Remote Access to View Security Cameras from iPhone App Not Working

A customer with remote DVR access problems recently contacted me because they were loosing remote viewing capability to their security cameras from iOS whenever their ISP changed their IP address. Here is what they wrote.

I have a security system in my home (Defender). I have been using ClearVu / Defender app on my iPhone but can’t seem to get the iPhone to work with it. At first it was working and I could view the cameras remote. Now I’m having difficulty because my IP address keeps changing via my ISP provider and I’m not able to view them at all on the phone. However, I have been able to get view via my iPad using my WiFi but once I leave that connection I can’t see from another WiFi.

I need to know what free app I may used to use these cameras.

This is the advice that I gave them.

The mobile app that you are using is not the problem. In order to have a stable setup so that you can access your surveillance DVR remotely over the Internet, you need to setup both port forwarding and a dynamic DNS account (DDNS).

When you are using an Internet connection that has a dynamic IP address, DDNS let’s you setup a hostname that always points to the current IP address of your Internet connections (even if your IP address changes). For example, you can use a hostname such as mydvr.ddns.org that you will use instead of your IP address to access your DVR. You will use the hostname that you setup in the IP address / hostname field in the settings of your iOS app (and any other client app that you access your DVR using).

Some DVRs and IP cameras have a DDNS service built into them and make this very easy to setup. I am not sure if ClearVu / Defender DVRs support this, but if they do, the setup will be similar to the way our iDVR-PRO CCTV DVRs are setup.
https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/H264-DVR-DDNS-Setup-s/838.htm

The second thing that must be setup properly to access your security cameras remotely is port forwarding. This is done by accessing the configuration of your router. You can learn more about port forwarding here.
https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/port-forwarding-s/130.htm

We also have an online tool that you can use to test to see if your port forwarding is working. You can find that tester tool here.

Open Port Checker, Port Forwarding Test

• This topic was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by Mike Haldas.