SentryCam Support

Welcome. This page is the support contact for SentryCam by Catford Labs. Use it for questions, bug reports, TestFlight feedback, and App Store review notes.

How to monitor

SentryCam is a motion-triggered sentry camera for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Open Help & Support in Settings for the same guide offline inside the app.

Quick start

1. Allow camera access when prompted. On iPhone/iPad, place the device where it can see the room.
2. Set an arming delay on the Monitor tab (or set 0 to start immediately), then tap Start Monitoring.
3. Leave the frame during arming. After the countdown, motion detection is active.
4. Motion starts a recording (with optional pre-roll). When motion settles, the clip finishes and appears under Clips.
5. Tap Stop Monitoring when you’re done.

Background monitoring (iPhone / iPad)

• Keep SentryCam running — don’t force-quit from the app switcher.
• iOS may still pause capture (calls, Low Power Mode, system interruptions). You’ll get a Monitoring Paused notification when that happens.
• Unlock or return to SentryCam to resume. Background monitoring is best-effort, not a guarantee.

iCloud & Devices

• Sign in to iCloud on the device to register in the shared device list and upload clip metadata when enabled.
• The Devices tab shows other SentryCam devices on the same Apple Account. Live preview requires the camera device to be monitoring and publishing.
• Camera sharing and Watch / Apple TV talkback use the same iCloud container when those companions are set up.

What to include

To help us respond faster, please include:

• Device model and OS version (for example iPhone 16, iOS 18)
• SentryCam version (Settings footer)
• Whether the issue is monitoring, Clips, iCloud/Devices, sharing, Watch, or Apple TV
• Screenshots or the steps that reproduce the problem

Common topics

• No camera / Start disabled. Simulator has no real camera. On device, grant Camera permission in Settings → SentryCam. Start Monitoring stays disabled until a camera is available.
• Clips missing. Local clips live in the app’s Documents on iOS and in ~/Movies/SentryCam/ on Mac. iCloud listings need a signed-in Apple Account and network.
• Notifications. Allow notifications for motion and monitoring-paused alerts. Cross-device motion alerts also need iCloud and CloudKit subscriptions.

Privacy

See our Privacy Policy for camera, microphone, iCloud, notifications, and analytics. Privacy questions: support@catfordlabs.com with subject SentryCam Privacy.

Response time

We aim to reply within a few business days. CloudKit or provisioning cases may take longer while we investigate with Apple’s systems.