Blink App- What Are The Device Settings?

The device setting menu is found by tapping the icon of the three horizontal lines that can be seen above the thumbnail of each camera.

When you open this menu, there are four sub menus.

  • General settings
  • Motion settings
  • Video settings
  • Audio settings

Let’s first take a look at the general settings menu. 

General Settings

This menu provides six pieces of information and allows you to do five things.

1. Can I rename the device/ camera?

Yes, you can.

The first option in this menu is device name.

In this option you can change the name of the camera to something more meaningful to you.

Just touch on the current device name and a keyboard will appear on your phone. Type the new name of your device. For instance, if you have a few cameras in the living room you might want to name one of them “TV” to denote the camera that is closest to the TV. 

2. Firmware

It displays the version of firmware that your camera is running- which shouldn’t be confused with the version of Blink app which you are using. This isn’t a value you can change but is something to bear in mind.

When I type the firmware version and the model of Blink camera into Google, I can’t find any details about whether it is the latest version. 

I can only find a list of all the Blink cameras and the date until which they are guaranteed to receive security updates.

3. Can I change how the LEDs are displayed?

There are two status LEDs on a Blink Mini camera- one either side of the lens.

The LED on the left hand side is green and the LED on the right hand side is blue.

Both the green and blue light can be flashing or be solid depending on what they are doing.

The Status LED option allows you to choose between having the two LEDs always on, always off and when recording.

The always on option will mean that a solid green light (situated on the left) and a flashing blue light (on the right) will be displayed constantly.

The always off option switches of all the lights permanently.

And the when recording option will mean that a solid green light (situated on the left) and a flashing blue light (on the right) will be displayed only when the camera is recording. 

4. Can I change the WIFI network

Selecting this option allows you to change the WiFi network that the camera is connected to. 

It will require you to reset your camera and then connect it the new WiFi network.

5. Can I check the WIFI status?

This option displays the strength of the WiFi signal using the common WiFi icon. The number of semi circles above the icon denotes the quality of the connection. 

6. How do I delete a device/ camera?

https://youtube.com/shorts/g75v_UMUD4o

Selecting this option allows you to delete this individual camera, which is different to an option in another settings menu that allows you to delete a whole system of cameras.

And the video for that is shown below.

Remember, if you delete a camera by accident, you can always just add it again.

Having looked at the six options within the general settings it is time to narrow down our focus.

Next up, motion settings. 

Motion Settings

The motion settings provides a user with eight variables that can be changed.

1. Enable/ disable motion detection

This option allows you to disable or enable the motion detection system on the camera.

Just tap on the circle to the right of “enable motion detection” in order to enable or disable it.

If motion detection is enabled, the circle is blue when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour and your camera won’t detect any motion at all.

2. Set activity zones or motion zones

This option allows you to create an activity or motion zone.

But what exactly is an activity zone?

The total view of a camera’s lens is called a field of vision and an activity zone is when part of that total view is selected and designated an activity zone.

The idea is that only motion that is detected within that zone will lead to notifications being sent or clips being saved.

If motion is detected outside of the zone but still within the camera’s field of vision, it will be ignored.

How is an activity zone created in the Blink app?

An activity zone is created by using an image taken by the camera. The image shows the camera’s field of view. The image is divided up into a grid of twenty rectangles in the Blink app. You then tap on a rectangle to include it in the activity zone.

Only motion in this zone should trigger a motion alert or notification. Motion detected outside of the zone (but still within the camera’s field of view) should not trigger an alert. 

3. What is Retrigger time?

This is the minimum length of time that you want between motion alerts.

The retrigger time is the time that the camera goes into standby or sleep mode after a motion alert

The scale in the app is between 10 seconds and 60 seconds. 

If you set the retrigger time to 10 seconds, the camera will sleep or (or go into standby) for at least 10 seconds after a motion alert before it will even attempt to detect any more..

If you set the retrigger time to 60 seconds, the camera will sleep for at least 60 seconds after a motion alert before it will try and detect any more motion.

The shorter the retrigger time, the more motion alerts and motion clips you will potentially receive.

And the shorter the retrigger time, the faster your camera will potentially use it’s battery- although that doesn’t apply to the Blink Mini.

The retrigger time can be changed at any point. It might be that the default retrigger setting for your camera is 30 seconds but if you view a motion clip of suspicious activity then you might want the camera to respond faster and lower the retrigger time to 10 seconds.

4. How sensitive is my Blink Mini?

The next variable in the motion settings is for sensitivity.

This allows you to set how sensitive the sensor reacts to motion.

The scale in the app is between 1 and 9, with one being least sensitive and nine being most sensitive. A crude analogy is that 1 will only create a motion alert if an elephant is jumping up and down and 9 sends out an alert when a pin drops!

Or it might be that you have have placed your camera in a position where it keeps sending you motion alerts.

If these motion alerts are harmless or irrelevant one way to try and reduce the amount is to lower the sensitivity of the camera instead of having to reposition it.

5. Clip length

This option allows you to determine the duration of the video that is recorded after motion is detected. 

It ranges from 5 seconds to 30 seconds.

The exact range you choose depends on the type of motion that your camera is detecting and how you are storing these clips.

It might be that your normal setting for a camera is to save a clip of five seconds but when you watch a clip of some suspicious activity, you might want to increase the length of these clips to 30 seconds.

