Skip to content

Cameras

Camera tiles show snapshot previews on your watch grid. Tap one to open a full-screen live stream.

Wrist Assistant picks the fastest streaming method automatically, but you can override it in Settings → Camera:

  • Auto — Tries Smart Stream first and falls back to MJPEG, then polling. The default.
  • Smart Stream — Adaptive streaming that balances quality and speed. Force this when Auto’s fallback gets in the way.
  • MJPEG — Motion JPEG stream from Home Assistant. Good for cameras that support it natively.
  • Polling — Fetches snapshots at a set interval. Most compatible, works with any camera. Best fallback if other modes have issues.
  • Digital Crown zoom — Rotate the Digital Crown to zoom in (up to 10×); drag to pan when zoomed
  • Viewport crop & pan — Configure a default crop and pan position per camera from the iPhone app so your tile always shows the most important part of the frame — useful for wide-angle cameras where you only care about a specific area. Works on both tile snapshots and complication previews.
  • Swipe between cameras — In full-screen, swipe the bottom edge to jump to the next camera. Enable Loop Cameras in Settings to wrap back to the first.
  • Multi-cam tiles — Show several cameras in a mosaic on a single tile for a security overview. Configure in the editor. Customize grid borders (color, thickness, on/off), row weights, and fill modes for precise layout control.
  • Adaptive resolution — Snapshots are requested at the actual tile pixel size, so smaller tiles get smaller images (saving bandwidth, especially over Bluetooth relay) and larger tiles stay sharp automatically.
  • Snapshot caching — The app caches snapshots so camera tiles load instantly when you open the app, even before a live connection is established.
  • Configurable refresh rate — Separate rates for standard view (0.5s–5s) and HD full-screen. 2–3 seconds is a good balance of responsiveness and battery.
  • HD streaming — Full-resolution streams in the full-screen view (Premium feature).

Camera tiles work best at 2x1 or larger. A 1x1 tile is too small to see much. Go 2x2 or bigger if you want a proper preview without tapping.

  • Cameras work best on Wi-Fi. Streaming over iPhone relay is slower.
  • If a camera shows black or won’t load, check that it works in Home Assistant directly first.
  • Lower the refresh rate if your watch feels warm — cameras use the most resources of any tile type.
  • For a security dashboard, use a dedicated page with multi-cam tiles covering all your cameras.

Add a camera entity in the editor, resize the tile, and you’re done. Camera settings — stream mode, refresh rates, swipe sensitivity, and Loop Cameras — are under Settings → Camera.