Hi everyone,
Important: new app ID
The current Hikvision app uses app ID nl.nobrainer.hikvision. It is a separate app and cannot automatically migrate devices or Flows from the previous test app nl.nobrainerhomey.Hikvision.
To move safely:
- Install the new app and add your Hikvision devices again.
- Recreate or update Flows that use the previous app.
- Test the devices, Live video, snapshots, widgets and Flows.
- Only then remove the previous app from Homey.
The previous test app will be withdrawn at the end of September 2026. Existing installations are not removed automatically, but will no longer receive updates.
Current Test version: 2026.9.11
Source code and documentation:
This Homey SDK v3 app connects compatible Hikvision IP cameras, video doorbells and NVRs directly over the local network using ISAPI and RTSP. No Hikvision cloud account is required.
Update 2026.9.11
- Added the optional Hikvision NVR camera channel driver for installing automatically detected NVR channels as individual Homey devices.
- Each channel can have its own name, zone, tile, Live video, snapshots, recordings, alarm status and Flows.
- Install and connect the NVR with the existing combined driver first. Then add a device again, select Hikvision NVR camera channel and choose one or more detected channels.
- Channel devices reuse the NVR’s existing ISAPI connection, event stream and bounded snapshot cache. They do not open a separate Hikvision connection per channel.
- Existing NVR devices and Flows keep working. The NVR continues to provide aggregated status, while an individual channel device only responds to events for its own channel.
- Both Hikvision widgets and the existing Flow cards support the new channel devices.
Main features
- Native Homey Live video through RTSP and WebRTC
- Automatic selection of a compatible H.264 substream, with manual main/substream selection
- Camera snapshots for up to sixteen online NVR channels
- Optional individual Homey camera devices for automatically detected NVR channels
- Dashboard camera widget with automatic NVR channel selection, digital zoom, touch panning, pinch gestures, mobile landscape/fullscreen viewing, snapshot Flow trigger and selectable refresh interval
- Separate recordings widget for searching and playing compatible NVR recordings
- Automatic local-network discovery and connection testing during pairing
- Standard Homey device icons selected automatically for cameras, PTZ cameras, doorbells and recorders, with manual override
- Support for Hikvision cameras, NVRs, compatible video doorbells and selected OEM devices
- HTTP and HTTPS with Automatic, Digest and forced Basic authentication
- Bounded Hikvision web-session fallback for compatible door-station firmware
- Automatic detection of available NVR channels, PTZ presets and door relays
- Relative PTZ movement, safe PTZ stop and stored PTZ preset selection
- Compatible door-relay control through Hikvision AccessControl
- Safe action to end a ringing video-intercom call
- Persistent event-monitoring controls without interrupting Live video or snapshots
- Automatic reconnects and retention of the last valid snapshot during temporary errors
- Privacy-safe diagnostics through Repair device
Flow and status support
Separate Flow triggers are available for:
- Doorbell button pressed
- Motion detection
- Local alarm input
- Video loss
- Camera tampering
- Line crossing
- Intrusion detection
- Region Entrance Detection
- Region Exiting Detection
- Connected, disconnected and connection-error events
- Event monitoring enabled or disabled
Motion, line crossing, intrusion, Region Entrance and Region Exiting activate the standard Homey camera tile and its zone. The minimum active time can be adjusted from 1 to 300 seconds in device settings.
Separate statuses, Flow conditions and Insights are available for supported alarm types. NVR alarm state is aggregated across channels. A safety timeout ends events when an NVR sends a start event without the matching stop event.
Motion, line-crossing, intrusion and doorbell triggers include a current snapshot tag where available. Advanced Flow can also take a snapshot from a selected camera or NVR channel.
Advanced Flow actions include relative PTZ movement, PTZ stop, stored presets, compatible door relays, event-monitoring controls and ending a current ringing intercom call.
Video doorbells
Compatible door stations are treated as single-channel video devices. The doorbell was pressed uses CallButtonPress from the ISAPI event stream and, on compatible intercoms, the official call status as a fallback. The states ring, ringing and calling are recognised and debounce prevents duplicate triggers.
Automatic authentication can use a bounded Hikvision web-session fallback for compatible firmware that rejects regular Digest and Basic ISAPI authentication. This targets HTTP 401 behaviour reported on some DS-KD8003 and DS-KV6113 door stations.
The End current intercom call action first checks model support and only sends the command while the intercom is ringing, so later Hik-Connect Live view and two-way audio remain available.
The Hikvision server port 8000 uses the proprietary HCNetSDK protocol and is not a direct connection option. Supported device functions use ISAPI over HTTP/HTTPS and Live video uses RTSP.
Live video compatibility
Homey Live video requires H.264. Many Hikvision devices use H.265 for the main stream, which Homey WebRTC cannot use directly. The app therefore prefers a compatible H.264 substream.
Default ports are normally:
- HTTP: 80
- HTTPS: 443
- RTSP: 554
If Live video is black or only audio is available, first verify that the selected substream uses H.264. You can also open the Hikvision device settings in Homey, set Video transport to Direct RTSP (compatibility), save and reopen Live. This setting is changed in Homey, not on the camera or NVR. Reports from users indicate that a remaining black-stream issue on some devices also affects other camera apps; H.264 remains required.
Alarm events
Enable Notify Surveillance Center as the linkage method for every required Hikvision event. Recording an event on the NVR does not by itself guarantee that the ISAPI event stream sends it to Homey.
Some accounts or firmware versions return HTTP 403 for the event stream. This prevents alarm and doorbell triggers, but does not prevent snapshots, the dashboard widget or Live video.
Requirements
- Homey Pro with firmware 12.3.0 or newer
- A compatible Hikvision device reachable on the local network
- A local account with video and event permissions
- Additional door-control permission for relay actions
- An H.264 RTSP profile for native Live video
Bug reports
Open Repair device to generate a privacy-safe report after reproducing an issue. The report contains the app version, device type, firmware, safe settings and relevant connection, stream, event and call-control diagnostics. If one diagnostic section fails, the remaining report is still created and includes a safe warning for that section. A minimal fallback remains available if the complete report cannot be created. Reports never include passwords, usernames, IP addresses, hostnames, images, video or raw event XML.
Please include the exact model and firmware, the tested channel and event, what was expected and what actually happened.
Have fun testing it! 
