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Take Our Advice
How to Stay Safe
Best for Most
Cync Indoor Smart Camera
Another Great Camera
Arlo Essential Indoor Security Camera
Not quite ready to deck out your house with window, door, and motion sensors and hire an on-call monitoring service? Don’t fret! You can still keep your home secure without messing with your wiring. Setting up a camera or two is an affordable alternative.
Knowing you can check in when you’re away offers you peace of mind, but a lot of us have a love-hate relationship with these cameras. There’s an obvious security benefit, but you expose yourself to privacy risks. We break down what you should keep in mind when shopping for one, and we’ve rounded up our favorites after rigorous testing.
Be sure to check out our many other guides, including The Best Outdoor Security Cameras, Best Pet Cameras, and Best Password Managers. And if you want more smart home products, we have guides on smart plugs and light bulbs, too.
Updated December 2022: We’ve added a note on critical Eufy security issues and removed its cameras.
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Photograph: Nooie
Take Our Advice
How to Stay Safe
Security cameras are great tools, but you also need to protect your security from those cameras. You don’t want to find out that a stranger has been watching you sit in your bathrobe bingeing trash TV for the third day in a row, or worse. If you follow these tips, you can be a vigilant and conscious consumer and still feel like your home is protected while you’re away.
- Avoid no-name cameras: If you type “security camera” into Amazon’s search bar, you’ll come up with hundreds of cheap options from brands you’ve never heard of. We don’t feel comfortable recommending these for a product with real privacy risks. You should always go with brands that clearly outline their privacy policies and make it easy to set up security protocols. That doesn’t mean they can’t be hacked—Wyze, Nest, and Ring have all had breaches—but you probably won’t be hung out to dry by a brand that disappears the moment something happens.
- Use a strong password and set up two-factor authentication: Setting a strong password that you don’t use for anything else is extremely important. You should also change the password for your Wi-Fi network from its default, if you haven’t already. Set up two-factor authentication as soon as you create an account with the camera brand you’ve bought. It will make it harder for a hacker to gain access to your device, even if they do figure out your password.
- Keep it updated: Make sure you’re frequently checking for software updates (for your camera and router) that can patch any security issues that may have come up. Set your camera to auto-update if possible.
- Turn it off: When you’re home, or at least when you’re doing something personal you wouldn’t want someone to see, turn the camera off. Some cameras have a physical shutter that you can close. You could also turn the camera around for good measure.
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Photograph: Cync
Best for Most
Cync Indoor Smart Camera
I prefer cameras that pan (see many choices below), but this one from Cync (9/10, WIRED Recommends) beats out everything else with one important feature: a shutter that covers the camera lens when you don’t want it watching—or listening!—to you. Plus, the app has two-factor authentication, and you can’t opt out of it. That’s a good thing.
Live video feed is pretty sensitive information, so if you’re going to invite a camera into your home, it’s wise to take some precautions. You can turn your cameras around, turn them off, or unplug them, but the shutter here makes it easier. Slide the shutter up when you’re home and you see bright red plastic and a crossed-out camera symbol, and the lens sees nothing. Ready for it to monitor? Slide it back down. Cync (formerly C by GE ) is affordable, and the app is easy to use. You don’t have to be a rich tech wizard to figure it out.
However, it doesn’t offer any free storage the way Wyze does. To get more than a live view, you’ll need to get a MicroSD card or sign up for a cloud subscription.
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Photograph: Arlo
Another Great Camera
Arlo Essential Indoor Security Camera
With a compact design, clear video, and two-way audio, this camera from Arlo matches our top pick on features and performs reliably well. It can sit on a shelf or be wall-mounted, has a privacy shutter that comes down when the camera is not in use, and stores video in the cloud.
While it is relatively expensive and cloud storage requires a subscription (starting from $3 per month), the accurate subject detection and smart alerts it unlocks are top notch. I’m also a big fan of the app for its ease of use, speed of loading, and two-factor authentication that enables you to log in to the live feed with your fingerprint or face scan (phone permitting). There’s also a built-in siren and solid smart home integration for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT.
For folks with video doorbells or other cameras from Arlo, this camera is an obvious pick to keep things in a single app. But the price and lack of local storage will be a turnoff for some.
