User Reviews for Periscope Pro

0 out of 5

0 Ratings

10 years ago, Valor

Support is fast!

FIrst off, I contacted support at 3:45am on Dec 26 and had a response within 7 minutes. Wow. Positives: 1) Simple 2) You can add a custom camera feed for "unsupported" cameras (provided they support MJPEG feeds) Limitations: I had to contact support in the first place. Also, in order to get it working (and the app descritption says this), I had to Google around for the details of my camera feed.. The app is simple, yes, but is severely limited as it stands. 1) there’s no way to resize the main window. I have an HD camera, but there’s no way to view the HD resolution unless you open the "dedicated camera window" 2) Even in the dedicated camera window, it doesn’t show the correct aspect ratio, forcing my 16:9 camera into a 4:3 ratio. 3) As others have mentioned, there’s no way to see multiple cameras at once 4) As others have mentioned, there’s it takes a lot of CPU overhead, and it’s double when you open the dedicated camera window, as there are 2 windows showing the same feed, but if you close the first, the app quits. 5) No support for PTZ - capable cameras 6) No apparent support for H.264 camera feeds. I had to Google around for how to force my Foscam HD camera to provide a MJPEG (Motion JPEG) video feed. Some have also mentioned paying $20. I paid $2. This is more of a $2 app, and I wouldn’t pay more for it, given the limitations above.

9 years ago, SomeJimGuy

Was hoping for remote viewing

The description was ambiguous, so I thought I’d try it. It’s for recording. It isn’t for remote live viewing of what one computer sees on another computer. Also, it is not covert. The app is visible in the dock. You’d have to use some trickery to hide it there.

10 years ago, jwedd459

Great app and responsive support

The new interface is great, though I would like to be able to record 16:9 with supported camera, not just 4:3. I had an issue with the app crashing and contacted support. They were very fast and the developer even sent me an updated version of the app to test. In the end it turned out to that CamTwist was the culprit. After removing CamTwist with AppZapper the issue is resolved. Well done folks!

7 years ago, Im a Mac and a PC

Read This Now

I paid for the latest version and installed it a 2 of my iMacs but when i went to install it a a 3rd older iMac it said i needed to run the older version and gave me the link to download the older version but the older version wanted me to pay full price again and so i sent support a message and have not heard back.

11 years ago, Evansev

I love this app!

I love that this is motion activated. It's way more advanced and easy to use than other stand-alone units that cost so much and don't even include sound recording. The quality is as you would expect from a Mac, which is so much more than any other company.

11 years ago, Adonica_t

Recommend

It seems pricey, but when you think about how much an actual surveillance system would cost, it's amazingly cheap! It works really well an meets all my security needs. Definitely recommend you get this.

8 years ago, pintern

It's OK

This app is pretty good. The only problem is that it makes false positives for me -- lots of saved videos where nothing really happens. However, now that old videos are automatically pruned, I don't have to look at all the generated videos unless I actually get burgled.

7 years ago, Nick Cornaglia

Great app but….

I have two problems. If I leave it on CONTINUOUS recording it works great but it does not let me change the folder that the clips are saved to. The program reverts back to the original folder on every restart. If I leave it on MOTION CAPTURE, the program crashes after a few hours. I cant figure out any reason why it would happen. Oh yeah…one more problem….Contacting support about any of these issues gets you NO RESPONSE AT ALL. Either on the message board or email or the contact us button on their site. If my issues are resolved I’ll update my review. If this review is not updated…nothing has been resolved.

11 years ago, Adolph.Baker

Totally awesome!!!

It's great to spy on your cat. Just to make sure he isn't plotting anything while you are asleep. Really great app though. If you are worried about this working throughout the night, don't! I have plenty of cat videos to prove it.

11 years ago, JacksonOl

It works!

I thought of an app like this, but these guys did a much better job than I could have thought of. They even thought to have dropbox sync.

6 years ago, RichE#

Does not Work and NO Support

Made the mistake of putting out $20 for this piece of junk. Only one of my cameras was supported and I was never able to get it working with this app. (I am using other apps with great success on the same cameras). None of my other cameras were supported. I sent an email to the support group over two weeks ago and they still have not responded.

10 years ago, nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

This is a disappointment

This program will only record one camera at a time (I did not see this in the description). When I start to record the one camera my internet up load becomes between 3 and 4 Mbs. If you are using AT&T “high speed” it is a maximum of 6 Mbs. So half of your bandwidth is always being used by this program. I am going to try to return it.

