The nursery phone,
set up right.

The camera runs all night, so keep the nursery phone on its charger. A stand, or a book angled at about 45°, is enough.

Settings → Display → Screen timeout → the longest option, or Never where your phone offers it.

Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never.

Turn the brightness right down instead. The camera doesn’t need the screen bright.

Settings → Apps → Baby’s Day In → Battery → Unrestricted. On Samsung, also Battery → Background usage limits → Never sleeping apps → add Baby’s Day In. On Xiaomi and Redmi, turn Autostart on for it.

Settings → General → Background App Refresh → on, and on for Baby’s Day In.

Battery Saver throttles the camera and the connection. Leave it off while the phone is monitoring.

Settings → Battery → Low Power Mode off while the phone is monitoring.

Settings → Apps → Baby’s Day In → Permissions → Camera and Microphone allowed. Notifications on too, so this phone can tell you when the connection drops.

Settings → Baby’s Day In → Camera, Microphone and Notifications on.

Auto-Soothe plays through this phone’s speaker at the media volume, so set that one, not the ringer.

Do Not Disturb keeps other apps quiet; lullabies still play, because they’re media.

The silent switch doesn’t mute it either: lullabies are media, not ringtones.

Turn on Do Not Disturb on this phone, so a message ping doesn’t sound beside the crib.

Turn on a Focus, such as Do Not Disturb, so other apps stay quiet beside the crib.

Wi-Fi or mobile data both work, and the two phones don’t need to share a network. If the Wi-Fi is weak in the nursery, an extender or mobile data is more reliable than a faint signal.

A dresser or shelf at least a metre from the crib, angled down so the whole sleep surface is visible. Don’t point it at a window, and don’t tuck it face-down or behind fabric: the microphone needs a clear line of sound.