iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro Review

The iCamera Keep Pro from iSmartAlarm ($199.99) is a full-featured home security camera that not only works as a standalone device, but can be incorporated into an iSmartAlarm DIY security system. The camera is full of useful features including a powerful 1080p image sensor, motion and sound detection, mechanical pan and tilt, time-lapse and event-triggered video recording, and a motion-tracking feature that allows the camera to follow a person around the room. Throw in free cloud storage, an SD card slot for local storage, and support for IFTTT integration, and you've got our Editors' Choice for indoor home security cameras.

Design and Features

The iCamera Keep Pro ( at Amazon) looks nothing like the Weeble-shaped iCamera we reviewed a few years back as part of the iSmartAlarm system. The Pro is a svelte-looking device that sports a sleek matte black finish, stands 5 inches tall, and is 2.2 inches wide and 2.2 inches in depth. It has a rubberized mechanical base that swivels the camera enclosure 350 degrees when panning, while the lens housing offers 40 degrees of mechanical tilt.

The camera has a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolution and a 140-degree field of view. It uses a pair of infrared LEDs to provide up to 33 feet of night vision and an 802.11ac Wi-Fi radio to connect to your home network on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band. The front of the camera holds the lens assembly, a microphone, and an LED status light that glows red when the camera is offline and green when it's online. Around back are a speaker that works with the microphone to provide two-way audio, a USB port (for future use), a microSD card slot that can hold media up to 32GB, and a reset button. The camera comes with a silver wall mount and mounting hardware, a quick start guide, and a USB power adapter and cable.

In addition to its motion and sound detection capabilities, the iCamera Keep Pro is able to recognize the sound of a smoke or CO alarm and will send a push notification when detected. Perhaps the coolest feature, however, is motion tracking. With most security cameras, when motion is detected you'll only see what's going on within the camera's field of view, but when the Keep Pro detects motion it will automatically lock in on the person (or whatever triggered the alert) and follow them using the 350-degree panning mechanism.

Up to 30 motion- and sound-triggered video clips can be stored in the cloud, for free, before they are overwritten. If you install a microSD Card (not included), you can enable continuous recording and use the time-lapse feature that takes multiple photos at specific intervals and creates a video you can download and share. You can create a custom time-lapse scene with your own start and end times and photo intervals, or you can use one of six preset scenes.

The iCamera Keep Pro uses the same mobile app (for Android and iOS) as the iSmartAlarm security system and appears on the Cameras screen by name along with the last captured image. Tap the image to begin a live stream where you can pan and tilt by swiping the screen, and zoom by spreading the image with two fingers. For a full-screen view, turn the phone sideways.

Below the video feed are buttons for muting the sound, capturing a photo, initiating two-way audio, beginning a time-lapse session, and designating an activity zone for motion detection. There's also a Gallery button that takes you to an album of stored snapshots and time-lapse videos. Tap the Settings button at the top of the screen to enable notifications, adjust motion and sound sensitivity, and enable smoke and CO alarm notifications. Here you can also configure Wi-Fi settings, enable night vision, and view SD card usage.

Back at the home screen you can arm and disarm the camera. By default, motion and sound detection, motion tracking, and alert notifications are enabled while in Armed mode and disabled while in Disarmed mode, but you can edit these properties to suit your specific monitoring needs. Tap the Devices button to display a log of all triggered events. In the top left corner of the home screen is a button that takes you to a menu where you can view, enable, and disable notifications. Here you can add users, edit your home information, set up Amazon Alexa voice integrations, and access the web-based support site.

Alexa integrations are limited to arming and disarming the camera, but you can have the Keep Pro interact with other smart home devices by creating IFTTT applets. You can also add the camera to an existing iSmartAlarm security system to have it begin recording when a door/window sensor is triggered, set off the siren when motion is detected, or generate email, text, and telephone alerts.

Installation and Performance

To install the iCamera Keep Pro, I downloaded the app and created an account. I tapped the Devices button, then the plus button in the top right corner. I chose iCamera Keep Pro from the list and followed the illustrated instructions to place the camera within 15 feet of my router and plug in the power cord. I pressed and held the setup button until I heard a chime, and entered my Wi-Fi password (the camera automatically uses the same Wi-Fi network as your phone). A QR code was displayed on the phone; I held it 4 inches from the camera until I heard Scan Completed after a few seconds. Once scanned, the camera connected to my network and setup was complete.

The Keep Pro performed well in my tests. Daytime video appeared sharp, with excellent color tone and no distortion. Black-and-white night vision video was well lit, with good contrast and good image detail out to around 25 feet. Motion and sound detection worked wonderfully, as did motion tracking, but I found that pan and tilt action was a bit sluggish when using finger swipes to move around the room.

The time-lapse feature worked like a charm, as did Alexa voice commands to arm and disarm the camera. I created an IFTTT applet to have a D-Link Smart Switch toggle on and off for 30 seconds whenever the camera detected motion and it worked perfectly.

Conclusions

iSmartAlarm's iCamera Keep Pro packs a wealth of features into its stylish frame, including motion and sound detection, a microSD card slot for local storage, mechanical pan and tilt, and a powerful sensor that captures sharp 1080p video. It also offers a cool motion-tracking feature with a range of 350 degrees that follows the subject of a motion trigger around the room, and it has a time-lapse recording option that allows you to view a series of snapshots taken over a period of time. It works with the iSmartAlarm security system and with other smart devices via IFTTT, and it comes with free cloud storage. All this makes it our Editors' Choice for home security cameras. If you're looking to spend less money, the WyzeCam lacks many of these frills, but delivers quality video for just $20.

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