Logitech Launches New Circle View Camera With HomeKit Secure Video Support

Monday May 18, 2020 6:00 am PDT by Juli Clover

Logitech today introduced its newest home security camera with HomeKit Secure Video support, the new Circle View. The Circle View Camera offers crisp, 1080p video capture with a 180-degree diagonal field of view.

circleview1
According to Logitech, the Circle View features a wide dynamic range for more detail in sunlight or shadows. Like existing Logitech Circle cameras, the Circle View features an infrared night vision camera so it can continue to record in the dark, offering full-field visibility up to 15 feet away.

The design is similar to the Circle 2, but it is made from black aluminum with a new base design. The camera can tilt downwards when needed for privacy, and it can be placed on a shelf or mounted on a wall. Available to use indoors or out, it has a weatherproof body and a microphone and speaker for two-way communication in the Logitech Circle app.

Logitech has in the past offered cameras that are battery powered, but the Circle View is a wired option because it records continuously.

The Circle View Camera supports Apple's ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, so it does not rely on Logitech's cloud services. With ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, recorded footage is encrypted and stored in iCloud. Video can be viewed from the Circle View Camera in the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unlocking full functionality will require a home hub, which includes a HomePod, Apple TV, or ‌iPad‌ running the latest software from Apple.

There are no monthly fees associated with ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, but it does require a 200GB or 1TB ‌iCloud‌ storage plan. 200GB is needed for a single camera, while multiple cameras require the 1TB storage option. Apple prices its 200GB ‌iCloud‌ storage plan at $2.99 per month and its 1TB storage plan at $9.99 per month.

Though ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ requires a higher-tier ‌iCloud‌ storage plan, video stored in the cloud does not count against your ‌iCloud‌ storage totals.

All video is secured with end-to-end encryption with video analysis done on device rather than in the cloud. The camera can detect the presence of a person, animal, or vehicle before video footage is saved.

The Circle View can be purchased for $159.99 from the Logitech website or from Apple's online store starting today.

Tags: HomeKit Guide, HomeKit Secure Video, Logitech

Top Rated Comments

Unggoy Murderer

84 months ago

Yeah, the Circle 2 HomeKit support is an absolute disaster. This will likely be the same.

I have one, but not had any issues at all? HomeKit in the cloud works great too, and Logitech even kindly cancelled my subscription to their service when I enabled it.

Had nothing but positive experiences with Logitech in general, gear's generally good quality.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

kmdesign

84 months ago

No 5Ghz WiFi? No POE option? Nope.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

name99

84 months ago

Wyzecams are $26 shipped with no subscriptions and even comes with 12 seconds/event of free cloud storage. If you want "complete motion capture" to upload more than 12 seconds to the cloud, it's $1.50/mo/camera. I'm sure this logitech camera is "better" in every way, but imo it's hard to compete with Wyze's business model.

They're solving a very different problem. Both are useful, and people who are not insane are happy to use both! I personally have both (equivalents) in my house -- Blink for some tasks, Nest for others.

There's something broken about modern society that KEEPS insisting, no matter how often this is pointed out as dumb, that every problem requires one *and only one* solution.

No 5Ghz WiFi? No POE option? Nope.

Can we stay at least vaguely attached to reality? PoE is a MASSIVELY specialized item, it's hardly something that the average consumer knows about, cares about, or could even support in their house. It makes zero sense to demand that a consumer product support that; if you want business features look at business products.

5GHz is less justifiable, but I think the reality is that the market has pretty much concluded that 2.4GHz is the best option for IoT devices because of range. You can fight this every day, or you can accept this reality, create a separate 2.4GHz network for your IoT devices, and get on with your life.

There is real crap out there in the IoT space -- things like WeMo plugs that simply randomly disconnect from HomeKit every few days. I think we need to spend our energy fighting the battle against real crap, not against decisions that are perfectly reasonable, even if you don't like them. If you want 5GHz, EveCam gives you that. If you want PoE, the Ubiquiti cameras give you that, and you can HomeBridge them to HomeKit.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

thejadedmonkey

84 months ago

Why is everyone and their mother making camera products nowadays?

Because this sort of camera tech was around a decade ago for $500. It's since been commoditized, so that a $150 is probably $15 in parts, and excluding packaging/branding/software (I know....), $135 in profit, plus the chance to grab one of those sweet sweet reoccurring subscription fees.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

0134168

83 months ago

I have one, but not had any issues at all? HomeKit in the cloud works great too, and Logitech even kindly cancelled my subscription to their service when I enabled it.

Had nothing but positive experiences with Logitech in general, gear's generally good quality.

Same here. Absolutely happy with it. Mone than one year using it and no complains at all.

See no reason to replace Circle 2 with this device.
Cash grab it seems by Logitech. Have had no issues with Circle 2 and HSV. Also enjoy them being plugged into my outlets.

Also have it in an outlet. Can´t understand why they drop this feature.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

meduk1

84 months ago

Apple should separate the listings on their site for cameras that do not support Secure Video service but are HomeKit enabled. arlo has good cameras on spec sheet, but do not currently support Secure Video with no published plan to do so.

While HKSV is safe enough for me as a home user, it's still one of those things that will make customers cock their heads sideways at me for implementing as all the video is stored off-site.

iCloud is quite safe to my understanding, but someone will inevitably remind me of the massive breach years back that saw celebrity accounts leaked.

Apple does separate out the cameras that support HomeKit and those that support Secure Video. There's an * against those on their site that support secure video. The Alro's are listed as supporting HomeKit but not secure so it is accurate, although not immediately obvious until you read the small print!

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Read All Comments

Logitech Launches New Circle View Camera With HomeKit Secure Video Support

Popular Stories

First Look at LG's Smart Home Products Made With Apple

Apple Working to Expand HomeKit

Leak Details iPhone Features for Apple's LG Home Accessories

Top Rated Comments

Next Article

Videos

Guides

Upcoming

Other Stories