If thirty seconds isn’t enough, you can connect to your camera live and record the live footage.

6. End clip early if motion stops

This option can be enabled or disabled.

Just tap on the circle to the right of “end clip early” in order to enable or disable it.

If the option is enabled, the circle is blue when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour.

But what exactly does it mean?

In the previous option you determine the length of a clip in seconds.

By enabling a clip to be ended early if motion stops it means that even if you have set each motion clip to last for 20 seconds, if motion stops after 10 seconds the clip will only be ten seconds. 

Enabling this option does have its pros and cons.

On the good side, you will be saving on the amount of storage that your clips take up and use less of your Blink camera’s battery life, if it is applicable.

A potential drawback of ending a clip early is that your camera might not detect some important motion.

If the camera ends a clip as soon as motion is stopped, then the quickest that it will detect the next motion is 10 seconds and if there is an intruder in your home then a lot can happen in 10 seconds!

7. Early notification

This option can be enabled or disabled.

Just tap on the circle to the right of “early notification” in order to enable or disable it.

If the option is enabled, the circle is blue when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour.

But what exactly does it mean?

By default, the Blink app will send you a motion alert immediately after it has finished detecting motion or recording the clip which is really neat because then you will have a video clip to watch immediately. 

However, early notification allows you to receive a notification as motion is first detected. But there might be a catch. By doing so you will slightly delay the start of the recording of the motion clip.  

8. Can I stop motion recordings?

Yes, you can and this option allows you to do just that.

Just tap on the circle to the right of “motion recordings” in order to enable or disable it.

If motion recordings are enabled, the circle is blue- when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour.

If you disable motion recordings you won’t receive any motion clips but you will still receive motion alerts though. 

Many of these motion settings focus on adjusting different aspects of the Mini’s ability to record video.

More detailed settings can be found in the next menu, video settings.

Video settings

The video settings menu offers us four variables to change.

The first two are related to the night vision function.

1. Control

This option allows you to place the night vision function in one of three “states”:

  • always on,
  • always off or
  • auto

To select any one of these options just tap on the circle to the left of each option.

Auto

Let’s start with the auto option because this will allow me to explain things a bit more.

The Blink Mini is fitted with an infrared sensor and a light sensor.

During the day and in bright conditions the Blink Mini uses its colour lens to record images and clips. 

When the light sensor detects that it is getting dark, the colour lens is shut down and the infrared sensor is started up.

Any clips or images produced in low light or dark conditions will be black and white because they have been created with the infrared sensor.

Always off

If “always off” is selected, this refers to the infrared sensor.  When it gets dark, the light sensor will stop the colour lens from working but since the infrared sensor won’t operate no motion clips or motion alerts will be sent.

This might seem crazy at first but it is a great option for people who have their Blink Mini set up in a place where there is another source of light- such as a stand alone motion sensing light.

Always on

If “always on” is selected, the opposite is true. The colour lens will be stopped from working and all clips will be black and white (no matter what time of day) as they have been created with the infrared sensor. 

If night vision is set to always on, no matter what time of day it is, all of your clips or images will be in black and white.

2. IR Intensity

IR Intensity allows you to change the sensitivity that the infrared sensor works at. There are three levels to choose from- low, medium or high.

To select any one of these options just tap on the circle to the left of each option.

Setting it to low means that it will only register objects that emit the strongest amounts of infrared such as large animals or humans.

Setting it to high means that it can detect smaller objects or objects which are giving off less infrared energy. 

 In that sense, it is very similar to what the sensitivity option does to the motion sensor

The next set of options relate to the video.

3. Video quality

This option allows you to alter the quality (as defined by number of pixels) that any video clips are recorded- saver, standard or best.

To select any one of these options just tap on the circle to the left of each option.

The more pixels in an image the clearer and better quality it is. 

Selecting “saver” means that each video is recorded at 360P. This means that each image or frame of a video will be 360 pixels high.

The “standard” format will save video at 720p- each frame will be 720 pixels high.

The “best” option saves images at a resolution of 1080p- each frame will be 1080 high. 

The more pixels that are in an image the larger its file size is and the more storage it will take up. This isn’t an important consideration for those camera owners who have a cloud storage subscription but it is much more important for those users who are relying on a local backup via the Sync 2 module and a USB stick.

4. Flip video

This option needs to be enabled when the Blink Mini has been mounted upside down. 

Just tap on the circle to the right in order to enable or disable it.

If the option is enabled, the circle is blue when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour.

Audio settings

The last menu within the device settings are for the audio settings.

If you are flagging a bit at this stage then you will be pleased to know that the options in this menu are few!

These options allow you to control the speaker that is mounted on the top of the Blink Mini.

This speaker enables you to speak to anyone who might be close to the camera when you are holding the talk button in the live view menu.

1. Enable audio

Toggle the switch on in order to make the speaker work.

Just tap on the circle to the right of “early notification” in order to enable or disable it.

If the option is enabled, the circle is blue when it is disabled it turns a light grey colour.

2. Speaker volume

This sliding scale moves from mute on the far left to loud on the far right. 

In order to change the volume, tap on the blue circle and slide it to the right in order to increase the volume and slide it left in order to decrease the volume.