Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

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WHICHBLINK PACKAGESHOULDYOU BUY?

Whenyousetupyourcamera,you’re

givena30-daytrialofBlinkPlus.When

it expires,youcanmovetothe£8-per-

month/£80-per-yearsubscriptionthat

storescapturedvideoonlinefor 30 days

onan unlimitednumberof cameras,and

givesyouanextendedwarranty.

Alternatively,youcandowngradeto

theBasic plan(£2.50per monthor

£24.99peryear,forasinglecamera,

coveredbyatwo-yearlimitedwarranty).

If youdon’tsubscribeyou’ll stillhave

accesstolivestreamingand motion-

activatednotifications,butyourfootage

won’tbesaved.Tocomparethepackages

visitwww.snipca.com/4 0447 (see

screenshot).

19 Januar y–1February 2022 •Issue623

accessouraccountremotely.Hewasthen

abletocompletethesetupprocessonour

behalf,withoutushavingenteredour

phonenumberintotheapp.

Whenwequittheappandrestarted

it,weweredirectedtotheAddDevice

screen.Ifyouwanttofollowasimilar

process,you’llfindthephonenumber

mentionedabove,plusmoredetails,on

Blink’ssite:www.snipca.com/4 0448.

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Addyourcamera

On theAdd Device screen,tap

Mini Camera(seescree nshot

below), thenturn your cameraoverso

youcan seetheQR codeprinted on the

rear.Point your phone’s rear camera

at thecode, anditwill automatically

identify andcapture it,aswellasits

asso ciatedserialnumber. If,for any

reason,you can’t getthistowork, instead

tap EnterSerialManua llyand enterthe

16-character code belowthe QR code.

The 12-digit code abovethe QR code

isn’tthe camera’sserialnumber, but

itsMACaddress.Thisisaunique code

assigned to allwireless devices,likethe

Wi-Fihardwareinsid eyourPC, your

phone,smart speakers,yourrouter and

so on,whichcan be usedto both identify

deviceson multi-devicenetworks, and

to select ivelyallow or baraccess to the

network andother resources. In this

instance,ignorethe MACaddress.

When you’ve enteredorscann ed the

seria lnumber, providea‘syste m’ name.

Asystem, in Blinkterminology, is agroup

of asso ciated devices, whichcan allbe

controlled at once.Don’t worry if you’re

settinguponlyone camera: it can be in a

‘system’ allofi ts own. We’recallingour

system‘Home cameras’(seescree nshot

above).

Tap‘Next’, thenusethe includedplug

andUSB cabletoplug in thecamera.

Thereare twolightson theoutside:a

greenlighttot he left of thelens, anda

blueone to theright. When thegreen one

is li tand theblueone is blinking,make

sure Wi-Fiisenabled on your phone

andtap Disc over Device in theapp.Your

phonewill spot thecameraand askto

temporar ilyconnect to thecamera’sown

wirelessnetwork (BLINK-32FW^1 in our

screenshot above).Now tap Connect^2.

Once they’ve connected, your phone

will show alistofthe wirelessnetworks

that your cameraisa bletoaccess (see

screenshot aboveright). Tapthe oneyou

want to use(it should be your home

network), thentype your Wi-Fipassword

andtap Join.

The camerawill nowconnect to

Blink’sservers an dcheckforupdated

firm ware.Ifitfinds any, it will update

itself. It’s very importantthatitd oesn’t

lose powerwhendoing this,sodon’t

unplug it.Whenit’sfinis hed, andyou

seethe message‘MiniCamera connected

successfully’,tap Done on that screen

andthe screen t hatfollows.

Youneed to tell theapp what kind of device

you’re setting up -‘Mini Camera’in thi scase

SetupatleastonesystemintheBlinkapp,

evenifyouhaveonlyasingledevice

Connectyourphonetothecamera’sown

wirelessconnectionduringsetup

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