Xiaomi’s modern video surveillance systems, such as the Mi Home Security Camera or Imilab, have become the standard for home and office security. Often, access to video streams is not only necessary for the owner of the main smartphone, but also for family members or colleagues. The question of how to connect a Xiaomi camera to a second phone is one of the most popular among users of the smart home ecosystem.
Unlike simple devices, IP-Cameras have limits on the number of simultaneous connections for direct administration, but provide flexible tools for sharing over cloud services. Understanding the difference between full access to a device and guest browsing avoids conflict in the system. In this article, we will discuss in detail all ways to log in to additional devices.
Principles of Xiaomi and Mi Home accounts
Xiaomi’s ecosystem is built around a single identifier, the Mi Account, which is the key to all smart devices in the house. When you link the camera to the Mi Home or Yi Home app, it is attached to your profile, which means that full control, including motion detection settings and memory card formatting, is only available from the main device.
But the architecture of the app allows you to create family structures or transfer access rights to other users, and that's for security: if anyone could just type in a Wi-Fi password and get full control of the camera, that would create a vulnerability, so a second phone would typically connect either through Sharing or through logging in to the same account, which has its nuances.
It's important to understand that simultaneously logging into the same Mi Account from different phones in the Mi Home app can cause you to become out of sync, and the system may assume that you've moved to a new device and try to update the list of gadgets, which sometimes leads to a temporary unavailability of the camera on the first phone, which is why the second phone most often uses a Sharing mechanism.
⚠️ Warning: Never share your primary Mi Account password with anyone. Use the Share Device feature to only give access to the camera, hiding the rest of the smart devices in the house.
For the system to work properly, it is necessary that both smartphones have the current version of the application installed. In some regions, different servers are used, and if the main phone is running on the Rossiya server, and the second user tries to log in with an account registered in China, the sharing may not work. Make sure that the regions in the application settings are the same.
Preparation of equipment and software
Before you start setting up the second phone, you need to make sure that the camera itself is already successfully installed and running on the main device. Without the initial configuration through the main smartphone, you can not add the device to the network. The camera must be on, connected to Wi-Fi and display the status of "Online" in the application.
The second phone you plan to use to view, you need to install the Mi Home app. Depending on the camera model (for example, the old Yi models or the new Mi 360), you may need a separate Yi Home or Imilab app.
- 📱 Make sure the second phone has Android 6.0 installed.+ or iOS 12.0+ stable-working.
- 📶 Both smartphones should have access to the Internet (preferably). 4G/5G or stable Wi-Fi at the time of setting up.
- 🔋 Charge both devices to at least 40% so that the authorization process is not interrupted due to energy saving.
It’s also worth checking if geolocation is enabled on the second device. Mi Home requires access to location to search for devices on the LAN and some security features work correctly, and without this permission, the process of adding a device or receiving an invitation can be blocked during the scanning phase.
Method 1: Use of the Shared Access function (Share)
The safest and most secure way to connect a Xiaomi camera to a second phone is to use the built-in sharing feature, which allows the owner of the main account to send an invitation to another user's email or Mi ID. The second user receives only viewing rights and basic control (such as turning the camera), but cannot delete the device or change the Wi-Fi password.
To implement this method on the main phone, open the Mi Home app, find your camera in the list of devices, and click on the three dots in the upper right corner (settings menu). In the list that opens, select Share device.
You'll need to enter Mi. ID (This can be the phone number or email to which the second user’s account is registered or scanned. QR-When the invitation is sent, the second phone will receive a notification, the user must accept it, and the camera will automatically appear in their list of devices.
What to do if the invitation does not come?