7 years ago, screw hackers

Great, easy to use

This worked great. Just watched the housekeeper taking money out of bank envelope and rummaging through drawers. Well worth the $20.

10 years ago, Stephan1827

Useless and overpriced

This app is completely useless. It turns the camera led on when it records so everybody will immediately know that you record him. The app also requires you to be logged in as a user. The settings are very limited and for $20 I would expect a lot more. This is a complete rip-off.

11 years ago, Mrs.Blaster

good but needs improvement

one feature don't work in 1.4. "automatically start at login" which affects "activate at launch". the second one works if you do it manually, but if the first one would work, the second one might be able to automatically kick in. this would be useful if the computer restarts, like in a power outage, so that periscope would restart as well. next feature is just not very useful for me. "synchronize video clip folder with drop box" works well, but under one condition-you have to manually stop the application, THEN it uploads your video. if you're away for awhile, you could have 10 incidents recorded but you'll never know because it doesn't upload until the app stops. even in idle mode, it won't upload until someone manually presses "stop recording". this is a huge problem for security use. also, if someone steals the computer running the app, then the video may NEVER be uploaded to dropbox and you'll potentially never get it, unless the thieves connect to the internet without wiping the computer first. a feature i'd like to see is some sort of notification when it detects motion/starts recording. there's no mobile app that i'm aware of, so a text or email alert. drop box doesn't have one either, so you just have to randomly check drop box, but then again, something will only be there if someone has stopped the app. it would also be nice to be able to view the live feed remotely, and right there on the computer running it. you can't do either. it's helpful to be able to aim the camera while you look at the feed. other apps offer this, although they're more complicated to use. otherwise, it's very simple to set up and use. if you don't mind any of the above conditons in this version and will be operating it manually, then it will be a solid app for you.

3 years ago, C@rkey

Great UI but UX is questionable...

Pros: Great feature set & options, records well as expected, love the motion & noise auto-detection, not confusing to use! Cons: Candid camera mode works but requires user intervention too often, let me explain why; turns on web cam recording light, the manual mentions this fact but forensic investigators found a way to activate the camera without the light years ago. Required me to cover the camera light with tiny peace of tape, this makes it impractical for laptop use cause the lid won't close correctly as a result and you don't want others to see the light come on when you open your laptop lid but not an issue on desktop mac cause there's no lid to close otherwise everyone will see the light obviously if you don't cover it and it currently reveals itself after wake-up from sleep and upon reboots or log-ins even when candid camera mode is set with user password (requires user intervention to re-hide the app upon launch), developer didn't respond to this issue after I reported this behavior twice via site support email (in case you're wondering, Yes I did check my junk mail for the support email too). Upgraded macOS from Catalina to BigSur but app still required me to quickly hide it so no-one is aware it's recording even after I've taken an additional step to tick the hide check-box within User Log-In items and the behaviour still persist upon removing the app from that list. It's a deal breaker for home use but a minor annoyance for business use.

11 years ago, dkarjadi

Crashed all the time

Won't stay on for a long time... can't leave it on for more than 24 hours w/o crashing... :P it's ok when it works... but you want to leave it on for extended period of time...

7 years ago, MiloWizard

No customer support

Camera won’t work with program, even though listed as compatible. After repeated attempts to contact customer support, no response. Would like my money back.

11 years ago, Woodag

Great app

Works as it says, good quality, easy. I'd say it's worth the price. Nuff said.

2 years ago, kf4hxu01

Does Not Work on my Cameras

If you use Reolink or UniFi cameras don't buy this app, they don't work. I wish they would have give the cameras they do work with before I shelled out 20 bucks.

3 years ago, JuicyJoJo.1992

HANDS DOWN BEST SPY APP

I'VE BEEN USING PERISCOPE PRO FOR OVER 1 YEAR NOW AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I RECOMMEND IT TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY OR ANYONE I HEQAR TALKING ABOUT NEEDING A GOOD SURVEILLANCE APP! ITS SUPER EASY TO SET UP AND THE CAMERA AND SOUND QUALITY WORKS GREAT AND THE SETTINGS ARE ON POINT! SERIOUSLY I USE EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR MY COMPUTER! TRY AND AND SEE FOR YOURSELF, I PROMISE IT WONT LET YOU DOWN!

