Have been thinking about this for a couple years. I have old phones kicking around. Battery shot, hardware dated, but the camera(s) and mic and antennas still work. Would be cool if there were a way to set them up (powered) to stream audio/video or even take stills at intervals (or motion-activated) and then sync the content to the rest of the devices on my network.
I don’t know how complex the programming for something like this would be. But I suspect it’s trivial for those who do know.
I find it works better in my iOS devices than my Androids. The camera is better. Then again, my newest Android running Alfred is about 3 years old.
I have 2 that run 24/7, for 6 months now, - an iPhone 6 and a Moto E5. They watch out the front window mostly to see UPS/Amazon drops.
They’re sensitive enough to trigger when tree leaf shadows move on the pavement.
I could pay for it and I’d be able to block out regions or better adjust the sensitivity.
Had one setup over the summer to watch a hummingbird feeder. Amazing video quality for such fast little birds. That one enabled me to catch the thief that was spilling the feeder ever day (squirrel), so I was able to use the notification to know he was there and scare him off. Worked out.