If the notification doesn’t appear, ask the second user to check the Spam folder in the mail or the Messages section in the Mi Home app. Also make sure you choose the right server region when sending the invitation.> The advantage of this method is that the main account remains the sole owner, so if the second phone is lost or access to it is restricted, you simply remove the user from the list of shared access, and the connection is broken instantly. This is especially true for temporary staff or guests. ⚠️ Note: Sharing only works if both accounts (your and the second user) are tied to the same server region in the Mi Home app settings. Method 2: Signing in to one Mi Account from two devices is an alternative, but less recommended, way to install the same Mi Account login and password on the second phone, in which case the second phone becomes a full copy of the first, with all the rights of administrator. This can be convenient for spouses who fully trust each other and want to have identical access to all smart devices in the house.To implement this option, just download Mi Home on the second device and log in using your main account data. The system can request confirmation of entry through SMS-A code or push notification on the first device, and once you've logged in, the entire list of devices, including the camera, syncs automatically, but there are significant drawbacks to this method. First, motion notifications will be sent to both phones, which can create noise. Second, settings that have been changed on one device (such as sensor sensitivity or recording schedule) will be instantly applied on the second, which can lead to confusion. 🔄 Full synchronization of all smart home scenarios, not just cameras. 👁️ Event history and cloud subscription are available in full on both devices. ⚠️ The risk of desynchronization while changing the settings of the device, and some camera models may limit the number of simultaneous streams. If the main user is recording or viewing the archive, the second user may receive a message that the stream is busy and will not be able to see the picture in real time, so for simple video surveillance tasks, the sharing method is preferable. Configure access rights and restrictions When using the share function, it is important to properly configure the rights. In the Sharing menu, you can see a list of users who have access to the camera. By clicking on the username, you can detail their authority. Some models allow you to prevent the second user from turning the camera or turning on the speaker, leaving only the video stream. This is a critical security aspect. Imagine a situation where the second phone is in a child or an elderly person who can accidentally press the turn button or start talking through the camera while an important meeting is going on or an infant is sleeping. The rights restriction minimizes the risk of accidental interference. It is also worth paying attention to notifications. On the second phone, you can set up Do Not Disturblock mode for a particular device, or they will not be alerted at night, or when they will be on the main phone. This is done in the settings of the app itself on the second device in the notification section. Main account (Owner) Sharing (Guest) One account (Family) Viewing video Full access Full access Rotary control is set up There is Device Deletion There is Password Change Wi-Fi There is No View SD Archive There is (usually) There is a table that compares the possibilities. As you can see, using shared access gives flexibility in managing rights, whereas logging in under one account equalizes all users in rights, which is not always secure. Solving connection and access problems There is no Wi-Fi Password Change There is a common problem on the phone, although the first one is a common problem on the phone. This is often because the camera didn't synchronize access rights with the cloud server. In this case, try to force the list of devices in the application on the second phone to update the list of devices on the second phone by pulling the list down. If this didn't help, check the Internet connection. Xiaomi cameras are sensitive to signal quality, and if the router "discarded" one of the connections, it may not automatically recover without restarting. Another frequent error is "The device is used by another user." This happens when someone is already live from the camera. The video protocol has bandwid capacity restrictions. In this case, the second phone will request to interrupt the channel session or wait for the other user to release. ☑️ Diagnostics of connection problems Check status "Online" on the main phone Check match server region Reboot router and cameraReauthorization in the application: 0 / 4 If the problem is mismatched versions, upgrade the Mi Home app on both devices to the latest version. Older versions can use outdated encryption protocols that are blocked by Xiaomi servers when trying to connect from a new device. ⚠️ Warning: If the camera is no longer responsive to commands from both phones, don't rush to reset it to factory settings. Try to completely shut down the camera (take it out of the socket) on the camera. 10-15 It often solves the software freezes of the Wi-Fi module. Security and privacy of the video stream. Connecting the second phone expands the security perimeter. Now you can access the camera not on one device, but on two devices. This means that you need to monitor the security of both smartphones. If the second phone is lost, the attacker will gain access to the video stream of your home. Use the video encryption function if your camera model supports it (usually this is the option "Image Encryption" in the storage settings). In this case, to view the archive on the memory card even inside the application, you will need to enter an additional password that is not stored in the cloud. Regularly check the list of devices that have access to your account. In the Mi Account settings, there is a section "Devices" where you can see which gadgets are logged in. If you see there, if you see an unfamiliar device or phone there, even inside the application, you have a temporary password, remember that you have a password, immediately. A strong Wi-Fi password, two-factor authentication for Mi Account and control of shared lists are the basic elements that will protect your privacy from unauthorized tampering. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Can a Xiaomi camera be connected to a phone without the Internet? View video stream remotely without the Internet is impossible, since data transfer goes through Xiaomi cloud servers. However, if both devices (phone and camera) are on the same local Wi-Fi network, some models allow local browsing without access to the global network, but for initial setting up the Internet is mandatory. How many people can Xiaomi officially support for one camera at the same time before the 5? However, when you try to connect the 4th and 5th users, the video quality can decrease and the delay will increase due to the limited channel capacity of the camera itself. What happens if you change the password from the Wi-Fi router? The camera will lose internet connection and be accessible from all phones, so you will have to reconfigure the camera to a new Wi-Fi via the main phone using the same phone. QR-code or voice pairing, and then the second phone will be restored automatically (PC)? Yes, this can be done through Android emulators (e.g. BlueStacks) or using third-party software to help you with your mobile phone. IP-cameras, for example, VLC or ONVIF-compatible software, if the camera settings have the protocol enabled ONVIF and the password is set. RTSP. Do I have to pay for connecting a second phone? No, the Shared Access (Share) feature and the ability to log in from multiple devices are free. The only fee you can pay is a cloud storage service, if you want the second user to have access to the history of events in the cloud, too.