7 years ago, Nicked53

ONVIF

Was looking for an app that would connect to an ONVIF camera, this is not it. Applied for a refund but that dont seem to allow that

11 years ago, AmoebaMan23

Works excellently, could use some more features

Just installed this app, and after nabbing a video of my sister poking into my room within a half hour, I feel safe saying it works. I’ve read reviews saying the motion detection was broken in earlier versions; if this was the case, I’m happy to say it works perfectly now, and the adjustible sensitivity is marvellous. The DropBox syncing functionality is truly amazing, and with the lowest clip resolution (which is all you really need to nab a portrait of an intruder) I’ve yet to see a test clip come in over 1MB, hardly something that you need to worry about cluttering up your DropBox. Clean it out once a month, and you’ll be fine. A few notes/suggestions though, since there are a few areas that could use improvement: 1) There needs to be an option to disable recording when the computer is awake/unlocked. It seems pointless to store recordings of me sitting at my own computer for hours on end, since I’m fairly active at my desk and trigger the capture quite frequently. 2) In lieu or replacement of the above, perhaps an option to automatically turn it on when the computer is put to sleep. 3) DropBox users should know that if your computer is asleep, the clip won’t be uploaded to the cloud until your computer wakes up. To change this, go into System Preferences -> Energy Saver and set the Computer Sleep timer to Never (the Display Sleep can still be set). This will use more power, but it will prevent the computer from going completely to sleep and terminating network connections.

10 years ago, macsrgr8

Very good, hope they continue to improve it

As I state in the title, Periscope Pro is a very good app. I have only two small quibbles with it: (1) that the motion-detection works ONLY on the full-frame rather than allowing the user to select a small portion of the visible frame to focus on and (2) the Dropbox-sync assumes that the user has their Dropbox folder ONLY in the root of their user folder rather than acknowledging that some users may have placed the Dropbox folder WITHIN the Documents folder (to ensure it picks up the Documents folder’s security permissions). The second quibble re: Dropbox-sync is more minor to me because I’ll point it to a folder within my Dropbox instead. The first quibble, though, is more significant. The field-of-view, based on where my webcam is placed covers approximately 15’ across, from edge-to-edge. In the middle of the frame is a door, which is all I would like the webcam to focus on as opposed to having it monitor motion-detection for the entire field-of-view. I know there are simple three-year-old Windows apps similar to Periscope Pro that allow the selection of a smaller segment to focus on for motion-detection, so would think the same thing should be possible here. Because I have windows opposite the area being monitored, I get a lot of false positives because of moving sunshine and sun-reflections… being able to select just a smaller subset of the full-frame for monitoring, just part of a door for example, would give me all the motion-detection region that’s truly necessary. Users should be able to decide whether they want full-frame motion-detection or just partial-frame motion-detection. I was originally going to post this review about two months ago, a month after I purchased it, but decided against it as I would try going through their customer support instead. I filled out their form and submitted it. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt AND the opportunity to make it right. However, sadly, I never got a reply from their customer service (and put their email domain in my email’s white-list). Generally, this is a very good app, but these two quibbles keep it from being a truly great app. If and when they either respond or update the app with these improvements, I’ll be glad to post another review.

11 years ago, Martinbl

Much much better.

UPDATED REVIEW: Having now tried the new 1.4 version, I am happy to say the motion detection is working how it should. Also great to see Periscope Pro will now keep working if your screen goes to sleep. Would love to see an alerting function (email to your phone), then it would be 5*. Version 1.1 review: Motion detection just doesn't work. It stays idle for about 2 seconds and starts recording again. If you are synching the files to Dropbox, it's going to eat up your mobile data if you have Dropbox on your phone. There is no alert system so you have no idea if the camera is recording or not (just assume it is). The timing of each clip is over ridden by the file size selection. for example, if you select maximum 10 seconds and 5 MB, it will just record until it hits 5MB, even if it takes 1 or 2 minutes to do it. Not really worth the money.

8 years ago, ream72

BAD & Crashes Laptop

4/18/2016 I bought this Periscope Pro and installed it on my MacBook Pro laptop and it really screwed it up and CRASHED it. I deleted the app and it has taken me 4 hours to get everything back to the way it was before installing Periscope Pro. I have nothing to show for my $20.00 not even a paper weight. bm

11 years ago, lopezJ427

Priceless

I use an iMac for a cash register. I just turn it on when we close and feel so much better knowing there is some sort of security system. Periscope pro = $19.99. Ease of mind = priceless.

11 years ago, Thompson1111

Nuff said!

