~/apps/unifi-camera-popup · macOS app

Your UniFi cameras as a popup on your Mac.

When someone rings the doorbell or a UniFi Protect camera spots a person, UniFi Camera Popup instantly shows the live view in a small window on your Mac – without pulling you out of your work. And you can talk straight through the camera.

DownloadmacOS 13+ · Apple Silicon & Intel

~/why

Direct. Local. Free.

No cloud service

The app talks directly to your UniFi console – via the Protect API key, with no detour through someone else's servers.

Talk & react

Speak through the camera, play announcements and use custom buttons like “open door” – all straight from the popup.

Free & up to date

Completely free and no account. The app flags new versions and installs them on request – no download needed.

~/features

What the app can do

Live-view popup on events

Doorbell ring, person, package, animal, vehicle, speech, glass break or motion – chosen per camera, with zoom and a remembered crop.

Stream quality per camera

High, medium or low per camera – a lower quality starts the live view faster.

Talk & announcements

Hold to talk through the camera's speaker. Play announcements from an MP3 or your own text, spoken by natural German voices (Piper) – generated entirely on your Mac.

Custom buttons & rules

Up to three buttons per camera (webhook GET/POST or announcement) and rules that fire a webhook and/or play an announcement on an event, optionally delayed.

On the go via WireGuard

Import the WireGuard file from your UniFi gateway. The app detects whether you're home and only brings up the tunnel when needed – built in, no separate VPN app.

Stays out of your way

Mute per camera or for all (15 min, 1 h …), respects macOS Focus / Do Not Disturb, a keyboard shortcut per camera, plus light and dark mode.

One-click updates

The app tells you about new versions, shows what's new and installs them for you – no need to download again.

~/a-look

A look inside

~/requirements

What you need

macOS 13 Ventura or newer – Apple Silicon and Intel Macs (Universal).

A UniFi console with UniFi Protect (e.g. UDM Pro/SE, UNVR, Cloud Key Gen2+) and an API key for the console. The app walks you through setup on first launch and finds the console on your network itself.

Talking only works with cameras that have a speaker (e.g. UniFi Doorbells). Voices for text announcements are downloaded once on first use (about 20–115 MB per voice).

Optional for “on the go”: a WireGuard VPN server on the UniFi gateway.

App language: German.

~/install

Install

UniFi Camera Popup is not notarized by Apple (that would require a paid Apple developer account). macOS therefore blocks the first launch, and since macOS 15 you approve it once via System Settings. After that the app launches normally – and updates install themselves without asking again.

Download & open the DMG

Download UniFi-Camera-Popup.dmg and open it with a double-click.

Drag to “Applications”

In the window, drag the app onto the “Applications” folder.

Open the app – “Done”

Open the app from “Applications”. macOS says it can't be opened → click “Done” (not “Move to Trash”).

“Open Anyway” in Settings

Open System Settings › Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom. It says the app was blocked → click “Open Anyway”.

Confirm

In the next dialog choose “Open Anyway” again and confirm with your password or Touch ID.

Set up

The app launches and walks you through setup: find the console, enter the API key, pick your cameras.

For advanced users: via Terminal

Files downloaded through the Terminal don't get the quarantine flag – so the System Settings step is skipped. The command replaces an existing installation; your settings are kept:

curl -fsSL https://unifi-protect-camera-popup-server.snackbits.dev/app.zip -o /tmp/unifi-camera-popup.zip \
  && rm -rf "/Applications/UniFi Camera Popup.app" \
  && ditto -x -k /tmp/unifi-camera-popup.zip /Applications \
  && rm /tmp/unifi-camera-popup.zip \
  && open "/Applications/UniFi Camera Popup.app"

// app.zip is the same app as in the DMG and is signed for the auto-updates.

Get UniFi Camera Popup

For macOS 13 and newer – as a direct download (always the latest version).

DownloadmacOS 13+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · free

Note: The app is not notarized by Apple, so the System Settings step above is needed on the very first launch. After that – and for every update – it launches without asking.