Eve Outdoor Camera Guide

Eve back in May came out with the Eve Outdoor Floodlight camera, one of the only floodlight-enabled HomeKit Secure Video cameras that are on the market. I have been testing the camera for several months now to get a feel for how it works and whether it's worth investing in.

Part of the reason that this review has taken so long is because the Eve Camera has some installation caveats that potential buyers should be aware of. This is a wall-mounted floodlight camera, so it needs to replace either an outdoor light or an existing camera oriented in the same way, unless you're going to install a new electrical connection.

My house has a lot of wide-angle downward-facing lights/cameras mounted just below my gutters, with these positioned in a way to see much of the yard. The Eve Camera can't be angled downward, so it can't be installed in the downward orientation that's common for security cameras or floodlights. It needs to be a straight-on position, like where you might put a doorbell camera. There is some tilt so you can tweak the angle, but not enough that it can replace something like a downward-facing Ring floodlight camera.

I ended up removing a Ring camera that was mounted on the wall by my back door, but I found that the Eve Camera has a smaller base than the Ring, so it did not fit the space. The base is also too small to fit a typical junction box outside that you might have for another light or camera, which is is a hassle if this is the only setup you have. I ultimately needed to replace and repair some siding to get the camera set up, and I'm still not sure that it's watertight. If you're replacing an existing camera, be aware that there might be some extra work to get it to look right, and this is likely going to be an issue for a lot of people.

As for installation, this is a camera that needs to be wired directly to a junction box. You can do it yourself, but you need some electrical wiring experience. I hired an electrician to install the camera, and he said it was simple enough minus the base sizing. Note that the Eve Outdoor Camera is limited to a 2.4GHz WiFi connection, which feels outdated.

Once installed, powered on, and connected to HomeKit, the Eve Outdoor Cam works like any other ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ camera. The video feed is viewed directly in the Home app, but it can also be accessed through the Eve app. You need an iCloud+ subscription to use ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌. The cheapest $1 plan allows for one camera, the $2.99/month plan allows for five cameras, and the $9.99 per month plan allows for unlimited cameras, with all plans also including iCloud storage and other ‌iCloud‌+ features.

The Eve Outdoor Cam offers 1080p video and it can record at night with night mode. Quality is reasonable and I can clearly see what's going on in my yard, but 1080p resolution is not enough to see details clearly from more than 8 to 10 feet away (I have this complaint about all of my cameras). During the day, it's not quite as crisp as my Ring cameras in areas with a lot of variation in light and dark, but at night, the feed is sharper with less noise than my other cameras.

‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ has the benefit of being encrypted, which gives peace of mind that your video feed isn't being viewed by someone else. It can only be viewed on your own devices and footage is stored in ‌iCloud‌. Security comes with some sacrifice in usability, and I don't think the Eve Outdoor Cam is as seamless to use as my Ring cameras, nor does it offer the same features and reliability.

There are times when the Eve Outdoor Cam fails to record, and it's an issue that I haven't been able to pin down. It's gotten better with iOS 16, but it still happens. It records whenever motion is detected, and another thing - it's sensitive to motion. "Motion" includes falling leaves, so it goes off constantly if I don't use Activity Zones and limit notifications.