Monitor your CCTV cameras remotely - a guide to Remote Viewing with Cam Hero

What is Remote Viewing?

In a typical local viewing setup (RTSP, ONVIF etc), Cam Hero can display your live camera streams as long as both the Cam Hero app instance and your IP cameras are connected to the same local (Wi-Fi / Ethernet) network. With Remote viewing, Cam Hero lets you securely watch your cameras from anywhere, even when you’re not connected to your home network. Whether you’re at work, traveling, or simply on another network (e.g on LTE or 5G or work Wi-Fi), you can instantly access your live camera feed on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac or Apple TV.

Unlike traditional camera apps that rely on cloud storage or third-party servers, Cam Hero establishes a direct and private connection between your own Apple devices. That means your video never passes through external servers—it stays between your devices only.

Remote viewing acts as a bridge for your home security cameras outside your local network

What Can Remote Viewing Be Used For?

Remote viewing unlocks new possibilities for how you monitor your cameras:

• IP cameras outside your local network – View your home, office, or vacation property wherever you are.

• Baby camera – Keep an eye on your little one while you’re in another part of the house or away.

• Pet camera – Check in on your favourite mate during the day.

• Room monitor – Use your iPhone or Mac as a room camera and view it from another Apple device.

  
  

With Cam Hero, your Apple devices become the perfect bridge between security and convenience.

Requirements for Remote Viewing with Cam Hero

When you start a remote viewing session, your devices find each other automatically. The only requirement for devices to find each other is that they must be all signed in to the same Apple / iCloud account. Once connected, the video stream flows directly from one device to another in real time.

Here’s what is needed for remote viewing to work:

1. iCloud Sign-In – All devices must be signed in to the same Apple iCloud account. This ensures that only you—and no one else—can access your video.
   

2. Private Connection – The video doesn’t go through random servers on the internet. It’s encrypted and sent directly between your devices.
   

3. Firewall & Network Setup – For remote connections to work smoothly, your network needs to allow certain ports to pass through. If you’re behind a strict firewall, make sure these are open:
   

   • UDP ports: 1024–65535

   • TCP ports: 443, 3478–3481 These ports are required for secure peer-to-peer connections between your devices.
     

4. Hub device availability: Based on what kind of cameras you are trying to stream (IP & CCTV cameras vs built-in or USB cameras), a hub device might be required and turned on to receive remote streams on other devices. More on this below.
   

5. Turn on Remote Viewing in Settings: Turn receive a remote streams, the receiver device must turn on remote viewing in Cam Hero > Settings > Remote Viewing (Turn ON)
   

What is a Hub Device?

A hub device is just a fancy name for one of your Apple device. The hub is the device that stays at home (or wherever your cameras are) and acts as a bridge so that your other devices can reach your cameras when you’re away. The purpose of your hub is to "relay" your local camera feeds to your other remote devices. For example, an Apple TV in your home can act as a hub device and relay your home IP cameras streams to your iPhone on 5G or your Macbook at work!

Cam Hero works with two types of cameras: hub-dependent cameras and direct cameras. Understanding the difference ensures you can set up remote viewing correctly.

When Do You Need a Hub?

Cam Hero doesn't need a hub for all cameras. If a camera is directly attached to the Apple device (like a built-in iPhone, iPad or Mac camera or a USB-C camera directly connected to your iPad or Mac), Cam Hero does not need a hub. A hub is only required for external / network cameras, which are generally your CCTV cameras

Which devices can act as a hub device?

Theoretically, any device can act as a hub device. But keep in mind that

• Acting as a hub puts additional workload on that device.

• In addition, this device must be always turned on and available. Due to these, we recommend an Apple TV or a Mac as a hub device. But, your iPhone or iPad can act as a hub too, if needed!

Why do you need a hub device?

Cam Hero is built around direct, private connections. There’s no third-party server storing or forwarding your video. Instead, the hub device securely relays your camera feed to your remote device in real time. If the hub is turned off, your cameras become unreachable from outside your local network.

In short: keep your hub device on and connected to make sure you can always reach your cameras remotely.

Troubleshooting remote viewing

If remote viewing is not working for you, this is mostly because your devices are behind an identical (symmetrical) NAT or you have a firewall somewhere which is blocking the video stream ports between the two device. There are generally four (4) types of NATS

1. Full Cone - remote viewing works out of the box

2. Restricted Cone - remote viewing works out of the box

3. Port Restricted Cone - remote viewing works out of the box, if ports are correctly configured

4. Symmetrical. - remote viewing will not work if both devices have this type You can check your NAT type here: https://www.checkmynat.com/ Cam Hero can do remote viewing if you have the first three types of NATs (and ports are correctly configured / not blocked by firewall). However, if both of the two devices trying to connect are symmetrical, remote viewing will not work. If your Apple device is behind a network router, make sure UDP ports: 1024–65535 and TCP ports: 443, 3478–3481are enabled. The most common symptom of a NAT issue is when you see the "Remote found, connecting..." but the video stream fails to appear after that - as shown in the screenshot below.
   

Conclusion

We’ve just launched remote viewing in Cam Hero, and we can’t wait for you to try it out. Let us know how it’s working for you—and what features you’d love to see next.

Your feedback helps us make Cam Hero the most secure and user-friendly camera app for Apple devices. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at info@camhero.app

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