- The ability to both hear and see baby makes video monitors a popular choice over audio-only baby monitors.
- Video baby monitors are generally safe to use, but parents should observe a few security precautions.
- The sleep tracking and insights along with an excellent user experience put the Nanit Plus at the top of our list of the best video baby monitors.
I grew up believing my parents had eyes in the back of their heads, but, sadly, I didn’t immediately sprout an extra pair of eyes immediately after donning the title of mother. Video baby monitors are the next best thing.
Video monitors allow caregivers to keep both eyes and ears on the baby, answering questions that a simple audio monitor cannot, like, When did he fall asleep? and in the toddler years, Did she just climb out of the bed?
Just 10 years ago, these monitors were clunky gadgets that played constant audio and offered a pixelated picture of the crib. Now they can send a detailed sleep analysis to your smartphone, play white noise and lullabies, and even track breathing.
While the exact feature list varies by model, video monitors typically come equipped with a night mode to see the room in the dark, a thermometer to see if the baby’s room is too hot or cold, and two-way audio to talk to the baby (or tell the toddler to get back in bed).
Some baby monitors are fixed in place, while others allow the camera to remotely pan around the room using the parent unit. And with smart baby monitors, the list of possible features is even longer.
I tested nine of the top-ranked video baby monitors with my now 10-month-old across several categories. Each editorial review sample was tested for at least five days, including naps and nighttime snoozes.
Here are our top picks for the best video baby monitors:
- Best video baby monitor overall: Nanit Plus Baby Monitor
- Best smart video baby monitor: Miku Smart Baby Monitor
- Best stand-alone video baby monitor: Vava 720P 5" HD Display Video Baby Monitor
- Best budget baby monitor: VTech RM5754HD Wi-Fi Remote Access Video Baby Monitor
Prices and links are current as of 6/30/2020. We have revised our categories and selected new monitors as our top picks. While the Nanit Plus remains our best overall pick, we added testing notes for it. We also added slides covering safety considerations and security tips for smart baby monitors.
The best video baby monitor overall
The Nanit Plus video baby monitor is so good that it may actually help both caregivers and babies get more sleep.
Unlike many breathing monitors, the Nanit Plus doesn't require any extra devices. The baby wears a patterned fabric band, swaddle, or sleep sack, and the camera detects pixel-level changes in that pattern to monitor the rise and fall of the baby's chest. Even without the patterned accessory, the monitor can still recognize movement to track sleep.
The app's interface is clean, simple, and easy to navigate. It charts sleep times, duration, time it takes to fall asleep, and times when a caregiver visits the crib. Using that data, Nanit Insights offers personalized sleep tips.
It also has the most reliable app of all the monitors I tested, providing nearly instantaneous notifications. It never crashed while livestreaming, though it can run few seconds behind depending on internet speeds. The one time the app stopped working, it sent a push notification so I could restart. For added security, it allows for two-factor authentication, and Nanit says the system is "constantly audited" for security compliance.
The Nanit Plus also excels at the basics. The audio didn't create constant white noise, and I could turn the volume down enough not to hear the music or fan playing in my son's room but still hear his cries. Background audio also allows you to listen to the baby while using other apps. Picture quality is excellent, even for the night camera.
Outside of the downsides of any app-based monitor, like quickly depleting the smartphone battery, I have very few complaints. One minor inconvenience is that you need to go into the app and start a session in order to monitor breathing.
The Nanit Plus is one of the pricier smart baby monitors, although the wall mount option is cheaper than the floor stand. Insights, the part of the app that analyzes sleep and sends sleep tips, also requires a paid subscription after the first year.
Read our full review of the Nanit Plus.
Pros: Sleep tracking and tips, contactless breathing monitor, quick alerts, reliable app, good video and audio quality, two-factor authentication
Cons: Pricey, sleep insights require subscription after first year
The best smart video baby monitor
The Miku accurately tracks breathing and sleep patterns without any wearables.
With a radio-wave sensor built into the camera, the Miku needs no accessories to track the baby. This monitor tracks both naps and nighttime sleep, creating a color-coded chart that illustrates how well the baby slept and even when the baby stirred.
Its well-designed app tracks data such as how long it took for the baby to fall asleep, sleep quality, and average bedtime, which is helpful for new parents establishing a routine. The app can send push notifications that the baby has woken up, but in order to avoid false alarms simply because the baby rolled over, there's an intentional delay on those alerts. For that reason, I preferred streaming the audio. During my testing, the app never crashed.
The baby's breathing pattern is shown on an overlay right over the clear, high-quality video. Separate tabs in the app house the sleep analytics and alerts. Video is also easy to review with an option to watch the feed from any time the app detected motion or noise. Unlike the Nanit, the Miku also has a built-in sound machine - you can play lullabies or white noise and control them from the app.
