Daily iPhone App: Total Control

Total Control is for the surveillance camera owner who wants "total control" of his or her arsenal of cameras. I recently installed two surveillance cameras in my home and use this app to observe both the interior and exterior my house when I'm traveling.

Total Control has a comprehensive database of supported cameras and can connect to over 500 models from 100 different manufacturers. I have a Panasonic and a Foscam camera and the app had pre-configured profiles for both models. Once I installed the cameras on my network, setting up the Total Control app was as easy as selecting the right camera model, entering my camera's network and password information and then hitting save. The app can also connect to DVR channels and other video encoder streams.

The app grabs the video feed from the source and displays its in a grid on the main screen. You can see one video feed or an infinite number of feeds, depending on the version of the app you bought. I purchased the eight camera version, so I can add additional cameras in the future.

The app isn't just for watching; if your camera supports remote control, you can use Total Control to pan, tilt and zoom. You can also take a screenshot from the video feed and save it your camera roll. The app works over WiFi and 3G without any limits. It's also one of a few apps that connect directly to the camera. You don't have to use a third-party server or run software locally to get it to work.

The Total Control iPhon app is available in several different versions that differ only by the number of cameras you can view at once. The single version costs US$4.99 and lets you follow one camera. There's a four camera version that costs $5.99, an eight camera that costs $7.99, and so on. The top app is the ultimate version which lets you watch as many cameras as you need for $45.99.