How to Turn Your iPhone Into a Spy Camera without App

by Jenefey Aaron   Updated on 2020-04-15 / Update for  Mobile Tracker

In this post I will demonstrate how to use your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch as a spy camera to monitor everything around you. Thus, your iPhone can be used as a parental control solution for monitoring your underage children, or as a surveillance camera to monitor a suspect. This can be done via Apple Watch without app.

Steps to Convert iPhone into Spy Camera using Apple Watch

What you need:

  • iPhone, iPad, iPod touch that has a working camera.
  • Apple Watch

Step 1. Hider Your iPhone

Find a perfect position to hide your iPhone. You should put the target object within iPhone camera shot range; in the meantime, your iPhone should be fairly well hidden. Your Apple Watch will work as a second screen for your iPhone’s camera, mirroring the image shot by iPhone’s camera.

turn into into a spy camera

Step 2. Open Camera on Your Apple Watch

The next step is to turn on Camera app on your Apple Watch. When the Watch’s camera is on, it will automatically activate the Camera app on your iPhone/iPad, even when the iPhone’s screen is off. The screen that is shot on iPhone’s camera will be streamed to Apple Watch.

Step 3. Stay within Reach & Surveillance

All is set up, and you can easily view your live streaming even when the screen of the iPhone is off. Now you can watch what is going on around stealthily.  

turn camera app on apple watch

Unfortunately, this method of monitoring does not allow you to record a video or audio, it just supports to capture snaps for proof. And the Bluetooth technology in Apple Watch makes it only takes the live video streaming within 300 feet.

If you are thinking of using another way to convert your iPhone 7/6/6s/5s/5/4s into a spy camera, you can do it with the help of some spy camera apps. The spy camera app will record the feeds using the normal camera, but it will not show the obvious images on the screen. There are different spy camera apps for different purposes, such as Spyera, SpyVid, Easy Calc.

Extra Info: How to Protect Your Data?

If you plan to sell or give away your iPhone, iPad, the most important thing you should do is to erase all data in your device. Regular deletion can be recovered easily by data recovery software like Tenorshare UltData. I recommend you use an iPhone data erase tool – Tenorshare iCareFone Cleaner, to wipe all data permanently. Its full data eraser function will delete all contents and settings completely. No recovery is possible. If you are suspicious your iPhone is being monitored by others, a full data erasing is necessary to protect your personal data against leaking.