Simple setup requires pressing a physical button to start a new connection, which feels a bit more secure. The Miku also has a built-in crypto security chip and includes features like two-way authentication.
This monitor narrowly missed being the top pick in this guide, largely because the audio had constant white noise detectable even at the lowest volume. (Audio performance could possibly differ based on the smartphone you are using - I tested using an iPhone 7.) The notifications were too slow to be a suitable substitute. However, the easy sleep tracking without any form of wearables can make up for that if white noise also helps put you to sleep instead of the other way around.
Read our full review of the Miku smart baby monitor.
Pros: Sleep tracking, contactless breathing sensor, simple to use, plays lullabies or white noise, reliable app
Cons: Slow push notifications, white noise during livestreaming
The best stand-alone video baby monitor
With excellent picture and sound, the Vava is an affordable video baby monitor that has everything you need.
Most stand-alone video baby monitors use a low-resolution fixed camera that doesn't offer a look at the finer details. This can make it difficult to tell if the baby's eyes are open or closed. But the video quality coming from the Vava is so good, that, at times, I could see my son's chest rise and fall as he slept.
The handheld unit's 5-inch screen is what really allows you to see the detail picked up by the Vava's 720p resolution camera. Night vision also offers better quality than other units I tested, which is the mode that parents will use most often.
With the controls on the parent unit, the Vava can be turned 270 degrees and tilt up or down 108 degrees. This provides a view of almost the entire nursery except for the wall behind it. The remote pan and tilt are preferable to using a wider lens because you can get a closer look at the baby while still being able to see if, say, a pet is accidentally locked in the nursery.
The Vava's solid video quality is also paired with excellent audio. There's no voice-activated alert (VOX) option, but the volume settings are varied enough that the fan in my baby's nursery, while slightly audible, wasn't annoying.
Although the Vava lacks the fancy features of a smart monitor, it's easy to use and offers clear audio and picture, with a few extras including temperature monitoring and two-way audio. The 900-feet range didn't once drop a connection in my house or even when I went out to the porch. The parent unit battery lasted for two daytime naps before needing a charge.
This is an excellent monitor for the price point, and because it doesn't use Wi-Fi, hacking isn't a risk. There are a few features that I would have liked to see, such as VOX, but the Vava had better video and audio quality than similarly priced monitors.
Read our full review of the Vava video baby monitor.
Pros: Clear video and audio, easy setup, remote panning and tilt, affordable
Cons: No VOX
The best budget video baby monitor
The VTech RM5754 video monitor proves you don't need to spend a lot to keep an eye on the baby, from anywhere.
The VTech RM5754 is a good - though not quite excellent - baby monitor for those on a budget. It is unique because it's a stand-alone monitor that also offers app access via Wi-Fi. The parent unit is the most convenient way to monitor, but the app allows you to watch the baby from anywhere.
The camera has a higher 1080p resolution and the parent unit a large 5-inch screen. The 100-degree wide-angle lens means you can see much of the nursery, but it doesn't provide the close-up detail of some of the other monitors. The night vision camera is low quality - movements blur and look ghost-like - but it's enough to see whether or not the baby is sleeping.
A unique feature is the option to turn on movement alerts, which isn't common on stand-alone monitors. When alerts are activated, the monitor will beep when the baby stirs or rolls over. The app is a bit buggy with this feature and kept crashing when I tried to turn the movement alerts on. Because of this, I preferred using the parent unit for both monitoring and adjusting settings.
From the parent unit, you can play lullabies or white noise through the camera and turn on its night-light. However, the monitor lacks VOX, which means you'll hear those songs too.
While I preferred the Vava's better picture quality and sound, the VTech costs less and includes app access. That makes it a decent option for caregivers on a limited budget, or families who can't decide between a stand-alone camera and a Wi-Fi enabled one.
Pros: Parent unit and Wi-Fi app, affordable, movement alerts
Cons: Lower night-camera quality, buggy app, no VOX
What else we considered
- Levana Mila ($200): The Mila would be one of my top picks, except it's not available yet. Originally expected out in June, its release is now delayed until fall 2020. I was impressed by its mode that turns the screen and audio off when no noise is detected in the room, which preserves battery life. The same mode also works with two cameras to display footage from the room when noise is detected.
- Pampers Lumi ($300): In addition to monitoring sleep, the Lumi uses a sensor on the baby's diaper to track sleep and wet diapers. It simply wasn't the best because anytime the sensor stops moving, the Lumi labels it a nap. The camera's wide-angle fish-eye lens makes it difficult to see details, and audio is inconsistent across devices - on my iPhone, it generated constant white noise, but the iPad app didn't have that issue.
