Hotel Watch support
A guide to the controls and tips in the current app.
Start monitoring
- Place your iPhone in landscape on a stable nightstand or stand, with the front-facing camera pointed toward the area you are permitted to monitor. Connect the phone to power.
- Open Hotel Watch. Tap the gear icon, then Camera Setup. Turn on Motion Recording and allow camera access when requested.
- On first use, read the privacy policy, enable “I have read and understand the Privacy Policy and recording notice,” then tap “Agree and Turn On Motion Recording.” Choose “Not Now” to leave recording off.
- Use Camera Preview, available while monitoring is active, to check the view. Adjust sensitivity and recording settings, then walk through the permitted area and check the resulting clip.
- Return to the clock screen and keep the app open and the screen unlocked throughout monitoring.
Clock screen shortcuts
- Gear icon: Opens View Recordings, Clock & Alarm, Camera Setup, Privacy Policy, and About & Support.
- AM/PM: Tap to turn motion detection on or off. Turning it on this way shows a camera preview for about 10 seconds before returning to the clock. Turning it off requires device authentication.
- Brightness: Swipe down anywhere on the clock screen to dim it, or swipe up to brighten it.
- Monitoring Active: Appears beneath the date when monitoring is active and Show Day and Date is enabled. Hiding the date also hides this status text; it does not turn recording off.
- STOP ALARM: Tap the button on the clock screen when the alarm is ringing.
Clock & Alarm
Alarm controls remain visible even when the Alarm switch is off.
- Alarm and Time: Enable the alarm and choose its time in AM/PM format.
- Sound: Choose Morning Piano, Music Box, Warm Marimba, Harp Chimes, Classic Digital, or Grandfather Clock.
- Test alarm: Plays your selected alarm. Use Stop alarm test or STOP ALARM TEST to stop the preview.
- iPhone media volume: The slider adjusts the phone’s actual media volume, with a 1–10 indicator above the slider. It follows the physical volume buttons and affects other media audio.
- Fade in alarm: Starts the in-app alarm silently and raises it to the selected iPhone media volume over about 20 seconds when enabled.
- Repeat daily: Controls whether the alarm repeats each day.
- Color: Choose Red, Amber, White, Teal, or Green. Red is the default.
- Show Day and Date: Show or hide the date below the clock.
Enabling the alarm requests notification permission for a scheduled local alarm alert. When the app is not visible, that alert uses the default notification sound; the selected alarm sound and fade-in apply to the in-app alarm.
Camera Setup
The current app uses the front-facing camera and records video without microphone audio.
- Motion Recording: Turns monitoring on. Turning it off requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode, as supported by your device—even if recordings-library protection is off.
- Motion sensitivity: Adjust from 0% to 100% in 5% steps. The app’s tip describes 50% as tuned for a person entering the room; around 75% may pick up a pet or smaller movement. Test in your room’s lighting.
- Video before motion: Choose 1–15 seconds; the default is 1 second.
- Video after motion: Choose 5–20 seconds; the default is 10 seconds. Recording continues until no motion has been detected for this duration.
- Maximum clip length: Choose 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds; the default is 60 seconds. During ongoing activity, recording continues in back-to-back clips.
Monitoring schedule
Enable Schedule Auto Start/Stop of Monitoring and set Start and End times. The time controls remain visible when scheduling is off. Motion Recording must be on, and the app must stay open. Overnight schedules can span midnight. If you reopen the app during an armed scheduled period, monitoring resumes automatically. Manually enabled monitoring starts off after an app relaunch unless the schedule is armed.
Storage and recording protection
- Storage summary: Shows the number of clips, their storage use, available iPhone storage, and a low-storage warning when appropriate.
- Delete clips on a schedule: Choose No scheduled deletion, After 1 day, After 7 days, After 14 days, or After 30 days. Selecting a deletion period can immediately remove clips older than that period. Scheduled deletion is checked hourly while the clock screen is open.
- Prevent running out of storage: When enabled, the oldest clips may be deleted before their scheduled deletion date only when free storage is down to about two average clips. This setting is off by default.
- Protect recordings with Face ID, Touch ID, or Passcode: Requires device authentication to view the recordings library. Protection is on by default.
View Recordings
- Tap a clip’s thumbnail or date to play it. Use the player’s playback controls and the X button to close it.
- Swipe left on a clip to delete it.
- Tap the download icon to save a copy to Photos. Allow permission to add videos when requested.
- Use Delete All Recordings to remove every saved app clip, then confirm with Delete All. This permanently removes the app’s clips and thumbnails. Copies previously saved to Photos remain there.
Common questions
Does monitoring work with the screen locked?
No. Camera monitoring requires the app to remain in the foreground with the screen unlocked. Switching apps, locking the phone, or closing the app stops monitoring. The clock prevents automatic screen sleep while visible. Monitoring schedules also require the app to remain open.
Why can’t I turn motion recording off?
Stopping motion detection requires successful device authentication. If authentication is cancelled or fails, motion detection remains on. This is separate from the recordings-library protection switch.
Why did a recording disappear?
Check Delete clips on a schedule and Prevent running out of storage in Camera Setup. Scheduled deletion removes older clips; the optional storage safeguard can remove the oldest clips when free storage falls to about two average clips. Clips saved to Photos are managed separately.
How do I change permissions?
Find Hotel Watch in iPhone Settings. Camera permission is required for monitoring. If saving to Photos fails, allow the app to add videos to Photos, then try again.
Contact support
For app issues, feedback, feature requests, or privacy questions, contact Diga & Chella’s LLC.
Include your iPhone model, iOS version, app version, and what happened. Please avoid sending private recordings unless necessary and you are comfortable sharing them.