Review about Hive View camera. Hive has a second security camera, called the Hive View. The first, known as the Hive Camera, had the appearance of a standard home security camera, but Hive wanted to form in addition to function this time.
Review about Hive View camera:
The View, created by industrial designer Yves Béhar, is sure to please even the most design-conscious homeowners, but it won’t be around for long.
Price & availability:
Although Hive no longer sells the Hive View camera directly in the UK, you might be able to find one through another shop. On 1 August 2025, Hive will stop providing support for any remaining Hive View cameras. So, if you have previously purchased a Hive View camera, it will cease to function as of that time.
With our round-up of the top smart security cameras we’ve evaluated, you can find alternatives.
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Design and build:
The hive view is delivered in attractive packaging together with all necessary extras and a small quick-start manual. Despite the setup being fairly simple, we advise reading the guide first.
The camera is powered by a long, thin micro-USB cable (3 meters in length), and you also get a very fashionable metal stand that can be mounted to a wall or ceiling or set on a flat surface (your choice of champagne gold or brushed copper). Because the base is magnetic, it can be mounted to any metal surface in your house, which is quite helpful if you don’t want to drill holes in the walls.
The camera is a tiny, light, 56mm x 56mm plastic cube that comes in two colors: White or Black. The camera and stand’s overall construction quality is far better than that of the original Hive Camera, giving them a little more upscale and custom appearance.
The camera is magnetically connected to the stand on one side. This secures the cube in position and makes simple camera tilting possible. When the View is mounted to the stand, it can also be wirelessly charged. This enables a cleaner-looking installation because the USB power cord can now be inserted directly into the stand.
Setting up the Hive View camera:
If you now use Hive, your smartphone or tablet most likely already has the Hive app downloaded. That’s excellent news because you will only be able to connect to the Hive View using the iOS or Android app as Hive Home in a web browser does not support it.
The good news is that installation just requires a brief amount of time. You tap “install a new device” on the Hive app, then you tap the Hive View icon. The app will locate the camera and walk you through the setup process as long as Bluetooth is enabled and the View is on.
In comparison to some overly complicated smart security cameras, it just took us five steps to set up the camera.
Features & app:
On the Hive home screen, next to the Hive Active Light and Hive Heating (which won’t show up if you don’t have them yourself), the Hive View has its own icon.
There is no other integration with the other Hive devices, save from the ability to see and control Hive-branded equipment in a single app. For instance, it would have been helpful if the camera could be set to turn on the active lights when it detects a person in the room. But, Hive has told us that this functionality will be accessible in February; we’ll check back on this after the upgrade is made available.
The camera’s operations are very basic. When the camera detects movement, you have the option of watching the live video feed or watching events that were recorded to the cloud via TLS transfer, which Hive claims is secured with AES-128 encryption. As an alternative, you may simply turn off monitoring and use the app’s live view whenever necessary.
Setting Menu:
You have a variety of settings in the Settings menu, including the choice to switch the resolution from 720p to 1080p (although the latter requires a strong internet connection). We tested both, and while they were both more than clear and crisp enough to tell what was happening, we didn’t notice a significant difference in the visual quality. But in live view, there was playback stutter.
The View includes a dual-core processor and a few sophisticated motion detection options. The View’s main detecting capability is its ability to tell a human from a pet. We couldn’t fully test the claim because we don’t have any pets, but we did discover that when the camera was set to detect people only, it wouldn’t be activated by lights turning on or off or by plants moving in the breeze.
The motion sensitivity and sound sensitivity of the camera may both be changed from low to medium or high depending on the environment. The camera can also detect sound in the room. Considering that the View has a built-in microphone, you may also choose whether to record audio when motion is sensed.
Moreover, a two-way speaker that is incorporated into the device is available.
The camera didn’t come with the option to download recordings via iOS or Android apps at first, but it now has that feature.
You might choose to opt-in and create a timetable if you find that you are always receiving notifications about detection. This is useful if you are aware of the exact hours each day that your home is unoccupied, but it doesn’t seem realistic for active families who frequently come and go. A geo-location trigger using your phone’s GPS would be preferable; as soon as you leave home, the camera would turn on automatically. We’re a little shocked it’s not offered here as it’s a feature on other cameras with comparable prices.
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Specs:
- Detachable magnetic camera cube
- Rolling 24-hour camera history as standard
- Option to subscribe for 30-day camera history and other benefits
- Up to 1080p HD video
- 16ft Night Vision
- Dedicated video analytics chip
- Microphone and speaker
- 3m USB power cable
- 2100mAh rechargeable battery
- 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 4.1
