Synology DS-Kamera: Surveillance Station-Aufnahmen auf Ihrem Smartphone ansehen und wiedergeben
DS cam ist die kostenlose mobile App von Synology für Surveillance Station: sechs Live-Feeds, Wiedergabe, PTZ-Funktion und Push-Benachrichtigungen – und sie benötigt keinerlei Gerätelizenz.
A surveillance system you cannot check from your pocket is a system you will stop checking. DS-Kamera is Synology’s free mobile app for exactly that: live view from your cameras, playback of anything already recorded, push notifications with a thumbnail of what triggered them, and camera controls, all against the Surveillance Station running on your own NAS.
It is also the app people most often confuse with the other one. DS-Kamera turns your phone into a monitor for cameras you already have, and it costs nothing in licences. LiveCam turns your phone into a Kamera, and that does consume a device licence. This guide covers what the app can actually do, how to set it up, why there is no desktop version, and where it stops being enough.
The question we get asked most is whether the phone app costs a licence. It does not. A Synology device licence pays for a camera feeding recordings into Surveillance Station — it has nothing to do with how many people watch those recordings afterwards. Install DS cam on every phone in the household if you like; the licence count does not move. The moment that changes is when the phone itself becomes the camera, and that is a different app entirely.
SynoPower Club – Anmerkungen zum Verkauf von Surveillance Station-Lizenzen
Inhaltsverzeichnis
What Is DS cam?
DS-Kamera is the mobile client for Surveillance Station, published by Synology for iOS and Android and free on both stores. It does not run a surveillance system of its own — it connects to the Surveillance Station already installed on your NAS and gives you the parts you actually need while away from a desk.
In practice that means four things: watching live feeds, scrubbing back through recordings, receiving alerts when something happens, and nudging the cameras themselves. Synology also exposes licence management through the app, which matters more than it sounds — it is one of only two clients that can handle offline licence activation.
The connection is to your own NAS rather than to a vendor cloud. Footage stays on your storage under your retention rules, and the app is simply a window onto it. Sign-in can go through QuickConnect, which removes the usual port-forwarding argument with your router.
DS cam vs LiveCam: Viewer or Camera?
These two Synology apps get mixed up constantly, and the difference decides whether you owe a licence.
| DS-Kamera | Live-Kamera | |
|---|---|---|
| What the phone becomes | A monitor for your cameras | A camera feeding the NAS |
| Gerätelizenz | Keiner — install on as many phones as you like | One per phone, same as a real camera |
| Needs existing cameras | Yes — it views what is already there | No — it is the source |
| Records to NAS | No, it plays back what the NAS recorded | Yes, that is the point |
| Typical use | Checking the shop from the train | Temporary coverage with a spare handset |
So the two are complements rather than alternatives. A common setup is real cameras on the permanent positions, one old phone covering something temporary, and the app on everyone’s handset to watch the lot. If the camera side is what you are after, that is covered separately here: Synology LiveCam: turn an old phone into a Surveillance Station camera.
Was Sie vor dem Start benötigen
- A Synology NAS running Surveillance Station with at least one camera already added. The app views an existing system; it does not create one.
- A DSM account with Surveillance Station permissions. Give family members or staff their own accounts rather than sharing the admin login — permissions are per-user and per-camera.
- A way in from outside. QuickConnect is the simplest; DDNS with forwarded ports works too if you prefer to run it yourself.
- Upload bandwidth at the NAS end. Remote viewing pulls video out of your building, and domestic connections are usually far slower upstream than down.
- No extra licence. Worth repeating because people budget for one: the viewing app is free and uses no device licence.
Setting Up DS cam in 4 Steps
Setup is short. The only part worth slowing down for is permissions — decide who should see which cameras before you hand the app to anyone.
Create a DSM account for each person who needs access
In DSM, give every viewer their own user account rather than sharing the administrator login. Then open Surveillance Station and grant that account access to the specific cameras it should see. Doing this first means you never have to retrofit permissions after someone is already looking at every camera in the building.
