Does my old phone work as a care camera?

Before buying anything, the right question is whether the one already in your drawer is enough.

If it turns on, has a camera and runs Android 8 or newer, it almost certainly is. Android 8 came out in 2017.

What doesn't matter, and usually surprises people

• A cracked or burned-in screen. The phone watches with the screen off. Broken glass or a burned line changes nothing — ours, the one in a real home every night, has a green burned line from sheer use.
• A worn-out battery. It lives plugged in. A battery that never made it to the afternoon stops being a problem when it's never unplugged.
• The SIM card. You don't need one. WiFi only.
• The camera. No wide angle, no night vision, no megapixels. What gets analysed is a human figure in frame, not a pretty photo.

What does matter

• Android 8.0 or newer. Check it in Settings → About phone → Android version. Two minutes.
• 2 GB of RAM. 3 GB runs more comfortably. Almost any mid-range from 2019 on has it.
• Google services. They're what deliver the alert when the app is closed. A phone without Play Services can still detect, but the notification may never arrive — and the notification *is* the product.
• Where you'll put it. This weighs more than the model: you need a spot with a view of where the person walks and sleeps, an outlet nearby, and WiFi that reaches that room.

Models we know work

• Galaxy S20+ (2020). Ours, watching every night.
• Galaxy S24 (2024).
• Any refurbished mid-range from 2020 on: Redmi Note, Motorola G, Galaxy A.

What won't work

• Android 7 or older.
• A phone without Google Play Services.
• One with a swollen battery — you can tell because the back cover lifts or the screen separates from the frame. That one doesn't get plugged in for twenty-four hours: it gets recycled.

If you don't have one

A refurbished mid-range from 2020 on costs considerably less than a surveillance camera with decent night vision, and it already has the processor the detection needs. Search by Android version, not by brand.

And your own phone

The one that receives the alerts can be anything, Android or iPhone, the one you already use every day. No odd requirement there: if WhatsApp notifications reach you, so will Velia's.

The full specification, including what each room needs besides the phone, is on the devices page. And if that old phone is spare for something else, here are five more uses.