Sleepy Whisper

Most baby monitors come with a camera, an account and a company server in the middle. The server is the weak spot. It can be hacked, it stops working when your internet goes down, and it puts video of your baby’s room on somebody else’s computer.

The idea

Most households already have two phones. If one of them can host the connection itself, you don’t need the server at all. No hub to buy, no account to make.

What we built

The phone by the cot runs a small server and streams video straight to your other phone over your home Wi-Fi. A phone hotspot works too, which helps during a brownout. To pair them you get an address, a code that changes every few minutes, and a QR code with both in it. You can watch from the Sleepy Whisper app on Android or iPhone, or from any browser. No spare phone? It can show a Wi-Fi camera instead.

The nursery screen goes dark so it doesn’t light up the room. Noise and motion alerts show you the room’s actual level, so you can set the threshold by looking at it. The volume goes past 100%, because sometimes you need to hear very quiet breathing.

What it isn’t

Sleepy Whisper is not a medical device. It doesn’t track breathing or vital signs. It shows you the room and lets you hear it. The app says so on one of its own screens.