Robin's ProLine Video Doorbell is the first to support HomeKit Secure Video

By Oliver Haslam
published

ProLine video doorbell
ProLine video doorbell (Image credit: Robin)

What you need to know

  • Robin is the first to add HomeKit Secure Video to a doorbell.
  • A new firmware update has been released.
  • This is the first video doorbell to support HomeKit Secure Video.

Robin has today announced that it has received certification from Apple, allowing it to release a new firmware update that adds HomeKit Secure Video support to its ProLine Video Doorbell.

This is the first video doorbell to bring HomeKit Secure Video support to the market and while it surely won't be the last, there's something to be said for being the first.

The addition of HomeKit Secure Video means that all video recordings will now be stored in iCloud, allowing users to access them from an iPhone, Mac, or iPad.

iCloud: A 10-day recording history from your ProLine is securely stored in iCloud and available to view in the Apple Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can add one camera to your 200GB plan or up to five cameras to your 2TB plan at no additional cost. Camera recordings don't count against your iCloud storage limit.

Keeping all recordings in iCloud adds a level of privacy that most third-party vendors can't offer, especially at a time where many video doorbells are in the midst of multiple privacy scandles.

Those wanting to take advantage of this new feature will need to download the latest version of the Robin ProLine app from the App Store as well as update their doorbell's firmware, too.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

1 Comment
  • Here's a problem that I think should be addressed with this. If it ONLY uses HomeKit, that's locking you in to Apple products. Most people won't think about it that way, but where Apple should be regulated is this. Requiring the 200gig plan basically means you have to stay in the Apple Ecosystem. Not to mention the fact that you can't pay your AppleCard bill if you don't have an iOS device. I'm not pro-regulation, but this should at the very least be mentioned on the cameras, and arguably forced on AppleCard since that impacts your credit, and forcing you to buy a $329 device (iPads can pay the card right?) to pay your card off is criminal (assuming you only have one iPhone and it breaks).