I wish I found this earlier! It's too bad that amazing app that are actually useful get drowned out by pointless ones. Everyone should get this. Trust me $19.99 is not much to spend when you consider the cost of a robbery or an accident. It's motion activated too so you don't need to worry about draining your hard-drive.

11 years ago, seismic007

Hey, I See You!!

There's often times I get that feeling someone has been through my apartment, but I haven't had any way to know for sure until now. Periscope Pro is an easy way to monitor an area using your Mac and a webcam. Settings and adjustments are straightforward--you'll be up and running within minutes of installing the software. Syncing video clips to your DropBox makes for a secure off-site record of any action Periscope Pro catches. If I have any complaint with the software, it is that it is too sensitive, recording clips when there isn't any 'real' motion. To be fair, this is more likely due to the type of webcam I am using combined with positioning of the webcam. With some trial and adjustments I'm sure I will get this in control as well. I had no installation problems with my Mac Mini (set up as a HTPC), but did have issues with my mid-2012 Retina MacBook Pro. The developer was prompt and helpful in responding to my support request regarding the MacBook Pro, and we were able to find a working solution. If you aren't sure about committing to the $19.99 price tag, check out the developer's web site where a version with a trial option is available. But really, for this price you have nothing to lose and peace of mind to gain.

Description

Watch your home, kids, and pets from anywhere! Simply plug in your camera, use the Mac’s built-in one, IP camera, or use your iOS device as IP camera and feature-rich Periscope Pro does the rest. Easy to use, OS X El Capitan ready, motion detection, clip uploading, and much more! You wanted a simple-to-use, fully-featured video surveillance app for your Mac, and Periscope Pro delivers! Periscope Pro is compatible with the Mac’s built-in camera, or countless other third-party / stand-alone IP cameras. You can monitor and/or record anything – your desk, your front door, the kid’s playroom, the baby’s room, your vacation house – anything. With features like motion detection, video/sound recording, and clip uploading, you’ll never miss a moment (or you’ll finally find out who is stealing your snacks from your desk!) With its sophisticated motion and sound detection systems, you can set it to only record when there is something to see (this leaves fewer clips to sort through, and less storage used.) You can also record continuously if you wish. Clips are stored on your Mac for viewing and can be automatically uploaded to Dropbox so you can see what’s happening from anywhere, with any device!  By themselves, IP Cameras can be difficult to setup, but it’s fast and easy with Periscope Pro (in fact, it’s downright automatic!) Just input the camera’s address and model, and it does the rest. The setup screen preview window allows you see what’s happening as you set it up, so there’s no need to switch between screens (yes, we thought of everything!)   If you need to monitor covertly, using a USB or IP camera lets you separate the camera from your Mac (so there’s no telltale green light) and hide the camera anywhere. Sneaky, huh?   But all of this ease of use and feature set wouldn’t be worth much if you couldn’t find and view the clips you want, right? So Periscope Pro makes it fast and easy. The integrated, one-click Clip Library has a large, full-screen expandable viewing window, complete with clip thumbnails/details in a scrollable frame on the right.   With Periscope Pro you can: • Monitor your home office when you are away • Watch your kids, pets or aging parents • Monitor an office in another city, country or continent • Check on the babysitter or nanny • Keep an eye on your workspace, desk, papers, and your Mac • Monitor your storage unit, boat, motorcycle, or camper • Catch a volcano erupting, a shooting star, or whales breeching by connecting to a public IP camera • Keep an eye on your server room or any other business area Features & Benefits: • Easy-to-use, sets up in less than 1 minute • IP Camera support  - Auto or manual setup  - Setup window preview to see how it’s working  • Covert Operation  - App can be hidden from users  - Operates with screensaver or even with screen-off • Multiple operating modes – Motion Detection, Audio Detection, Both or Continuous  • Motion Detection  - Set sensitivity level– ignore or detect small movements like the wind ruffling a curtain.  • Audio Detection  - Set sensitivity level – ignore or detect quite sounds like a pet walking  • Real-time interactive activation adjustment – set motion/audio activation sensitivity using level monitors in the in-screen monitor window • See levels change as you move/speak • Pick exactly the trigger points you want – no trial and error guessing • Auto-send clips to your Dropbox account – view clips from anywhere on any device • Set preferences for any camera in the same window – built-in, external, or IP Camera • Multiple frames/second options – 1, 5, 10, 15, 25 • Small footprint / Highly resource efficient – 30% more efficient than most others • User-controlled clip storage – any folder, any device • Can be password protected • 24/7 support response in 1 hour or less, GUARANTEED