 3,95 EUR.

11 Mar 2013: Added new language: Russian + Fixed Layout

BabyPhone Mobile is available in Russian language, now. If your device is set to Russian then the app will appear in Russian language too. The standard language remains English. Furthermore, BabyPhone Mobile is also available in German.

In addition, we fixed some issues with the layout on the Nexus 7. Text should not be cropped anymore.

09 Feb 2013: Rated "Very Good" by AndroidPit

AndroidPit.comOur WiFi Baby Monitor has been reviewed by AndroidPit: "Very Good". According to the review, our app is "very stabile and reliable throughout". This was also the most important aspect during development: To provide a reliable monitoring solution. Furthermore, the review says: "So overall I would say that the app is a perfectly viable alternative to a classic baby monitor." We are proud that our app convinced the AndroidPit Reviewers.

WiFi Baby Monitor is the WiFi version of our BabyPhone Mobile app.

AndroidPit is one of the most important Android communities in Germany. Throughout the last years, AndroidPit expanded to many more countries.

Read the Review yourself: WiFi Baby Monitor – Sweet dreams

26 Jan 2013: New Feature: Adjust Microphone Sensitivity

In addition to the usual noise-based calibration of the microphone on the sender it is now also possible to adjust the microphone sensitivity manually. Besides adjusting the sensitivity to your needs this allows to use BabyPhone Mobile in situations where the noise-based calibration failed (e.g. in a car while the ventilation caused a loud noise).

25 Oct 2012: Happy Birthday: One year of BabyPhone Mobile!

We thank all of you for the constant support during the last year. It is great to see what great features there have been included during the last year: Most of them were inspired by the feedback of our users. Thank you!

20 Oct 2012: New WiFi version for Android (direct connection)

Many users asked for it and here it is: A WiFi version of BabyPhone Mobile that can be bought for a one-time fee. It is called "WiFi Baby Monitor" and available at Google Play for 6,95 Euro.

The WiFi version uses a direct connection between Sender and Receiver and is therefore restricted to the range of the local WiFi network. If you need more range, than use the regular BabyPhone Mobile app, please.

05 Oct 2012: Bug Fix / Great News Approaching (Android version)

A bug preventing the Sender to be woken up by the Receiver was fixed in this release. This bug was unfortunately released with our latest update on 02 Oct 2012. The bug was introduced while working on a great new version of our baby monitor to be released soon. Stay tuned for news to come! The new version will tackle one main request from the community we were asked for many times. More on this soon...

02 Oct 2012: New Feature: x86 support (Android version)

The android version of BabyPhone Mobile was updated to support x86 based android devices. These are devices based on an Intel processor, such as the new Motorola RAZR i with its 2,0 GHz Intel Atom processor.

29 Aug 2012: New Feature: Automatic Snapshots + Google Nexus 7 support

Instead of single camera snapshots, multiple snapshots can be requested by the receiver, now. Double clicking the camera icon will cause multiple camera snapshots to be transmitted from the sender to the receiver. This is much like video. Video resolution is reduced in order to reduce traffic and to get a smoother result in mobile networks.

In addition, BabyPhone Mobile can now access the camera of the new Google Nexus 7. Because it features a front-facing camera only, there was a minor bug that is now resolved.

19 Jul 2012: Beta Test completed (Android version)

After more than 8 months of extensive testing we are proud to announce our first stable release of BabyPhone Mobile for Android. Our thanks go to all of you who helped us in constantly improving BabyPhone Mobile! And of course we will continue to integrate new features in the future (there are some really exciting features on our ToDo list :-) ).

With the end of our Beta Test, using BabyPhone Mobile in the sender mode will require a license now. However, we added a new trial system with time limited sessions than can still be used for free without any license. The Windows Version of BabyPhone Mobile remains in Beta Test and can still be used for free. If you have any ideas on how to improve BabyPhone Mobile, just write us an E-Mail.

17 Jun 2012: New Feature: Camera preview automatic standby

The camera preview on the sender supports an energy saving mode, now. The camera preview will automatically enter standby after a given time. This new standby feature can be configured in the preferences using the menu key of your device. If you want to have a constant preview image, then turn off this new standby feature in the preferences. However, enabling the automatic standby will save lots of battery as it will reduce the processing power needed dramatically.

07 Jun 2012: Free beta test extended

Our free beta test has been extended. Use BabyPhone Mobile for free until 31 Jul 2012. Note: Beta Test might stop early as soon as regular license system is ready.

Renew existing license or obtain new license via License Manager->Get free License within the app.

03 Jun 2012: Webcam support for Windows version added

When we released our first test version of BabyPhone Mobile for Windows on 22 Apr 2012 all audio features were implemented, but webcam support was still missing. That is, it was not possible to send camera pictures from the sender to the receiver with the Windows version. We worked hard and are proud to announce the new Windows version of BabyPhone Mobile supporting webcams. The Android version and Windows version of the BabyPhone Mobile have the same features implemented, now. If you encounter any problems, then please write us an E-Mail.

