iOS 13 and Photo Notifications

With iOS 13 the ability to create Photo Notifications by placing a contact, or motion sensor in the same room as a camera went away. And as the feature scored very high on the WAF scale, I created the workaround based on the new requirement to have a motion sensor as part of the camera accessory.

With the workaround, a dummy switch and motion sensor are created as part of the camera. And by turning on the switch, it will trigger the dummy motion sensor, which will then send a Photo Notification to your iPhone/iPad. To turn on the switch, you can create an automation from your real motion sensor, and have it turn on the dummy switch attached to the camera.

To enable the work around, add the option "motion": true to your homebridge-camera-ffmpeg configuration, then in the home app, enable notifications in the setup screen for your camera, then create the automation.

Sample config.json with the motion option

{
  "bridge": {
    "name": "Test Homebridge",
    "username": "AA:BB:CC:DD:DD:FF",
    "port": 51826,
    "pin": "031-45-154"
  },

  "description": "HomeBridge Test Instance",

  "plugins": [
    "homebridge-camera-ffmpeg"
  ],

  "platforms": [{
    "platform": "Camera-ffmpeg",
    "cameras": [{
      "name": "Test",
      "motion": true,
      "videoConfig": {
       "source": "-f mjpeg -i http://test:8080/video",
        "stillImageSource": "-i http://test:8080/shot.jpg",
        "maxStreams": 2,
        "maxWidth": 1920,
        "maxHeight": 1080,
        "maxFPS": 15,
        "debug": true
      }
    }, {
      "name": "TestDW",
      "motion": true,
      "videoConfig": {
       "source": "-f mjpeg -i http://TestDW:8080/video",
        "stillImageSource": "-i http://TestDW:8080/shot.jpg",
        "maxStreams": 2,
        "maxWidth": 1920,
        "maxHeight": 1080,
        "maxFPS": 15,
        "debug": true
      }
    }]
  }],

  "accessories": []
}