HomeKit Secure Video: 1, 5, or Unlimited Cameras by iCloud+ Tier

By Matthew Easterday · Published Jul 18, 2026 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

HomeKit Secure Video (HSV) is Apple’s private way to record security-camera footage. Instead of paying a camera maker a monthly cloud fee, your clips record straight to iCloud, encrypted end to end, using storage you may already pay for. The catch is that it needs a home hub (an Apple TV or HomePod) to do the on-device analysis, and your iCloud+ tier caps how many cameras you can add.

What is HomeKit Secure Video, exactly?

HSV lets a compatible camera or video doorbell record motion events to iCloud.

The flow works like this: your camera streams video to your home hub. The hub decides whether it’s seeing a person, animal, vehicle, or package. If it’s a meaningful event, the clip is uploaded to iCloud.

The trade-off is that HSV requires an always-on hub in the house to run that analysis.

What does HomeKit Secure Video cost?

Nothing beyond your iCloud+ storage plan. HSV is included with iCloud+; there is no per-camera charge from Apple, and recorded footage does not count against your iCloud storage limit. Up to ten days of clips are retained.

What your plan does control is how many cameras you can connect:

The table is the whole rule; count your cameras and read across. I’m not quoting dollar figures here because Apple adjusts them by region and over time. Check the current rates in Settings on your iPhone.

Why is HomeKit Secure Video considered private?

Because Apple engineered it so the company cannot watch your footage.

Every clip is encrypted before it leaves your home, and only your personal devices, plus those of the people you share your home with, can decrypt it. Live streams are protected with strong encryption too, whether you’re home or away. The motion analysis, the part that figures out “that’s a person, not a passing car”, runs locally on your home hub, not in Apple’s cloud.

Face Recognition goes a step further: if you opt in, HSV can tag familiar people using names from your Photos library, and you decide who gets labeled. That matching happens on your devices, not on Apple’s servers.

What do you need to use it?

Three things:

• An HSV-compatible camera or doorbell. Look for “Works with Apple Home” and specifically HomeKit Secure Video support, not every HomeKit camera qualifies.
• A home hub. The rules changed here in 2026.
• A paid iCloud+ plan sized to your camera count (see the table above).

On the hub: Apple retired the original HomeKit architecture on February 10, 2026, and an iPad can no longer act as a home hub. Your hub must now be an Apple TV 4K, a HomePod, or a HomePod mini; for heavy multi-camera setups, an Apple TV 4K generally handles the analysis load more comfortably than a HomePod mini. If you were relying on an old iPad, HSV won’t record until you set up one of those instead.

How do you set up HomeKit Secure Video?

Once your hub and iCloud+ plan are in place, the camera side is quick:

1. Add the camera to Apple Home. Open the Home app, tap the +, choose Add Accessory, and scan the camera’s HomeKit code (many cameras set up through their own app first, then appear in Home).
2. Turn on recording. Tap the camera tile, open its settings, and set recording behavior separately for Home and Away — for example, off when you’re home, “record motion” when you’re away.
3. Set activity zones. Tap Select Activity Zones and draw a tight region over the area that matters. A front-door zone should cover the approach and doorstep rather than the whole street, so passing cars and sidewalk foot traffic stop triggering recordings.
4. Tune notifications. For each camera, limit alerts to meaningful events (people, packages) and lean on Home/Away so you’re not spammed when you’re standing in your own hallway.
5. Optionally enable Face Recognition. Home app → Home Settings → Cameras & Doorbells → Face Recognition, then toggle it on and choose whether to recognize familiar faces.

Is it worth it?

If you already pay for iCloud+, HSV gives you encrypted recording without a camera-maker subscription, and it plugs into the same automations as everything else in the Home app.

What this is based on

I’ve run HomeKit Secure Video for real. A eufyCam 2 kit bought in June 2020 recorded through HKSV for years, bridged into Apple Home by its HomeBase 2, in a mix of indoor and outdoor positions. That’s written up in the eufyCam 2 review.

Today an Aqara G100 in the garage records through HKSV, with recording enabled during setup. So the explanation above comes from having used the feature, on the eufy gear then and the Aqara now, but I can’t tell you how HKSV behaves on hardware I’ve never owned.

Matthew Easterday

Runs the homekit.reviews test home, a real mixed Matter/Thread/HomeKit house. Everything reviewed here was set up, paired, and lived with. See how I test →