Smart home cameras are a way to check in on your home (your pets or kids) when you’re out at work or on vacation in a different city. Some of these smart home cameras not only provide live footage, you can receive motion-trigger alerts, and you can as well communicate with dispatch riders, for instance using the device’s two-way audio. However, smart home cameras that pack some or all of these features usually come with a relatively high price.

In this article, we will be showing you how to use your Echo Show as a security camera. The feature is called the Home Monitoring feature, and it lets users view live feeds from their Echo Show device’s camera, via their Alexa app on their smartphone. For this tutorial, we will be using the Echo Show 5.

Use Your Echo Show as a Security Camera

You’ll then need to enable Home Monitoring with Alexa:

  • Open the Alexa app on your phone and tap Devices.

  • Tap Cameras.

  • Select the Echo Show device you’ll like to watch a live feed from. And your feed will be opened immediately.

The Speaker or Mic are turned off by default. You’ll need to turn either one on to get audio from your live feed or speak through the Alexa app to anyone in the room. To stop watching the live feet, tap the back button (arrow icon) or close the app.