Affordable Cellular Trail Camera

Check out WildlifeCam http://www.scoutitoutdoors.com/. It's an affordable alternative to cellular trail cameras that can turn your old or an inexpensive prepaid Android smartphone, for $15-$30, into a high tech surveillance camera. You can review time lapse footage of a remote location sent back to you each day over 3G / 4G cellular or WIFI connection. Captures start automatically at sunrise and sunset based on your GPS location. It doesn't rely on motion triggers so it is great for watching deer and turkey moving through a field hundreds of feet away or ducks and geese passing by your blind at sunrise and sunset, when game activity is the highest. It's easy. Simply download the app, purchase a kit to power, protect and mount your smartphone and start enjoying the view from anywhere.

Any active links you could share with us?

Real footage?


Welcome to the Forum btw... hope you arnt here for just one post...

Thanks for the warm welcome my friend. Here is real footage taken with a "prepaid" smartphone which was protected inside our slim enclosure and mount and set to only 60% image quality. http://www.scoutitoutdoors.com/time_lapses?content_id=27

I like your idea about setting up active links! I will get a few phones setup to share daily footage of my hunting spots. For migratory birds like ducks and geese if we created a sharing board for everyone to post a link to their smartphones captures it would be a great tool to understand when the birds start showing up.

ta THF

Brandon, I setup a smartphone running WildlifeCam to monitor a field on my farm for deer and turkey. Here is a link to the captures from this evening at sunset. It was great to already see 7 does milling around in the food plot! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/40zd8e81tpf3w9u/AADZHzn9sky6GlN0mFX9DWJqa?dl=0 Yesterday, I saw 12 turkeys from this same smartphone, but they were way down in the back of the field. I'll add another smartphone down there so we can check them out too.

You can review the images one by one, but the best way is to download them to your computer and review them in rapid slideshow mode. Click on the link above and then click "Download", then "Download as Zip". Once the file downloads, Double click on one of the images which opens Windows Photo Viewer. In Windows Photo Viewer, click on the round "play slideshow" button at the bottom of the screen in the middle. You can pause and rewind fast forward etc. by simply using the arrow keys. Note when using the app you don't have to download a zip every time, this is just for this example.

Looks very cool. What is the battery life?

to the forum.

My question also

Hey Dave and Pitchfork Predator. A smartphone running the App will last 5 days on average on its internal battery alone. This assumes the App is set to take snapshots every day, at sunrise and sunset, with a 30 min duration and a 2 second lapse. Based on our testing a full charged 12V 10Ah SLA backup battery and smartphone will provide 14 days runtime, a 12V 22Ah battery and smartphone will provide 30 days, and a 12V 35Ah battery and smartphone will provide 49 days. All you need is our 12V to 5V converter cable and a enclosure to protect your smartphone available on our website or you can DIY. 12V batteries come in many sizes and you can go with a larger battery for additional runtime. 12V SLA batteries are economical but heavier. Lithium batteries are ideal because of weight, size, and cold/hot temperature performance. Our Lithium ion battery bank is easy to use with a simple USB connection and provides +/- two weeks runtime. We are testing on additional lithium ion battery solutions to extend runtime 1+ months. Connecting a 5W-10W solar panel with a solar charge controller to trickle charge the backup battery theoretically extend runtime indefinitely. Hope this helps.

Will this setup work with an older phone that meets the minimum requirements, but is no longer in service? Can you just purchase the app and load it via home wifi, then set the phone out an let it just write to on-board storage?

Extremely cool!

Hi B_Bop77. Absolutely, it works very well with WIFI. You do not have to have cellular service. Even better you can plug it into your wall socket! We have a mini tripod on our website that works well to position the phone and hold it in place looking out of a window. I have one set up at home and enjoy seeing my neighbors walking by exercising every day.

Bop77, also if you have WIFI you might consider using Dropbox's cloud service which is integrated into the App as well. The WildlifeCam App will upload your images to Dropbox and you can check them out from any computer, mobile device or tablet from anywhere. All you have to do is sign up for a free Dropbox account which allows for 2GB of free storage. Hope that helps.

Saw 12-15 turkeys way down the field probably 400 yards yesterday evening. Pretty cool to see them milling around and then exiting the field. At least I'll know where to setup now. Here is the dropbox link. They look like ants down there but they are definately turkeys. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e78qgrtrw1sdprg/AAAktOvaipCNl0xtt76qlJ9Ga?dl=0

NC is getting hammered by rain with hurricane Joaquin approaching. The smartphone trail cam held up great. Saw two does which was a bonus. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f0fvn9kuqpd8hw6/AAC6SN3NWzAo8l0pV7crgeRJa?dl=0

Can you hook up the converter to a rechargeable battery and solar panel?

Can this be used on iPhones?

Hey Woodsman. Yes, the converter power cable will convert any 12V or 6V rechargeable battery to 5V which is the standard voltage for smartphones. The converter itself is waterproof and comes with a micro USB right angled tip for connecting to Android smartphones.

Connecting a 5W-10W solar panel with a solar charge controller to trickle charge your backup battery can theoretically extend runtime indefinitely. You just need sunshine.

iPhones do not allow non-core Apps to work in the background when the screen is locked and the display is turned off. Since the display would have to be lit, power would become an issue so we have not created a iOS version of the app yet. We are planning an iOS version of the remote control feature within the App. This will allow you to use your iPhone to remote control the settings on your Android device in the field and get instant on demand footage. This is a standard feature of the Android App and works great!

I get a lot of questions about how you buy a smartphone for $15. That's correct I said $15. Its simple, go to Best Buy, Walmart or any store and grab one off the shelf. Here is one I use and the price as of today at Best Buy online $14.99.


Ebay is a great place to find thousands of used Android smartphones with the latest technology for cheap too. On eBay search for "Android Prepaid Phone". Prepaid means you pay for your cellular bill upfront each month with your credit card. If you only want only 1 month, you just pay for 1 month. You are not locked into a long term contract.

Taken tonight. Here is a short clip of a 8 pointer, turkey, and does taken with a 4 second lapse and compiled using Windows Movie Maker at .30 frames per second. http://www.scoutitoutdoors.com/time_lapses?content_id=29

So talk to us about data usage and what type of plan we need?

Great question. Your plan size is up to you and completely customizable. A 2GB monthly plan is what I use and it gives me 4 days per week of snapshots (30 min at sunrise and sunset with 4 second lapse). This may be overkill for most. If you only want a 1GB plan you can configure the app to take sunset or sunrise photos only, or if you only want a 500MB plan you can set it to 8 second lapse at sunrise or sunset. The great thing about "prepaid" plans is they are month to month. You pay in advance for the month and there is no long term commitment. Another option to consider is if you have a existing account or a family plan with your provider you can add a line even cheaper. I added a few phones to my Verizon account for $15 each. Hope this helps.

Saw a nice 8 pointer this morning at 7:29 AM come in from the right of the field at 80 yards and then watched him exit to the left at about 150 yards.



For those of you using the app I am finding the best settings are to take pictures with a 8 second lapse for 1 hour duration starting 15 min before sunrise to 45 min after sunrise. It gives you plenty of footage and 450 pictures is easy to review in rapid slideshow with Windows Photo Viewer (free and on most Windows PCs already)

Here is a time lapse video that has around 10 long beards coming in from about 300 yards across a field at sunset. To post the video I had to compress it to a certain size so it is not as crystal clear as the original but it will give you a good idea of what a smartphone trail camera can accomplish. http://www.scoutitoutdoors.com/time_lapses?content_id=31