If you are searching for a way in which to keep your phone connected to a live feed from your Blink Mini for an unlimited amount of time, your options are very limited. You will be disappointed in the same way that Blink owners who would like their cameras to record constantly.
When it comes to the length of connection to a live feed, your options are limited but they do increase with the more money that you spend! Before I explain these possibilities, I want to define more precisely what I mean by live view.
What is live view?
Live view is when a user of a Blink Mini connects to the camera via the Blink app and watches a live feed from the camera.
But depending on how you use your Blink Mini will depend on how you can use live view. This includes how long you can stay connected to a camera amongst other things. There are three basic setups that I want to look at in this article.
- Stand alone Blink Mini
- Blink Mini Sync Module 2
- Blink Mini Subscription plan
Stand alone Blink Mini
If you are trying to use a Blink Mini without connecting it to a sync module or buying a subscription plan then live view is one of the few features that will work on your camera. Although in reality the live view function is so limited that it is only slightly better than useless.
As my video below highlights.
Your connection to the camera will last for about 5 minutes but every minute or so the connection will need to be refreshed by selecting the blue “continue” button. After 5 minutes, your connection will just end automatically.
Instead of showing a live feed of the camera, the black and white thumbnail is displayed on screen with a blue arrow (play icon) in the middle. Press on this if you want to connect again.
Blink Mini Sync Module 2
Your live view options when your Blink Mini is in a system that includes a Sync Module 2 are slightly better. You can connect to the camera for 5 minutes continuously without the need to refresh the connection every minute.
I mean that’s an improvement but as far as live view is concerned it isn’t much of one is it?
After 5 minutes the connection will end automatically.
Instead of showing a live feed of the camera, the black and white thumbnail is displayed on screen with a blue arrow (play icon) in the middle. Press on this if you want to connect again.
Blink Subscription Plan
Few of you will be surprised when I tell you that the functionality of a live view Mini which is connected to a subscription plan is far, far superior to the other options that I have described above.
A subscription gives you the option of a standard five minute uninterrupted connection to your camera as well as enabling a huge ninety minute uninterrupted connection. This is done by tapping on the “more” icon in the bottom right of the live view screen and then tapping on the “extended live view off” white icon in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. You will be taken to another page where you select the blue enable button and you will see a live feed from your camera. This connection will only end after ninety minutes.
What’s interesting is that if you end your session before the ninety minutes is up, when you next connect to live view, it will start a new 90 minute session.
How do I turn off extended live view?
To turn off extended live view and return to the standard live view, just tap on the more button at the bottom of the live view screen and then tap on the blue “extended live view on” icon on the left hand side. On the next screen tap on the blue continue button and you will be connected to your camera once more.
And that isn’t the only additional live view function that subscription holders get. You can also record a standard five minute live view connection which can be viewed via the clip menu on the homepage of the Blink app.
To record a 5 minute live view session, tap on the black and white save icon on the bottom left of the live view page. The icon will change to a white checkmark on a blue background to show that this session is being recorded.
Will live view be interrupted by my screen going to sleep?
Some of you might be worried that the sleep or dimming settings that you have on your phone might interrupt a live view session.
But this isn’t the case.
A phone screen will only dim after a period of inactivity and a live view connection stops a screen from dimming.
Here is a video of setting up a 15 second screen dim on my phone.
With the same 15 second setting, here is a video of a live view connection.
The live connection overrides the screen dim and will continue for the full 5 minutes if I had continued recording.