Install the app and sign in
Install DS cam from the App Store or Google Play. Sign in with the NAS address, the account you created and its password. On the same network the local IP is fine; from outside, QuickConnect avoids opening ports on your router. The app then lists the cameras that account is allowed to view.
Set up notifications and check they arrive
Enable push notifications in the app and confirm at the Surveillance Station end that the events you care about actually generate alerts. Walk into frame and wait for the notification, including its thumbnail. An alerting system nobody has tested is not an alerting system.
Try playback before you need it
Open a camera, drag back along the timeline, and jump between events. Learn where the controls are while nothing is wrong, because the day you genuinely need footage is the worst possible time to be discovering the interface. Confirm the retention window covers as far back as you expect.
Does DS cam Need a Surveillance Station Licence?
No. The app is free, and watching cameras through it consumes no device licence at all. You can install it on every phone in the house and the licence count in Surveillance Station will not move.
The reason is worth understanding, because it also explains when you do pay. A Synology device licence buys one recording channel into Surveillance Station — one camera sending video to your NAS. Viewing is not a channel. Ten people watching the same camera still equals one channel.
That is exactly why the other app behaves differently: a phone running LiveCam Ist a source, so it takes a channel like any camera would. Every Synology NAS includes two device licences for free (DVA-series models include eight), and you buy packs only once your cameras exceed that. The subtraction and the pack sizes are covered here: Leitfaden zum Kauf von Synology- und Surveillance Station-Lizenzen.
- Surveillance Station-Lizenz 1-Kamera (CLP1) — one more camera.
- Surveillance Station-Lizenz 4-Kamera (CLP4) — the usual next step.
One licence-related feature does live in the app. If your NAS has no internet access, Surveillance Station licences can be activated offline, and the mobile app is one of only two clients able to do it. The full procedure is here: activating Synology Surveillance licences offline.
Watching Live: Six Feeds, PTZ and Two-Way Audio
The live view shows up to six feeds at the same time, which is the number most small installations actually have. Streaming is tuned for mobile connections, so the feed is meant to hold together on restricted bandwidth rather than stalling every few seconds.
- PTZ control — pan, tilt and zoom supported cameras straight from the phone, instead of watching a fixed frame and hoping.
- Zwei-Wege-Audio — speak through cameras that have a speaker, which turns a doorway camera into an intercom.
- Schnappschüsse — capture a still from the live feed when you want to keep or send one frame.
- Digital zoom on the feed itself, for cameras without optical zoom.
Notifications come with a thumbnail preview, which sounds cosmetic and is not: it is the difference between opening the app for every alert and glancing at the lock screen to see it was the cat. Tuning what triggers those alerts happens at the camera end: So richten Sie die Surveillance Station-Bewegungserkennung ein.
Finding the Moment That Matters: Keyframe Playback and Smart Timeline
Reviewing footage on a phone should be painful — a small screen and hours of mostly empty video. Two features are what stop it being so.
Keyframe playback lets you fast-forward and rewind to the incident rather than playing through at speed, so finding something an hour back does not mean waiting through an hour of it. The Smart Timeline then adjusts its own scale to how far you drag — a short stroke moves you seconds, a long one moves you hours — which is the only sane way to scrub a timeline with a thumb.
On top of that, event skipping jumps you straight to the next recorded event instead of scrolling for it. Between the three, a review that would take ten minutes in a naive player takes well under one.
The app also carries Home Mode, which switches recording and notification behaviour depending on whether you are home — useful when you would rather not be filmed in your own living room. It is worth setting up properly rather than toggling by hand: Home Mode: automatic recording and notifications based on your location.
Is There a DS cam for Windows or Mac?