- Angel Care 3-in-1 AC337 ($183): This unique stand-alone monitor uses a sensor placed under the mattress to monitor breathing. To make sure an alarm is heard even if the parent unit has a dead battery, the alarm also sounds in the nursery so false alarms could wake the baby. The camera lens also isn't a wide enough angle. But if you want to monitor breathing without Wi-Fi without spending hundreds of dollars, the Angel Care is one of few options capable of doing that.
- Cubo A.I. Baby Monitor ($299): The Cubo uses facial recognition to alert you if the baby's face is covered by a blanket or if the baby rolled over, while "detection zones" alert you if the baby enters a preset area. While this feature worked great, the app had a few occasional crashes, livestreamed audio was full of white noise, and push notifications were sometimes late or didn't come at all. The Cubo did have one feature I wish the other smart monitors had - push notifications are a chirping sound instead of the default, which means you know it's a baby monitor alert and not an alert from any other app.
- Owlet Smart Baby Monitor Duo ($399): Unlike the Miku and Nanit, the Owlet Smart Sock tracks oxygen levels and heart rate. Although we can not recommend this product at this time, we will be conducting additional tests for our next update
Safety considerations for smart baby monitors
Video baby monitors used to be simply a camera that allowed you to see and hear your baby, but the tech now falls into two major categories.
Stand-alone baby monitors are the traditional monitors that come with everything you need in the box. These monitors have both a camera and a parent unit with a screen that displays video.
Smart baby monitors come with only a camera; the rest is done via an app on a smartphone or tablet, connected via Wi-Fi. Because these app-based baby monitors are essentially running on a mini-computer (the smartphone), this type can include a lot of features that stand-alone monitors lack. Smart monitors can track sleep patterns, send push notifications for sound and movement, and some even track breathing.
With the Wi-Fi connection, smart monitors are never "out of range" like a traditional monitor. That means you can check in on the baby while you are out and the baby is with another caregiver, or you can work outside in a big yard and still use the monitor.
The downside is that these monitors rely on an internet connection. If your home internet is slow, the video will lag behind and occasionally freeze up, and when the internet is out, so is the baby monitor. App-based monitors can also fail if the app freezes, and they will drain your smartphone battery faster.
Some smart monitors also track breathing, a feature designed to help give parents more peace of mind. It's important to note, however, that baby monitors aren't medical devices designed to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not endorse breathing monitors.
Dr. Justin Smith, a pediatrician and the medical advisor for digital health at Cook Children's in Trophy Club, Texas, told Insider Reviews: "There is no evidence that wearing a monitor will prevent or allow a parent to act in order to prevent SIDS. Parents should assess whether using a monitor would give them peace of mind or cause them stress and anxiety. False alarms are common and can lead parents to seek medical care for normal babies." He emphasized that parents should adhere to safe sleep practices above all.
Wearable sensors can also pose a choking hazard if a sensor becomes loose or comes off, according to Smith. "In addition, any sensor with a cord could cause strangulation. Battery-powered devices could cause skin sensitivity or a burn injury if it malfunctions," he said. Monitors placed over the crib could be safer if the device isn't able to be pulled into the crib or can't fall off.
Baby monitor security
Wi-Fi enabled monitors have another downfall: As with any Internet of Things (IoT) device, they are susceptible to hacking.
According to Deral Heiland, the IoT research lead for cybersecurity management company Rapid7, there's no actual internet connection to hack into with a stand-alone monitor, and any hacker would have to be within range of the camera. Radio monitors don't have the same encryption measures, but a hacker would still need to be within a few hundred feet of the monitor.
Wi-Fi based monitors have more risks, but they can be mitigated through a few best security practices, Heiland told Insider Reviews.
"Just like any camera-based technology, there's some risk, but there are ways to mitigate that risk," he said. "Most of the risk on camera-based technology is password reuse. Don't reuse passwords. Don't use the baby's name, a phone number, or a home address, or anything that people can easily guess. Create a complex password that is not used on other accounts."
If you choose a smart monitor, Heiland recommends looking for one that offers two-factor authentication, which requires a code to be sent to your phone anytime a new device tries to log in. The home Wi-Fi network should also have a hard-to-guess password that's a series of random letters and numbers rather than a known phrase.
Brand matters, too. A well-known brand will quickly patch up any vulnerabilities to maintain its brand reputation. Off-label brands sometimes have known vulnerabilities that are never patched.
But a total lack of vulnerabilities isn't necessarily a good sign. All technology has vulnerabilities, Heiland said, so with any IoT device, choose a company that has patched security issues before and provides a place to report them.
Unlike hacking into credit card data, there's no monetary gain to hacking a baby monitor (unless your monitor has a paid subscription) - the outcome is just shock and fear. While you can find stories dotting the internet about baby monitors being hacked, Heiland said that in almost every case, it was a simple target of opportunity with a weak or default password.
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