Use two phones as a baby monitor
The spare phone in the drawer has a job again.
A spare phone plus the one in your pocket is a working baby monitor. One device stays in the nursery as the baby unit, the other goes with you as the parent unit, and you get cry alerts and hold-to-talk. It is free on your own Wi-Fi, and there is no camera to buy and no second app to install.
Set up the two units
There is no pairing step for this one. Both phones already run Vaava.
- Install Vaava on the spare phone and place it in the nursery, plugged in and with the screen kept awake.
- Put both phones on the same Wi-Fi network and make sure neither is on a VPN, which can hide them from each other.
- Open the baby monitor in Vaava on the nursery phone and set it as the baby unit.
- Open the same screen on your own phone and set it as the parent unit, then check that you hear the nursery.
- Test the alerts before you rely on them. Make a noise near the baby unit, confirm the parent unit reacts, then try hold-to-talk from the parent unit.
What the audio does, and where it goes
On the same Wi-Fi network the live audio travels directly between the two devices. It does not pass through Vaava's backend or an external relay service, which is why local monitoring is free and works on a Wi-Fi network with no internet connection.
It is live audio only. There is no video, no recording, and no audio history, so nothing gets stored to review later and nothing is uploaded for keeping. It is a listening link between two phones rather than a camera system.
Monitoring when you are not on the home network
Local monitoring stops at your own network. If you need to hear the nursery from another building or over cellular data, Vaava Plus extends the monitor over the internet with encrypted live audio, and both devices need internet for that to work.
If the internet route fails, the local Wi-Fi mode stays available as a fallback, so using Plus never takes away the free in-home mode.
One app instead of two
The reason this works without extra hardware is that the monitor sits next to the tracker. The phone in the nursery is already logging naps, and the phone in your hand is already showing the last feed, so you are not switching between a camera app and a log app while holding a baby.
If you want the second phone to follow the timeline as well, pair the two phones for local Wi-Fi data sharing. It uses the same network and stays free.
FAQ
Can I use two phones as a baby monitor for free?
Yes. One phone acts as the baby unit and another household phone as the parent unit, with cry alerts and hold-to-talk, free on your own Wi-Fi. No extra hardware or subscription is needed.
Does the baby monitor work without internet?
Yes, on your local network. The live audio travels directly between the two devices and does not pass through Vaava's backend or an external relay, so a Wi-Fi network without internet access is enough. Monitoring across different networks needs optional Vaava Plus and internet on both devices.
Is the monitor audio recorded or stored?
No. It is live audio only: no video, no recording, and no audio history. Nothing is stored to review later, so there is no monitor footage sitting anywhere afterward.
Why is local monitoring free?
Because there is no server in the middle. The two phones connect directly over your network, so there is no bandwidth or relay cost to cover, which is why the local mode is free and the internet mode is part of Vaava Plus.
Do both phones need to be on the same Wi-Fi?
For the free local monitor, yes. Both devices have to be on the same network. When you need to monitor from somewhere else, Vaava Plus extends the monitor over the internet, and local Wi-Fi stays available as a fallback.
Ready to try it?
