How to connect your CCTV to your mobile

The recorder is the box with the hard disk in it, usually near the router or the monitor. Its brand is printed on the front and on the sticker. The box and the quick start guide show it too. If you cannot find a brand, check whether the guide mentions XMEye.

Each app says it is made for its own brand's devices. CP Plus's FAQ says gCMOB cannot add other brands' recorders. So an app for the wrong brand is unlikely to find your recorder.

• Hikvision: install Hik-Connect. Our Hik-Connect login guide covers the account, the verification code and offline devices.
• Prama: install Prama Online, published by Prama India. Prama's own how-to for its recorders names this app.
• CP Plus: install gCMOB on Android, or iCMOB on an iPhone. CP Plus's FAQ says gCMOB supports its Orange series, and lists cMOB-20 for its newer RED series and for Indigo DVRs. Our gCMOB login guide and our gCMOB for PC guide cover the Orange series.
• Dahua: install DMSS. Our DMSS for PC guide covers how its account works.
• XMEye: many recorders sold under other brand names use it. If your recorder's guide mentions XMEye, install XMEye. Our XMEye guide covers the serial number and the logins.
• Other brands, such as TVT and Uniview, publish their own apps in the stores under their own company names. Search the store for the brand on your recorder.

The apps reach your recorder through the internet, so the recorder must be connected to your router and online. Your phone can then be on Wi-Fi or mobile data. Hikvision, Dahua, Prama and XMEye describe their apps working over both. Hikvision's manual notes that your internet provider may charge for the data used.

Each brand shows the recorder's online status on its own screen. Look there before you blame the app.

• Hikvision: Hik-Connect has to be switched on in the recorder, under Platform Access in the network settings.
• CP Plus: open Main Menu, Network, InstaOn. Tick the box to enable it, press Apply, and the status should say Online. CP Plus's FAQ says a recorder with no internet can be added but stays offline.
• Dahua: open Network, P2P. Make sure it is enabled and the status says Online.
• XMEye recorders: open Main Menu, Info, Version. Guides say remote viewing can begin when NAT Status shows connected.
• Prama: Prama's how-to says to keep the phone on the same Wi-Fi network as the recorder while you add it.

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Open Google Play or the App Store and search for the app by name. Check the publisher before you install. These are the publisher names on the listings today. Some of them are not the brand's own name.

Do not install from APK sites or from a link in a message. We do not link to APK files.

• Hik-Connect: choose the one marked for End user. On the App Store the publisher is Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.
• Prama Online: PRAMA INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED on both stores.
• gCMOB: CP PLUS gCMOB by Aditya Infotech Ltd on Google Play. iCMOB for iPhone is by CP PLUS on the App Store.
• DMSS: Dahua's wiki links to the DMSS listings on Google Play and the App Store. The publisher name on both listings is Hangzhou Dong Bin Information Technology Co., Ltd., so do not expect to see Dahua's name.
• XMEye: Zhejiang JAIFY Co., Ltd. on Google Play and HANGZHOU JF SOFTWARE CO., LTD. on the App Store.

Every app has a plus button. Tap it and choose the QR code or serial number option. The QR code is on the sticker on the recorder, and on its screen in the network or info menu. Most apps let you type the serial number if the QR code will not scan.

Most apps then ask for the recorder's own user name and password, which your installer set. Hik-Connect asks for the device verification code instead. The password is not the one for your app account.

• Hikvision: tap the plus button, choose Scan QR Code, tap Add, then enter the verification code.
• CP Plus: tap the menu, Device Manager, then the add button, then Add Device and InstaOn. Type a name, the recorder's user name and password, scan the QR code under Device SN, then tap Start Live Preview.
• Dahua: on Home tap the plus button, choose Scan QR Code or enter the serial number by hand, tap Next, enter the device's admin password and name the device. Dahua's wiki says this is not your DMSS account password.
• XMEye: register and log in, tap the plus button, type a name and the serial number, or scan the QR code, then the recorder's user name and password.
• Prama: tap Add Device or the plus button and scan the QR code on the recorder.

These are the usual ones.

• Device offline: the recorder has lost its internet, or the cloud setting (InstaOn, P2P, Platform Access) is off. Check the status screen from step 2. If another phone shows it offline too, the recorder is the problem, not your phone.
• Works at home but not outside: a recorder added by IP address only works where that address works. Add it again with its QR code or serial number.
• QR code will not scan: Hikvision's manual says to use the flashlight button if it is dark, and that you can scan a QR code saved in your phone's photos. Or type the serial number.
• Wrong password: it is the recorder's password. Too many wrong tries can lock the recorder. CP Plus's manual says three wrong tries sound an alarm, five lock the account, and a restart or 30 minutes unlocks it.
• Device already added to another account: Hikvision allows a device on only one account, and Dahua says an account device cannot be added by other accounts. Ask whoever added it to share it with you, or to unbind it.
• Forgot the recorder's password: the apps cannot reset it. CP Plus's FAQ says a DVR password cannot be reset from gCMOB. Dahua says its devices support a reset through the email address and security questions set at installation. For Hikvision, our Hikvision SADP tool guide covers the official reset. Otherwise ask your installer.

If the recorder has no internet, you can still watch while your phone is on the same Wi-Fi or router as the recorder. Hik-Connect has an Online Device list for the same network. DMSS can search for online devices. XMEye has a LAN Search. You can also add the recorder by its IP address. Without internet, you will not see it when you are away from home.