Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition

Tip 58

Turn Your Mac Into a Surveillance Camera

As mentioned in Tip 7, ​Auto-answer FaceTime Calls​, FaceTime can automatically answer incoming calls from contacts you specify. Another use for this trick is to dial into a Mac at any time, anywhere, from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, thus creating a simple surveillance camera setup. Because FaceTime will automatically start upon receiving a call and then auto-answer the call, you’ll instantly see what’s happening in front of your Mac.

Setting Up a Mac as a Surveillance Camera

Here are the steps required. Some of them are concise because it’s assumed you already know the basic procedures referenced, such as how to create a new user account.

1. Create a new account using the Users & Groups element ...