Connection lost. Showing the last known status while we reconnect.
Home
Pick someone to see their day.
I show what I saw and what I do for each of them.
Cameras · snapshots, tap for live
Ask
ExperimentalAsk about Mom, Bella or the home.
I answer only from my camera checks on this computer.
Can be wrong. Questions aren’t saved.
Moments
A few photos Kiwi picks from each day, as a story.
A day at home
Make room for the good bits.
Playtime, a shared meal, a little time with your pet. Kiwi can keep a few photos worth coming back to.
Kept on this computer for 30 days. Captions can be wrong.
Activity
Everything Kiwi flagged, the people and pets it saw, and your daily recaps.
Settings
Camera pictures are checked on this computer, not in the cloud.
Cameras
Your cameras
Saved here. Ready when you need them.
Move camera
A notice for visitors
A friendly one-page note for a pet sitter or a guest: which rooms have cameras, that video stays on this computer, and how to ask for a pause. Tell your sitter about the cameras before they arrive.
All 4 slots are in use. Pause one to add another.
Camera checks
Waiting for your camera
Stops checks, alerts and live view for everyone.
People & pets
The people and pets you live with, and whether Kiwi recognizes them.
Recognition
Preparing recognition…
About recognition
Kiwi learns the people and pets you add, and tells you when it sees someone it doesn’t know.
- Turning it on downloads about 950 MB of recognition models once, in the background, from their publishers on Hugging Face. The face model, LVFace-B by ByteDance, is published for non-commercial research; the others are under MIT or Apache-2.0 licences.
- Everything stays on this computer, encrypted. Face templates are never sent to Kiwi’s AI model, to email or to OpenKiwi.
- Kiwi makes a face template of anyone its cameras see clearly, including visitors and children. The template of someone it doesn’t know goes after 24 hours unused, but the pictures of that sighting stay with the latest 100 sightings until newer ones replace them or you delete them. A face that keeps coming back is kept with up to four pictures for two weeks so Kiwi can ask who it is, or as templates only for 60 days if you choose Ignore. People and pets you add stay until you remove them.
- You are responsible for how your cameras are used. Tell the people in your home, and visitors, that Kiwi recognizes faces. Never point a camera into a bathroom or bedroom, or at a neighbour’s home, and check local rules before recording employees, carers or tenants.
- You can turn recognition off at any time in Settings › People & pets, and Kiwi stops checking at once. What it saved expires as above. To erase it sooner, remove people and pets there, choose Forget them for faces Kiwi kept, or erase everything on this computer in Settings › Privacy.
Draft wording · Pending counsel review.
No one yet. Add family and pets so Kiwi knows them.
How recognition works
- Runs on this computer. Photos and face templates are encrypted here; templates expire after 24 hours unused. A clear face Kiwi doesn’t know is kept up to two weeks so it can ask you about someone who keeps coming back. If you choose Ignore, up to six face templates (no photos) stay until that person hasn’t been seen for 60 days, so Kiwi doesn’t ask again. The pictures of each visit stay with the latest 100 visits until newer ones replace them or you delete them.
- Let people here know Kiwi recognizes faces.
- Someone Kiwi can’t identify gets one alert with images to review. A hidden face can still trigger it.
- Hazards are checked even for people Kiwi recognizes, and a recognized face never gets app access.
- Pet matching uses appearance, so similar coats and lighting can confuse it.
- Pausing camera checks pauses recognition; live view stays on.
- Saved appearances are in Activity → People & pets.
Recognition is experimental and can be wrong. Photos you add stay on this computer.
Recognition is on.
Email alerts for unfamiliar visitors are in Notifications.
Notifications
Get Kiwi’s notices on this phone
Checking this phone…
CheckingOne moment.
Your other phones and browsers
Everyone’s phones that get notices
You see this on the home computer only. Removing a phone stops its notices at once; the person can turn them on again on that phone.
Notices are in addition to email, which keeps working. I never put a picture or a clip in a notice; they open in Kiwi. A notice can arrive late, or not at all, if the phone is off or has no signal.
Morning notes I’d like
Alert me about
Kiwi looks for all of these and saves what it notices in Activity. A new home starts with alerts on for a fire, a fall and a forced entry, and for visitors; pet hazard alerts start off and are turned on from your pet’s card. Each has its own switch, and they need Alerts on too.
Tests used footage Kiwi hadn’t seen. It often misses pet hazards and break-ins, and it isn’t a smoke alarm or security system.
For alerts and recaps
iPhone alerts
iPhone alerts need phone access (Settings › Family › Turn on phone access) or your own Apple signing key.
Use your own Apple signing key (advanced)
Most people don’t need this. With your own key from an Apple Developer account, this computer sends alerts straight to Apple and OpenKiwi’s connection service is not involved. Apple receives only a short notice and an alert code. Pictures travel directly from this computer to your phone. The key stays on this computer.
