hkdoorbell - Homekit Doorbell

hkdoorbell is an open-source implementation of an HomeKit IP doorbell. It uses ffmpeg to access the camera stream and publishes the stream to HomeKit using hc by Matthias Hochgatterer. The doorbell camera stream can be viewed in any HomeKit app.

Features

• live streaming via HomeKit with bi-directional audio
• works with any HomeKit app
• completely written in Go
• runs on multiple platforms (Linux, macOS)
• in memory cache for snapshots
• backend web service (default at 0.0.0.0:8080) with last 100 snapshots

Limitations

• only one person can answer and see the doorbell camera
• Secure video is not supported at the moment
• motion sensor is not supported (useful only if secure video is implemented)

Get Started

hkdoorbell uses Go modules and therefore requires Go 1.11 or higher.

Mac

The fastest way to get started is to

1. download the project on a Mac with a built-in iSight camera

git clone https://github.com/ra1nb0w/hkdoorbell && cd hkdooebell

2. run with make run or make bin to get the binary
3. open any HomeKit app and add the doorbell to HomeKit (pin for initial setup is 001 02 003)
4. if you need to change parameters like pin read the help of the binary with ./hkdoorbell

These steps require git, go and ffmpeg (with libfdk-aac) to be installed. On macOS you can install them via macports.

sudo port install git go
sudo port install ffmpeg +nonfree

For ffmpeg you can also use pre-compiled binary from ffmpeg for homebridge but pay attention that it violates the GPL license.

To simulate the doorbell button you can write anything in the console and press enter.

Raspberry Pi

If you want to create your own doorbell, you can run hkdoorbell on a Raspberry Pi with attached camera module and input/output audio.

To create the binary run make build-rpi or to get the package run make package-rpi.

The software requires the following things:

• ffmpeg with libfdk-aac and h264_omx. You can use a pre-compiled binary from ffmpeg for homebridge but pay attention that it violates the GPL license.
• enable the camera with raspi-config
• input/audio HAT like ReSpeaker 2-Mics Pi HAT correctly configured; check with alsamixer the parameters and set /etc/asound.conf accordingly
• one gpio connected to a phisical button with a pull-up resistor and a capacitor; as default GPIO 17 is used; can be changed with a command line parameter

Notes

• Compared to a "simple" camera plugin this plugin uses the HomeKit video doorbell profile. A "doorbell" notification with snapshot is sent to all iCloud connected devices. If the same (HomeKit) room containing this camera also has a Lock mechanism accessory, the notification will show a working UNLOCK button. HomeKit/iOS will link them together automatically when they are in the same room.

License

hkdoorbell is available under the Apache License 2.0 license. See the LICENSE file for more info.