Frigate iOS Apps Compared

The four options

If you self-host Frigate and use Apple devices, your real choices are:

• Lumen for Frigate — multi-platform, Pro tier with AI features
• Viewu — free, basic viewer for iOS
• Kapal — free with $0.99 lifetime upgrade, iOS only
• Frigate NVR (3rd-party, "not affiliated") — free, basic

HomeKit Secure Video and the Synology DS Cam app aren't direct comparisons — different ecosystems entirely. If you're already running Frigate, you're already past the point of using HomeKit-only cameras.

Side by side

Verified data from each app's App Store listing as of April 2026.

When to choose which

Choose Viewu or Frigate NVR if

• You want a free app and only need iOS
• You don't care about widgets, Watch, or TV
• Your Frigate deployment is small (1-3 cameras)
• You don't need AI features beyond what Frigate already provides server-side

Both apps do the basics well. They're not actively bad — they're just basic.

Choose Kapal if

• You want the cheapest paid option ($0.99 lifetime)
• You only use iPhone or iPad
• You like the privacy-first positioning

Kapal is excellent value if your needs are exclusively on iOS. Multi-server failover is a nice touch most apps don't offer.

Choose Lumen if

• You use multiple Apple devices (iPhone + iPad + Mac, Apple TV, Watch)
• You want widgets, Live Activities, complications, Vision Pro support
• You want AI Pro features (face recognition, license plate, semantic search) running directly against your Frigate API
• You want active development with regular updates
• You're okay paying once for Pro and getting it forever across every Apple device you own

Lumen is the only app that covers the full Apple platform. One purchase ($49.99 lifetime) unlocks Pro on every device you own — including future ones — with Family Sharing.

Full disclosure: this page is on lorislab.fr because we built Lumen. We've tried to keep the comparison honest — Kapal at $0.99 is genuinely good for what it is, and the free options work for basic monitoring. Pick the one that fits your setup.

Privacy posture (often overlooked)

Every app in this list connects directly to your Frigate API on your local network. None of them route through a cloud relay (a thing that other "smart camera" apps absolutely do).

• No analytics — Lumen specifically doesn't ship analytics SDKs. Verify this in our privacy policy.
• No relay servers — your camera streams stay on your network. The app talks to http://your-frigate-server:5000 directly.
• Minimum data collected — Pro purchase status from Apple's StoreKit, that's it.