No, and this is the question that sends most people searching. The app is published for iOS and Android only. There is no desktop build, and there is no need for one, because Synology ships a different client for computers: Surveillance Station Client, the desktop app for Windows and Mac.
| Where you are | What to use |
|---|---|
| Phone or tablet | DS cam (iOS / Android) |
| Windows 10 or macOS 11+ | Surveillance Station Client, a dedicated desktop application |
| Any computer, nothing installed | The Surveillance Station web interface in a browser |
| A wall-mounted monitor | VisualStation, or Local Display on the NAS itself |
So if you searched for a Windows version, the answer is Surveillance Station Client rather than a disappointment. It is a free download from Synology and covers the full interface, not the mobile subset.
Wo finde ich weitere offizielle Ressourcen?
Three videos that show the app in use — one straight iOS setup and two reviews from people who ran it for a while.
Limits to Know Before You Rely on DS cam
It is a window, not a recorder. The app plays back what the NAS captured. If the NAS was off, the camera was offline, or retention had already rolled over, there is nothing to watch. The app cannot save you from a recording problem it had no part in.
Six live feeds is the ceiling. For a handful of cameras that is plenty; for a site with twenty, the phone is a spot-check tool and the real monitoring happens on a desktop client or a wall display.
Remote viewing costs upload bandwidth. Video leaves your building every time you open a feed, and domestic upstream is usually a fraction of downstream. Several people watching at once, or one person watching a high-bitrate camera, will feel it.
Push notifications depend on the phone behaving. Aggressive battery management, a revoked notification permission or a silenced focus mode will quietly stop alerts arriving. Test periodically rather than assuming silence means nothing happened.
Access is only as tight as your accounts. Everyone with the app and a login can see whatever their account allows, and phones get lost. Use per-person accounts with per-camera permissions, and remove access when someone no longer needs it.
The licences behind it still need to be genuine. Device licences register against your NAS and your Synology Account, so a key from a keygen or a grey marketplace is a channel that fails validation with nobody to go back to. The reasoning in full: Warum offizielle Synology-Lizenzpakete die richtige Wahl sind.
Verweise
- Synology DS cam — official feature page
- DS cam for iOS — Synology Knowledge Center
- DS cam for Android — Synology Knowledge Center
- Choosing a client to monitor Surveillance Station — Synology Knowledge Center
- Surveillance Station Client — release notes and platform support
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Is DS cam free?
Yes, on both the App Store and Google Play, with no subscription and no device licence. It is the mobile client for a Surveillance Station you already run, so the cost sits in the NAS and the cameras rather than in the app.
Does DS cam use a camera licence?
No. A Synology device licence pays for a camera recording into Surveillance Station, not for the people watching. Install the app on as many phones as you want and the licence count stays where it is. LiveCam is the app that does consume one, because there the phone becomes the camera.
How many cameras can I watch at once?
Up to six live feeds simultaneously. Beyond that you page between groups, or move to a desktop client where the screen can carry more.
Is there a DS cam for Windows or Mac?
No. The app is mobile-only. For a computer, Synology publishes Surveillance Station Client for Windows 10 and macOS 11 or above, and the full web interface works in any browser without installing anything.
Can I use DS cam without opening ports on my router?
Yes. QuickConnect handles the connection without port forwarding, which is the usual reason people give up on remote access. DDNS with forwarded ports remains available if you prefer to manage it yourself.
Does it support PTZ and two-way audio?
Both, on cameras that have the hardware for them. You can pan, tilt and zoom from the phone, and speak through a camera with a speaker, which effectively turns a doorway camera into an intercom.
Can I activate licences from the app?
Yes, and this is genuinely useful when the NAS has no internet access. Offline licence activation is supported from only two clients, and the mobile app is one of them.
Will I get a notification with a picture?
Push notifications include a thumbnail preview of the event, so you can usually tell from the lock screen whether something needs opening the app. What triggers them is configured at the camera end in Surveillance Station.
Still working out how many device licences your cameras need, or which pack is cheapest? The licensing questions we get asked most are collected here: FAQ zur SynoPower Club-Lizenzierung. For the wider picture of what the package does, start here: Surveillance Station: das All-in-One-Sicherheitssystem in jedem Synology NAS.