Notices on a phone’s browser or Home Screen app, for you and your family, are under Settings › Notifications.
Who hears first
When I notice a fall, a fire or a forced entry, or I haven’t seen someone you look after, I tell people. Choose who hears first. If nobody says “I’m on it” in time, I tell the next person, and when everyone has had their turn I say that nobody has. I don’t call emergency services or anyone else; I only tell the people here.
Change this on the home computer.
Alerts
Alerts
Safety risks: at most one alert per camera every 10 minutes (fire: every hour). Unfamiliar visitors: one per visit.
Connect a phone or email first
Attach a photo
One picture in the email, which then sits in your email provider’s mailbox. May show people and your home. Clips and live video stay on this computer
Daily recap
Email the recap
Connect email first
Add a favorite photo
May show people and your home
Schedule
A recap email couldn’t be sent. Check your email connection.
If Kiwi stops watching
If this computer is off, asleep or updating, or Kiwi crashes, I can’t tell you myself. I can ask Kiwi’s connection service to email you instead. A check-in link for another service is under Advanced.
Email me if Kiwi stops watching
OffNo other service needed. If Kiwi stops checking your cameras, Kiwi’s connection service emails you at the address you signed in with. It works while phone access is on.
No check-in yet
The connection service learns that Kiwi is checking, when your notes are due and when you stop Kiwi on purpose: times, and nothing else. Never a camera, a picture, a name or a word of a note. It deletes all of it when you turn this off, turn off phone access or remove this home. If you pause Kiwi, turn the cameras off or quit it, I tell the service first, so you aren’t emailed for that.
On this computer
Desktop notifications
While Kiwi is open · same alerts as email
Family
This home
My home
Only on this computer for now
About this computer
Waiting for your approval
Sent from a family member’s phone over Kiwi’s website. Approve only what you recognize; anything you leave expires in a week.
Who’s home
Add your phone
Kiwi uses the phones on your home Wi-Fi to know who is home. Nothing leaves this computer.
- Join your home Wi-Fi on your phone
- Point your phone camera at this code
- Tap your name, then “That’s me”
Phone not connecting? Make sure it’s on your home Wi-Fi, not Guest and not cellular data.
Sharing
Turn on phone access
Kiwi away from home
Let family see Kiwi on their phones.
Prefer not to use the connection service? Share with your own email instead.
Connect email first to invite family. Family members sign in with a code sent by email.
Phone access is off on this computer: no connection service is set. Everything else works here.
Sharing
Turn on phone access
Kiwi on your phone
Not connectedOpen Kiwi in your phone’s browser. No app to install.
Waiting to remove this home
Scan to open Kiwi
With your phone’s camera to open Kiwi in its browser. Then sign in.
To test it, turn off your phone’s Wi-Fi.
Keep this computer on. Only people you invite can see your home.
Owner passkey
Changing your home from your phone
OffOne-time code
Type it on your phone at , and nowhere else: Kiwi’s website and emails never ask for it. It works once, for 10 minutes.
People
Family can view. Only you change settings.
Inviting a sitter? Tell them about the cameras before they arrive. You can print a notice for them under Settings › Cameras.
New family members can see the cameras: live view, pictures and short clips of the rooms you share, and they read what Kiwi saw and how it is doing. To give someone words and status only, choose Words only beside their name, here on the home computer.
Your sign-in
Passkey
Sign in with your face, fingerprint or screen lock
Lost a phone or passkey?
We’ll email that person a code.
Continue at KiwiDevices
Removing a device signs it out.
As an app
Add Kiwi to your home screen
Opens like an app
How to add it
Use Safari on iPhone, Chrome on Android or Edge on Windows, then choose Add to Home Screen or Install from the browser menu.
This adds Kiwi on this computer. For phones, set up phone access above.
Privacy
Camera pictures are checked on this computer, not in the cloud. Apart from downloading Kiwi’s AI and checking for updates, nothing leaves it unless you set up something that sends, like email alerts or phone access. What Kiwi keeps is listed here, and you can download or erase all of it.
Kept on this computer
How long each is kept
- Moments
- 30 days
- Daily recaps
- 30 days
- Ask Kiwi’s memory · words only
- 30 days
- Concerns, alerts and their images
- 90 days
- People & pets seen
- Latest 100
- People & pets you added
- Until you remove them
- Daily OK notes · words only
- As long as concerns and alerts · gone when you remove the person
- Faces Kiwi doesn’t know
- 2 weeks · 60 days after Ignore
Selected images are kept with each observation.
Removed moments and recap images count toward the same 30 days.
Home memory is what Ask Kiwi answers from: what each camera saw, who was recognized, safety checks, the pet's visits to its food and water, and when each camera was checked. Words and times only, never images; each day is deleted when it is older than the days you keep.
A face Kiwi doesn’t know is kept as a template for 24 hours unused, but the pictures of that visit stay with the latest 100. One that keeps coming back is kept with up to four pictures for two weeks, or as templates only for 60 days after Ignore. Delete them in Activity, and forget these faces any time in People & pets.
