FAQ

What is HomeBe·at?

HomeBe·at is a native macOS menu bar app (with an Apple TV companion) for monitoring Home Assistant security cameras. It provides live camera streams, smart detection alerts, multi-camera viewports, and PTZ control.

What are the system requirements?

• macOS: macOS: macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• tvOS: tvOS: tvOS 17.6 or later (Apple TV 4K recommended)
• A running Home Assistant instance accessible from your device

Is HomeBe·at free?

HomeBe·at is free for up to 2 cameras. The Pro upgrade (one-time purchase) unlocks unlimited cameras and multi-camera viewports. The purchase is shared across macOS and Apple TV via Family Sharing.

Which Home Assistant installation types are supported?

All installation types work for basic functionality. However, WebRTC streaming requires a Docker-based installation (HA OS, Container, or Supervised) because it depends on go2rtc (built-in since HA 2024.11), which is not available in Python/Core installations.

Can I use HomeBe·at remotely?

Yes. On macOS, you can configure both a local and remote URL. The app automatically switches between them based on network availability. For remote access, your Home Assistant instance must be accessible from the internet (e.g., via Nabu Casa, a reverse proxy, or port forwarding).

Why does the app show "MJPEG" instead of "WebRTC"?

WebRTC requires go2rtc (built-in since HA 2024.11), which must be available in your Home Assistant installation. If go2rtc is unavailable or WebRTC fails to connect (e.g., UDP is blocked), HomeBe·at falls back to MJPEG immediately, while simultaneously establishing an HLS stream.

What streaming protocols are supported?

WebRTC, MJPEG, RTSP, and HLS for Home Assistant cameras. RTSP for custom cameras.

How does go2rtc auto-discovery work?

If your Home Assistant runs go2rtc (built-in since HA 2024.11), HomeBe·at automatically discovers all available streams on connect and adds them as custom cameras. Streams that match an existing HA camera entity get a direct RTSP URL override instead. Discovered cameras are added as disabled by default — enable the ones you want in Settings.

My camera uses H.265 — is it supported?

Yes. HomeBe·at supports H.265 (HEVC) decoding for both WebRTC and RTSP streams. Cameras that stream natively in H.265 (common with Reolink 4K and newer UniFi models) work out of the box. The codec is negotiated automatically with go2rtc.

Can I control the stream quality?

Yes. Click the quality badge on the camera view to cycle through quality levels. For Reolink cameras with resolution channels, this switches between the native fluent (MQ) and clear (HQ) streams. For other cameras, it cycles through Low (2.5 Mbps), Medium (5 Mbps), and High (8 Mbps) bitrate constraints.

Which video codecs are supported?

H.264, H.265 (HEVC), VP8, VP9, and AV1. The codec is negotiated automatically with go2rtc. Cameras streaming natively in H.265 (common with newer Reolink and UniFi models) are fully supported.

Why is my camera stream delayed?

If you're seeing 5–15 seconds of delay, you're likely using HLS. Set up WebRTC for sub-second latency. MJPEG provides 1–2 seconds of delay as a middle ground.

What detection types are supported?

HomeBe·at shows alerts for motion, person, vehicle, pet, and sound detection events from Home Assistant binary sensors associated with your cameras.

Can I use PTZ controls?

Yes. HomeBe·at supports PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) for cameras that expose PTZ controls via Home Assistant. This includes ONVIF-compatible cameras, Eufy cameras, and Reolink cameras with PTZ. PTZ buttons are detected automatically via device-matched button entities. Cameras with continuous movement (e.g. Reolink PTZ) use press-and-hold — the camera moves while you hold the control and stops when you release. Zoom is also supported via button entities or number slider entities (e.g. Reolink zoom).

Can I take screenshots?

Yes. Press S in a viewport (or use the screenshot button) to save a snapshot of the current camera view. Screenshots are saved to a folder you choose.