Theft watch
Theft watch tries to warn you when a camera is stolen or moved by someone. It is a beta feature. It can miss real thefts, and it can send false alarms. It works best as an extra pair of eyes, not as a guarantee.
Turn it on under Notifications. Only you get your own alerts.
What it watches
Theft watch has two triggers.
The first is a person close to a camera. A thief has to walk up to a camera to take it. If the camera sends a photo in that moment, you get an alert right away.
The second is a camera that goes quiet. A stolen camera stops sending. Theft watch learns how often each camera normally sends. When a camera stays silent much longer than its own normal pattern, you get an alert. This takes a few hours to a few days, depending on the camera.
How close is "close"
Each camera learns its own normal. On a quiet forest path where people are rare, any person is a surprise, so any person triggers an alert. On a busy public path where people pass all day, only a person much closer than usual triggers one.
This means theft watch is strong at remote sites and weak at busy public sites. On a busy path a thief looks like a normal walker until the last second, and that last photo often does not get sent in time.
Sensitivity
You choose low, medium, or high.
- Low sends the fewest alerts. Only clear cases.
- Medium is the balance.
- High reacts sooner but sends more false alarms.
Start with medium. Move to high if you would rather get a false alarm than miss something.
New or moved cameras
After you place or move a camera, theft watch waits 14 days before it starts. A new spot has a new normal, and the camera needs time to learn it. During these 14 days the camera is not watched.
What you get
An alert arrives by email, Telegram, or both. It shows the camera, the site, and the last photo. If several cameras go quiet near each other at the same time, the alert says so. Several cameras quiet together in one area is a strong sign of theft.
Every alert links to the camera's latest images, so you can check what happened before you drive out.
What it cannot do
If a thief turns a camera off without it sending one more photo, nothing reaches the server. No alert can be sent, because there is no new information. A silent camera can also just mean an empty battery, a full memory card, or bad signal.