How long Kiwi keeps things
Kept with their images and Kiwi’s decisions. Older ones are deleted.
What Ask Kiwi answers from. Older days are deleted.
Clear what Ask Kiwi remembers
Deletes that memory now: words and times, never pictures. Moments, recaps and concerns are kept.
A concern you haven’t answered stays until you do. Delete one sooner from its page in Activity.
Your data
Download my home’s data
Everything Kiwi keeps, in one zip file
It has no passwords or keys, but it does have pictures of your home and the people in it. Keep it somewhere private.
What leaves this computer
Where things can goOnly what you set up, plus downloads and update checks
When Kiwi can work
- Keep the home computer on, online and running Kiwi.
- Home cameras keep working with this window closed; a browser webcam needs its tab open.
- If the computer or its internet goes down, Kiwi can’t tell you. A check-in service you set up in Advanced can.
- Email sign-in shares your address and a one-time code with the mail provider.
Deletes your home and everything Kiwi kept. Kiwi starts again as new.
Preferences
Appearance
How Kiwi looks on this device · ⌘⇧L switches
This computer
When I close the window
Ask me before updating
Start at sign-in
While this computer sleeps
Keep this computer awake and plugged in
Kiwi cannot watch, or send an alert, while the computer sleeps. The Kiwi desktop app stops it going to sleep by itself while it checks, but Sleep in the menu, the power button and closing a laptop’s lid still put it to sleep. If you run Kiwi another way, set the computer to stay awake in its own power settings. If you have set up email or Pushover in Notifications, Kiwi tells you when it was asleep for more than 15 minutes, once it is checking again (not on an iPhone: those notices are too loud for something that can happen every night). Today and Activity always show when.
Kiwi’s version, support details and open-source licenses are in Help.
Help
Setting up for someone else?
Before you leave
A short list to check before you go: Kiwi on your phone, who hears first, a test to everyone, and their printed page. Each line shows what is done and what isn’t.
About this Kiwi
- Version
- Loading…
Open-source licenses
What Kiwi is built with, and what it downloads
Get help
Disk space
If the computer sleeps
Kiwi cannot watch while it is asleep. Keep it awake and plugged in: Settings › Preferences
Write to us
hello@openkiwi.ai · say what went wrong. If we ask for your support file, you can read it and save it under Advanced
Remove Kiwi from this computer
- Uninstalling Kiwi leaves your home’s data on this computer. First choose Erase everything on this computer in Privacy.
- Mac: quit Kiwi, drag OpenKiwi from Applications to the Bin, then delete the folders
~/Library/Application Support/OpenKiwi(the AI and logs, or everything if you didn’t erase) and~/Library/Application Support/OpenKiwi Desktop(window settings). If you didn’t erase, also deleteai.openkiwi.householdin Keychain Access. - Windows: Settings › Apps › OpenKiwi › Uninstall, then choose Yes when it asks to delete your home’s data. That removes
%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenKiwiand%APPDATA%\OpenKiwi Desktoptoo.
Advanced
The technical details, for when someone who is helping asks for them. Nothing here is needed day to day.
Kiwi’s AI
The AI that looks at your cameras runs on this computer.
Audio is not supported.
Service details
Camera connections
Where Kiwi reaches each camera on your home network. A camera’s user name and password are never shown.
No cameras yet.
Connection details
Recognition
Turn recognition on in People & pets to see them here.
Check-in link for another service
If this computer is off, asleep or updating, or Kiwi crashes, Kiwi can’t tell you. A service you choose can: Kiwi checks in with it every 5 minutes while Kiwi is checking your cameras, and the service alerts you when the check-ins stop.
Tell me if Kiwi stops watching
OffWorks with healthchecks.io, Cronitor, Better Stack or any service that gives you a check-in link.
Check-in linkNot set up
Send a test check-in
Sends one check-in now, even if Kiwi isn’t checking, to see that your link works.
No check-in yet
A check-in is a plain web request to your link with nothing in it: no camera names, pictures, counts or events. Your service sees that it arrived, when, and your home’s internet address. Pausing Kiwi, turning every camera off or quitting Kiwi also stops the check-ins, so your service will alert you then too.
Support and logs
- Version
- Loading…
Support details
Version, this computer and what Kiwi is doing
Support file
How Kiwi, your cameras and phone access are doing, and the recent logs, with private details removed. You read it first, then save it and email it to us. Nothing is sent from here.
What is in the support file
This is everything in the file. Nothing is sent anywhere; you choose who gets it.
Older lines are left out.
After you save it, email the file to hello@openkiwi.ai with a sentence about what went wrong.
The file never holds camera pictures or clips, faces, the names of the people and pets you saved, your settings beyond a few on-or-off switches, or any password, address or code. Camera names you chose can appear in it: rename a camera first if its name gives away a child’s name or a room.