XMEye: what it is, where to find the serial number and how to add your DVR

The store listings describe XMEye as video monitoring software for IPC and DVR. It uses cloud technology, so you log in with the device's serial number and watch live video on your phone. The App Store listing also names remote playback, two-way talk, PTZ control and scanning the serial number by QR code.

The cloud behind it is Xiongmai's. A 2018 advisory from CISA, the US cyber agency, lists the XMeye P2P Cloud Server under Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology Co., Ltd. It says Xiongmai acts mainly as a maker for other brands and sells few, if any, products under its own name, so various vendors sell devices with its hardware and firmware inside. CISA's test for whether a product uses it is to check whether the product's documentation mentions the XMEye feature.

There are two apps, XMEye and XMEye Pro. Both store listings describe them in the same way, and both log in by serial number. Use the one your recorder's quick guide names.

On Google Play, XMEye is published by Zhejiang JAIFY Co., Ltd. On the App Store the publisher is HANGZHOU JF SOFTWARE CO., LTD. Neither name says Xiongmai, but those are the publisher names on the listings today. The XMEye manual says to search for XMEye in the App Store or get it from your device supplier. The cloud website is xmeye.net.

Any site offering an XMEye APK file is not one of those stores. We do not link to APK files.

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XMEye has three different logins. Knowing which one is asking saves a lot of guessing.

• XMEye account: the user name and password you register in the app or at xmeye.net, with an email address. This is the Cloud Login. Your device list is saved in this account, so it follows you to a new phone.
• Recorder login: the user name and password of the recorder itself. The manuals list the default as user name admin with a blank password, and they tell you to change it. If your installer set a different password, use that one.
• Local Login: skips the account. The app keeps your device list in that phone's memory only.

The serial number is what XMEye uses to find your recorder on the internet. Some software calls it the Cloud ID. It is 16 characters long. The XMEye site says that firmware released after 28 September 2012 moved from a 12 character number to a 16 character one, and that devices on the old firmware keep using the 12 character number.

If the number from the sticker is refused, read it from the recorder's own screen instead.

• The sticker: the XMEye manual says you can take the serial number from the label of the device.
• The recorder's screen: right click, open Main Menu, then Info, then Version. The SerialNo and the NAT Status are on that page. On some models the Version page is under Advanced.
• The QR code: recorder guides show a Guide screen with an option to add the device by scanning its serial number QR code, and another option to show a QR code for installing the app.
• From a computer on the same network: xmeye.net has an Enter Guide wizard that searches the network and lists the devices it finds with their serial numbers.

Before you start, check the recorder is connected to your router with a network cable. You also need its serial number, user name and password.

• 1. Install XMEye from Google Play or the App Store and open it.
• 2. Register an account. Tap Register under the Cloud Login button. In older versions it sits behind a link that reads Meet Problem When Login. Enter a user name, a password, your email address and the code that arrives by email.
• 3. Log in with Cloud Login.
• 4. Tap the plus button at the top right of the device list. The Manually Add tab opens first.
• 5. Type a name. For Serial No., type the number, or tap the QR button beside the box and scan the recorder's QR code.
• 6. Enter the recorder's user name and password. Leave Port at 34567 unless your installer changed it, then tap OK.
• 7. Tap the device in the list, choose the cameras and start the preview.
• Two other ways to add a device: LAN Search finds devices on the same network as your phone, and Quick Configuration sets up Wi-Fi cameras and asks for your Wi-Fi password.

XMEye can only reach a recorder that has connected to the cloud, and the recorder shows this itself.

• On the recorder, open Main Menu, Info, Version and read NAT Status. Guides for these recorders say remote viewing can begin when it shows connected.
• On some models, the status of the mobile app connection is under System, Net Service.
• If it will not connect, the xmeye.net FAQ gives three causes: the recorder's network settings are wrong, DNS included, the network cannot reach the internet, or the router limits ports or forwards them. The fix is to set the network right.
• The simplest setting to try is DHCP, so the recorder takes its network settings from the router. It sits under System, Network on some models. Restart the recorder afterwards, because it may need a restart to take the new settings.
• The same FAQ says a NAT status code of 255.255.255.255 points to a firmware fault that can happen when the recorder starts with no network, or its cable is unplugged and plugged back in while it runs. Start it with the cable in, and ask your seller for newer firmware.

Here are the usual ones.

• Wrong password or locked out: one quick guide for recorders on this platform says three wrong tries in a row sound an alarm, five lock the account, and a restart or half an hour unlocks it. Check which password you are typing before you try again.
• Forgot the XMEye account password: in the app, open the same link you used to register and choose Forget Password. Enter your email address, tap Get Code, enter the code and set a new password. On xmeye.net use the Forget Password link.
• Serial number not found: check that it is 16 characters and was read from the recorder's screen.
• Works at home but not outside: the manual lists serial number, IP address and DDNS as separate ways to reach a device. A device added by IP address only works where that address works. Add it again with its serial number.
• Picture is slow or stuck: switch the live video button from HD to SD.

Open xmeye.net in a browser, choose By Device, then enter the serial number, user name and password. The login page also offers an ActiveX install, which only older Internet Explorer style browsers run, so the phone app is usually easier. The quick guides for these recorders also name PC client software, which you get from the company that sold you the recorder.