A note regarding live video support: We are frequently asked whether BabyPhone Mobile will also feature live video support in the future (instead of camera stills only). The short answer: Yes, we plan to implement it at some point in the future. The long answer: When we originally started developing BabyPhone Mobile, the camera feature was always just an "add-on". That is, we put our strongest effort in having a reliable baby monitor that notifies the parents when noise is detected or when there is any problem with the connection between the sender (baby) and receiver (parent) devices. Of course, the camera image is quite handy in seeing whether everything is fine with the baby without a need to go into the sleeping room. And we agree that having live video support would be even more handy in doing this task. Therefore, we plan to implement live video support in the future after having implemented some other features being on our to-do list.

20 May 2012: New Feature: Additional audio transmission alarm

The new additional audio transmission alarm shows a notification on every audio transmission onset. If your device features vibration and is not in silent mode, it starts to vibrate too. That way, you will not overhear your baby while watching a movie o the like. The feature can be turned on in the preferences using the menu key of your device. It should be set on the receiver device.

22 Apr 2012: Windows Version (Test Release)

We are proud to announce that BabyPhone Mobile is now also available for devices (desktop and laptop computers) running Windows XP/Vista/7/8. A first test release can be downloaded here: BabyPhoneMobileSetup.exe

The installer file is about 4,3 MB in size. Please note that during the first time setup of BabyPhone Mobile on Windows it will also download and install the Runtime required to run BabyPhone Mobile. Therefore, the installer will download about 21 MB during the installation procedure.

04 Mar 2012: Free beta test extended

Our free beta test has been extended. Use BabyPhone Mobile for free until at least 15 Jun 2012

21 Feb 2012: New Feature: Additional Alarm Delay

Usually a alarm starts about 10 to 60 seconds after a connection problem is detected. Some users reported that the alarm started at the same time every night. We worked out that this is caused by the nightly forced disconnects by their internet providers. In order to allow the app to reconnect silently after a disconnect, an additional alarm delay can be set in the preferences (use the menu key of your phone). Setting this additional delay will cause the app to wait longer before the alarm starts. Within this time, the app tries to reconnect constantly. If the additional alarm delay is set long enough (until the router re-established the internet connection), the app will silently reconnect without the alarm starting. This setting should usually be set on the receiver device.

23 Jan 2012: New Feature: Talk Back

Send voice messages from receiver to sender (baby)

12 Jan 2012: New Feature: Night Mode

Receiver can now switch between standard mode and night mode for camera pictures. Night mode provides a better camera quality (higher contrast) in low light conditions.

05 Jan 2012: Free beta test extended

Our free beta test has been extended. Use BabyPhone Mobile for free until at least 15 Mar 2012

Thanks for all the feature suggestions! New features currently under development: night mode (improved camera image under low light), talkback function (send voice messages from receiver to sender)

29 Dec 2011: New Feature: Front-Facing Camera support (Android 2.3 and above)

If the Android device features more than one camera, a new button will appear in sender-mode. Pressing the button will switch through all available cameras. Although there are also Android 2.2 devices with multiple cameras, general support for accessing these cameras was only introduced with Android 2.3. Therefore, BabyPhone Mobile supports these cameras for Android 2.3 and above, only.

18 Dec 2011: New Feature: HTC Wildfire camera supported

There is a bug in the HTC Wildfire firmware that prevented the BabyPhone Mobile App from accessing its camera. We updated the BabyPhone Mobile App to account for this bug. The camera can be used, now. It is, therefore, possible to use the HTC Wildfire as sender from now on, too.

19 Nov 2011: New Feature: Safe Battery through Standby

The camera (display) is allowed to enter standby mode in order to save battery, now. (Use the menu key of your device to set in the preferences of each phone whether the display should always be on. It can be set on both devices, the sender and the receiver, individually.)

When one tries to take a photo and the sender is in standby mode, one will be asked whether it should be waked up so that it can take the photo. If the "Keep Screen On" option is turned off on the sender, it will try to enter standby mode shortly after taking the picture, again.

Transmission of the audio (voice) signal did already and continues to work in standby mode.

Please, ensure that you do not have a task killer installed that will either kill the BabyPhone Mobile App or internet connection on entering standby!

11 Nov 2011: Free beta test extended

Our free beta test has been extended. Use BabyPhone Mobile for free until at least 15 Jan 2012

Note about the upcoming pricing:
We are still working on the upcoming licensing model. What we currently plan: In order to ensure a fair licensing model, using BabyPhone Mobile as a receiver will permanently be for free. That is, one will need to buy a license only for the sender and not twice (sender and receiver). We also intend to offer a competitive pricing for the sender unit allowing to buy short-timed licenses at a low cost or long-timed licenses with respective discounts.

25 Oct 2011: First version released (Android)

We are proud to announce that our first public version of BabyPhone Mobile has been released as App to Android Market. It is available as BabyPhone Mobile: Baby Monitor.

Feel free to try it and report us how you like it. Would you like to see some new feature in the app? Just tell us what you would like: features@babyphonemobile.com. We will see, what we can do!

Or did you encounter any problems? Please, tell us too: bugs@babyphonemobile.com

Free beta test: Until 30 Nov 2011, 15 Jan 2012, 15 Mar 2012, 15 Jun 2012, now: 31 Jul 2012