How to Find and Detect A Nanny Cam

by | Spy Gear

Last Updated on May 17, 2021

pan and tiltIn the past couple of years, nanny cams have picked up in popularity. They’re cheap, they work well, and they’re really inconspicuous. Many people have them, especially when they have someone watching their child, and we honestly couldn’t blame them.

But, what if you’re on the other side of the fence? What if you’re that someone who’s watching their child, and you’d like to know if you’re being watched? Well, not only is a nanny cam commonly legal, but the person who’s placed it in their home doesn’t even need to tell you about it. In many situations, even if you ask, the homeowner isn’t legally obliged to tell you the truth.

If you do want to know if someone is watching you, there are things that you can do. Even though nanny cams are commonly hidden, oftentimes you can find them if you know where to look, and what to look for. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can check if you’re being watched.

Before we proceed, you may want to check the best nanny cam guide here!

Check for potential hiding places

If you’re babysitting, chances are you’re spending quite a bit of time in the baby’s room, or in the living room. Many homeowners won’t bother to place cameras in every single room of their home, but these rooms are potential locations for a hidden nanny cam. If there is one, it will most likely be in one of them.

Those are the rooms you want to check for potential hiding places for a nanny cam. Most nanny cams are disguised to look like something else, such as an alarm clock or a teddy bear, or other similar objects that you could place on a bookshelf.

The biggest tell could be an object that suddenly appeared on a shelf. If it wasn’t there previously, it might have a camera hiding inside. That’s one thing to look out for.

Look for lights

recording of houseA hidden nanny cam often has some sort of light that indicates whether it’s on, and recording. It’s usually a red or green light. Note that not all of them do, but it’s worth a shot. So, how do you find them?

This is best done during the night, or after the sun sets, as you’ll need a bit of darkness. Turn off all the lights, and look around the room. Check the shelves or the electronics. If there’s something that you know you turned off, but there’s still a light on it, that might be a camera. For example, a radio-hidden nanny cam could have a light that signals it is running. The lights are usually dim, and you won’t be able to spot them if there’s a lot of light in the room, hence the darkness.

You could also check other household items such as picture frames or teddy bears, as these are also options for a hidden nanny cam, and you could maybe see the light in them.

Check for any cables

coaxial cable for antennasThis is the most common tell of them all. A camera often needs two cables, one for power, and one for transmitting whatever it is recording. Sure, there are wireless cameras that run on batteries, but if your homeowner has one of those, you will most likely notice them moving it every once in a while, as they’ll need to charge it.

If they don’t have one, you’ll see at least one cable coming out of the camera. Many nanny cams have some kind of wireless signal transmission method, but they still need power. And if the nanny cam is disguised as a common household object, the cable can give it away. What teddy bear needs a cable coming out of its back, and running into the nearest power outlet? Well, the one that’s hiding a camera inside, of course.

Get an RF signal detector

home bug detectorIf none of the above work, your homeowner might have a wireless, battery-powered nanny cam that you haven’t been able to find. However, there’s still one thing you could do. If a camera is wireless, that means that it transmits its signal via a radio frequency. That frequency is then picked up by a wireless router, or a video recorder, and conveyed to the viewer.

However, the sheer fact that there’s a frequency that the router needs to pick up also opens the space for other devices to be able to pick it up as well. And by “other devices”, we mean an RF, or radiofrequency, signal detector.

RF signal detectors are small electronic items that tend to detect any frequencies in a room, including the ones that a nanny cam emits. Now, a downside to those is that you’ll most likely need to sweep the room with it in order to find the signal. If there isn’t a nanny cam in the room, you won’t find anything, and that would be it. But, if there is, chances are the camera’s owner is watching you through it and knows you’re searching for it. Even if you do find it, as we said in the beginning, in many states he isn’t obliged to tell you there’s a camera. You might even get in trouble for searching for it.

Wrapping things up

Even though having a nanny cam is a common thing in households that tend to have caretakers for their children, we can’t deny the fact that some people just feel uncomfortable knowing that someone is watching them. And that’s regardless of whether you’re even doing anything wrong. The stress itself is often enough.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to find out if you’re being watched. We hope to have helped you find out for yourself with the tips and tricks above, and you can now see if the homeowner is keeping track of your every move.

Here are two learning guides that you can check before buying your nanny cam! Faleemi nanny cam review and Nanny cam hidden or visible which is best?

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About Gadgets Spy

Hi, I’m Michael, a security and surveillance expert. I co-founded and write for GadetsSpy and help teach people about new tech and Gadgets.