Hi ! I’m the developer (solo, Geneva). Sentinel gives a drawer phone a second life:
- Dashcam: loop recording that never fills the storage, clips auto-locked on impact, speed overlay
- Home / pet / bird-feeder camera: keeps only clips with motion, optional alert on your other phone
- Live view from another phone or your TV, over your own Wi-Fi or VPN
No account, no ads, no analytics, no server of mine: videos stay on the phone, or go to your own NAS/WebDAV.
It’s in closed beta on Google Play (new developer accounts need 14 days of testing before going public). If you want to try it, Pro features are free during the beta (Pro dialog → Code → SENTINEL-BETA):
- Join the group: https://groups.google.com/g/albanm-beta-testers
- Opt in: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/albanm.dashcam
Question for those who already repurposed an old phone: what killed it in the end, battery swelling, heat, or the OS killing the camera in the background ? That’s what I’m fighting most, especially on Xiaomi/OnePlus/Motorola, so feedback from those brands is gold.
What does pro get you? How much will pro be after the beta?
Good question ! The free version is a complete single-camera dashcam: loop recording that never fills your storage, automatic clip lock on impact, speed overlay, gallery, and watching another Sentinel phone live is free too !
Pro adds:
- Both: road and cabin recorded at the same time (on phones that support two cameras at once)
- Remote access: watch this phone live and browse its clips from your other devices
- Cloud offload: clips copied to your NAS, WebDAV or a cloud folder
- Periodic snapshots: a still picture every few minutes
- Push notifications via ntfy
It will be a one-time purchase, planned around 5.99 (Google converts it to your local currency). No subscription, no ads. With the tester code SENTINEL-BETA you get Pro free for 30 days.