If you have a spare laptop and webcam laying around your house, you have at your fingertips all you need to set up an outstanding free baby monitor.
It doesn’t have to be a top-of-the-line laptop either. You can easily use one that has been sitting on a shelf gathering dust for a couple of years (as long as it still works).
All you need to do is open a free Google + account to use as the digital “connection” between your spare laptop’s webcam and your smart phone. Here’s how to set it up, step-by-step:
1 – If you don’t have one already, create a Google + account.
2 – Log in to your Google + account from the laptop.
3 – Create a new page and call it My Baby Monitor.
4 – Change the “Privacy” setting for the page to Private to prevent the public from peeking in at your baby.
5 – With your “My Baby Monitor” page displayed on the laptop’s screen, click Start a Hangout.
6 – Download the Google + app onto your smart phone.
7 – Load the Google + app on your phone and join the Hangout you just started via the laptop. You should now have a video connection between the laptop’s webcam and your phone. If the laptop also has a microphone you should have an audio connection as well.
8 – Position the laptop/webcam to where you have a clear view of your baby via the webcam.
9 – Mute both the audio and video on your phone to avoid accidentally distracting or waking your child up. You should still be able to see and hear your baby on your phone.
That’s all there is to setting up a spare laptop for use as a baby monitor. The nice thing about using Google + is that you can check in your child from virtually anywhere in the world, for free!. Good luck!
Image credit: Ivette Ferrero